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"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a local guide, his breath creating wisps of mist in the cold night air. "Numerous people have gone missing here, many believe it's a portal to a different realm." The guide is guiding a traveler on a night walk through commonly known as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of unusual events here go back centuries – the grove is named after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a UFO hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, facing his guest with a smirk. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from around the globe, curious to experience the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section containing regionally uncommon Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the government officials to acknowledge the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their footwear, the guide tells numerous local legends and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account describes a little girl going missing during a family outing, later to reappear five years later with no memory of the events, without aging a day, her attire shy of the smallest trace of soil.
• More common reports describe mobile phones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Feelings range from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report noticing unusual marks on their bodies, detecting disembodied whispers through the trees, or sense hands grabbing them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

While many of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements visibly present that is undeniably strange. All around are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radioactivity in the soil account for their crooked growth.

But scientific investigations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's walks allow visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the opening in the woods where Barnea photographed his famous UFO pictures, he gives the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which detects electromagnetic fields.

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

The trees abruptly end as we emerge into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and looks that this unusual opening is natural, not the result of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a area which inspires creativity, where the border is unclear between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing vampires, who emerge from tombs to haunt regional populations.

The famous author's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – seems solid and predictable compared to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for reasons nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the boundary between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."