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"They call this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a local guide, his breath forming puffs of condensation in the crisp evening air. "Countless people have disappeared here, many believe it's an entrance to a parallel world." The guide is escorting a visitor on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of strange happenings here extend back a long time – the grove is named after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a flying saucer hovering above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he adds, facing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, curious to experience the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and developers are pushing for permission to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a limited section containing locally rare specific tree species, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the company he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, motivating the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their shoes, Marius describes some of the local legends and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child disappearing during a family picnic, later to reappear five years later with no recollection of the events, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire lacking the tiniest bit of soil.
• More common reports describe smartphones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings range from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals claim noticing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel fingers clutching them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the accounts may be hard to prove, there are many things before my eyes that is certainly unusual. All around are trees whose bases are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radiation levels in the soil explain their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's walks allow visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the opening in the forest where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO pictures, he gives his guest an EMF meter which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're entering the most active area of the forest," he says. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation immediately cease as the group enters into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this unusual opening is organic, not the work of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the line is blurred between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering creatures, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.

The famous author's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building perched on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – appears tangible and comprehensible versus the haunted grove, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a hub for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."