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"Locals dub this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation creating puffs of condensation in the chilly night air. "Countless individuals have gone missing here, many believe there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is escorting a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here date back a long time – the forest is called after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object floating above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But no need to fear," he continues, turning to the traveler with a grin. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and paranormal investigators from around the globe, curious to experience the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be among the planet's leading hotspots for supernatural fans, this woodland is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, called the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are advocating for authorization to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a limited section home to area-specific specific tree species, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the organization he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, motivating the local administrators to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide describes some of the local legends and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale describes a little girl vanishing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise five years later with no recollection of the events, having not aged a single day, her attire lacking the smallest trace of dust.
• More common reports detail smartphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions include complete terror to moments of euphoria.
• Various visitors report seeing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting unseen murmurs through the woodland, or sense hands grabbing them, even when sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much before my eyes that is undeniably strange. All around are vegetation whose trunks are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased radioactivity in the earth explain their unusual development.

But formal examinations have found insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's walks permit participants to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the opening in the forest where Barnea captured his renowned UFO pictures, he passes the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most energetic section of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The plants suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath our feet; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this unusual opening is wild, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a area which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting vampires, who rise from their graves to frighten regional populations.

The novelist's renowned character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building located on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – feels tangible and comprehensible compared to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for causes radioactive, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the line between truth and fantasy is very thin."