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"People refer to this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation creating puffs of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "So many individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." This expert is leading a traveler on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here date back hundreds of years – the forest is called after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a UFO floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he continues, addressing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from worldwide, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being a top global pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and real estate firms are advocating for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Except for a few hectares containing locally rare oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the government officials to appreciate the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius tells various traditional stories and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale describes a little girl vanishing during a family outing, only to rematerialise half a decade later with no memory of her experience, without aging a day, her garments without the slightest speck of dirt.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Reactions include absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals claim noticing unusual marks on their arms, perceiving disembodied whispers through the trees, or experience palms pushing them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. All around are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radiation levels in the earth explain their unusual development.

But research studies have turned up insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's tours allow visitors to engage in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the forest where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he hands his guest an ghost-hunting device which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most active section of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The trees abruptly end as we emerge into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a area which stirs the imagination, where the division is unclear between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting vampires, who emerge from tombs to terrorise regional populations.

The famous author's renowned vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure perched on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – seems tangible and comprehensible compared to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for causes radioactive, climatic or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," the guide says, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."