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"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his breath producing puffs of vapor in the cold evening air. "So many people have gone missing here, some say it's an entrance to a different realm." The guide is escorting a visitor on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval local woods on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of strange happenings here extend back centuries – the forest is named after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he adds, addressing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for supernatural fans, this woodland is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are pushing for authorization to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Except for a few hectares containing regionally uncommon Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius believes that the organization he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, motivating the authorities to recognise the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous local legends and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account tells of a five-year-old girl going missing during a family outing, only to rematerialise five years later with no recollection of what had happened, having not aged a day, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports explain cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Reactions include absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors claim noticing strange rashes on their skin, detecting unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

While many of the tales may be hard to prove, there are many things visibly present that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been suggested to account for the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or typically increased radioactivity in the ground account for their unusual development.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's tours enable guests to participate in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the opening in the forest where Barnea captured his renowned UFO pictures, he hands his guest an EMF meter which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're entering the most powerful section of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."

The trees immediately cease as they step into a flawless round. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this strange clearing is natural, not the creation of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a location which fuels fantasy, where the division is blurred between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing vampires, who emerge from tombs to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – seems solid and predictable compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the line between fact and fiction is extremely fine."