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"Locals dub this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his breath forming clouds of vapor in the cold evening air. "Countless individuals have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." This expert is guiding a visitor on a night walk through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of strange happenings here extend back hundreds of years – the forest is titled for a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a UFO suspended above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But no need to fear," he adds, facing his guest with a grin. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is among the planet's leading hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for authorization to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area containing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, encouraging the local administrators to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their shoes, Marius tells some of the local legends and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale tells of a little girl going missing during a group gathering, then to reappear after five years with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a day, her clothes lacking the slightest speck of dirt.
• Frequent accounts describe smartphones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report seeing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the woodland, or feel fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the tales may be hard to prove, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose stems are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to clarify the abnormal growth: strong gales could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the ground explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's walks permit guests to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the opening in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO pictures, he passes his guest an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

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

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this strange clearing is natural, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a area which stirs the imagination, where the division is unclear between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to terrorise local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building perched on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems tangible and comprehensible compared to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for reasons related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."