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"They call this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a tour guide, the air from his lungs producing clouds of condensation in the crisp night air. "So many people have vanished here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is escorting a visitor on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of unusual events here extend back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But don't worry," he adds, turning to the visitor with a smile. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from across the world, eager to feel the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for supernatural fans, the forest is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the innovation center of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are advocating for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Except for a limited section housing locally rare oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the organization he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the local administrators to appreciate the forest's importance as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their footwear, Marius describes various folk tales and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story tells of a little girl disappearing during a family picnic, then to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of her experience, showing no signs of aging a moment, her attire without the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Frequent accounts detail mobile phones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people claim seeing strange rashes on their arms, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or experience hands grabbing them, even when sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the stories may be unverifiable, numerous elements clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been proposed to explain the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the earth account for their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's excursions enable participants to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the forest where Barnea captured his famous UFO pictures, he hands the traveler an ghost-hunting device which registers energy patterns.

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

The plants abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this unusual opening is wild, not the creation of people.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a area which fuels fantasy, where the line is blurred between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing creatures, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities.

The novelist's renowned fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith located on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – seems real and understandable in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, climatic or simply folkloric, a hub for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide says, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."