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"They call this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his exhalation forming wisps of vapor in the chilly evening air. "Numerous people have gone missing here, many believe there's a gateway to a different realm." This expert is leading a traveler on a night walk through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here date back a long time – this woodland is titled for a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a UFO hovering above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But don't worry," he states, facing the traveler with a smile. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being among the planet's leading hotspots for supernatural fans, the forest is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, known as the Silicon Valley of the region – are expanding, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Except for a few hectares housing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the organization he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide recounts some of the folk tales and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family picnic, then to return five years later with complete amnesia of the events, without aging a day, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports explain smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Feelings vary from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report observing unusual marks on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the forest, or experience fingers clutching them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be hard to prove, there is much before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are trees whose trunks are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been given to account for the deformed trees: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radiation levels in the ground account for their strange formation.

But research studies have found insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's tours enable guests to take part in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the meadow in the forest where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which registers energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most active section of the forest," he says. "See what you can find."

The trees suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this strange clearing is organic, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which inspires creativity, where the line is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a hub for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the line between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."