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"They call this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath creating wisps of vapor in the chilly night air. "Numerous people have disappeared here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." This expert is guiding a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient native woodland on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of strange happenings here go back centuries – the forest is called after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a UFO hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But no need to fear," he continues, turning to the visitor with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, curious to experience the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being one of the world's premier hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, described as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are pushing for authorization to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a limited section home to locally rare oak varieties, the forest is without conservation status, but the guide hopes that the company he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide describes numerous traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account recounts a young child disappearing during a family picnic, then to return five years later with no recollection of what had happened, having not aged a day, her clothes without the smallest trace of dust.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings range from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals claim seeing unusual marks on their arms, perceiving unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel fingers clutching them, despite being sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there are many things before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the earth explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours permit visitors to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO photographs, he hands his guest an ghost-hunting device which registers energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most powerful part of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The trees immediately cease as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the creation of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a area which inspires creativity, where the border is unclear between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering vampires, who emerge from tombs to frighten nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building located on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – seems tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for reasons radioactive, atmospheric or purely mythical, a hub for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the line between reality and imagination is very thin."