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"People refer to this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a local guide, his breath creating puffs of mist in the chilly night air. "So many people have gone missing here, it's thought it's a portal to a parallel world." Marius is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of strange happenings here extend back centuries – the grove is titled for a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a UFO suspended above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But rest assured," he states, turning to his guest with a grin. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from worldwide, curious to experience the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and real estate firms are advocating for permission to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a limited section housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is without conservation status, but Marius believes that the initiative he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, encouraging the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius describes some of the folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl going missing during a family outing, then to rematerialise half a decade later with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a day, her clothes lacking the tiniest bit of soil.
• More common reports explain mobile phones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses range from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Various visitors claim noticing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the forest, or sense hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased radiation levels in the ground cause their strange formation.

But research studies have found inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's walks permit visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the opening in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he passes his guest an ghost-hunting device which measures EMF readings.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath the ground; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting vampires, who rise from their graves to frighten regional populations.

Bram Stoker's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure located on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – feels real and understandable versus these eerie woods, which seem to be, for reasons radioactive, climatic or simply folkloric, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius comments, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."