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"They call this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his exhalation producing clouds of condensation in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "So many individuals have vanished here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is escorting a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of strange happenings here go back centuries – the forest is called after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he continues, addressing the traveler with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from across the world, curious to experience the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being a top global destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, called the tech capital of the region – are encroaching, and construction companies are advocating for authorization to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area housing locally rare oak varieties, the forest is without conservation status, but the guide believes that the initiative he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, encouraging the authorities to acknowledge the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius tells some of the folk tales and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story tells of a young child disappearing during a group gathering, later to return half a decade later with no memory of the events, having not aged a moment, her clothes shy of the tiniest bit of soil.
• More common reports explain smartphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings vary from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people state seeing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or experience fingers clutching them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the tales may be hard to prove, there are many things visibly present that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are vegetation whose stems are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their strange formation.

But formal examinations have turned up insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's excursions allow visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO images, he hands his guest an ghost-hunting device which detects EMF readings.

"We're entering the most active area of the forest," he says. "See what you can find."

The trees suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is unclear between fact and folklore. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to frighten regional populations.

The famous author's renowned fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – feels solid and predictable compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, climatic or purely mythical, a hub for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the division between truth and fantasy is very thin."