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"People refer to this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his breath producing puffs of mist in the chilly night air. "Countless people have disappeared here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." Marius is guiding a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a unidentified flying object floating above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But no need to fear," he adds, facing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being among the planet's leading hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, called the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are advocating for authorization to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section housing locally rare oak varieties, this woodland is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, motivating the local administrators to appreciate the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide tells numerous local legends and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family outing, then to rematerialise half a decade later with no memory of the events, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire without the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories explain smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses range from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report noticing unusual marks on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or sense hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, there are many things before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the ground explain their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's excursions permit guests to take part in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the opening in the forest where Barnea captured his well-known UFO pictures, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which measures EMF readings.

"We're venturing into the most active part of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The plants immediately cease as they step into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the creation of people.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

The famous author's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – feels real and understandable versus these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is very thin."