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"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath creating wisps of vapor in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "So many visitors have vanished here, it's thought it's a portal to a parallel world." Marius is escorting a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of strange happenings here go back a long time – this woodland is titled for a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a unidentified flying object floating above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he continues, facing the traveler with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from worldwide, curious to experience the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is at risk. 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 campaigning for authorization to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Except for a limited section containing locally rare oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, encouraging the authorities to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their footwear, Marius tells various folk tales and alleged supernatural events here.

• A well-known account describes a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise five years later with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a moment, her clothes without the smallest trace of dust.
• More common reports detail mobile phones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings vary from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors report seeing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, detecting disembodied whispers through the forest, or experience palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the tales may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is certainly unusual. All around are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been proposed to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the soil explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's excursions enable participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the opening in the trees where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO pictures, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most powerful area of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is natural, not the result of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is blurred between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting creatures, who return from burial sites to frighten local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems solid and predictable in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."