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"People refer to this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his breath forming puffs of mist in the cold evening air. "So many people have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." Marius is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient local woods on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of strange happenings here extend back centuries – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO floating above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he continues, facing his guest with a smile. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from worldwide, curious to experience the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be among the planet's leading hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Except for a limited section home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the organization he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide tells various folk tales and alleged supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family outing, then to rematerialise after five years with no memory of what had happened, without aging a single day, her garments lacking the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts detail mobile phones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals state observing unusual marks on their skin, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or sense fingers clutching them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are trees whose stems are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radiation levels in the ground account for their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's walks allow participants to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the meadow in the woods where Barnea took his renowned UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

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

The vegetation abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of human hands.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a location which inspires creativity, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting creatures, who rise from their graves to frighten nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable in contrast to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for factors related to radiation, climatic or entirely legendary, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," the guide comments, "the boundary between reality and imagination is very thin."