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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath producing clouds of vapor in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, many believe it's a portal to a parallel world." The guide is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of unusual events here go back centuries – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a unidentified flying object floating above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he continues, turning to the traveler with a grin. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, shamans, ufologists and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, encouraging the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous folk tales and alleged supernatural events here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl disappearing during a family outing, then to reappear after five years with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a day, her clothes shy of the smallest trace of soil.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Feelings vary from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals state noticing unusual marks on their arms, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or sense palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the tales may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are plants whose stems are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the abnormal growth: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the soil cause their strange formation.

But research studies have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's excursions enable guests to take part in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the meadow in the forest where Barnea captured his renowned UFO photographs, he passes his guest an electromagnetic field detector which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most powerful part of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The plants immediately cease as we emerge into a complete ring. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this unusual opening is organic, not the creation of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering creatures, who return from burial sites to frighten local communities.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith located on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."