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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his breath creating puffs of mist in the cold night air. "Countless individuals have disappeared here, some say there's a gateway to a parallel world." The guide is leading a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval native woodland on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of unusual events here go back centuries – this woodland is titled for a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a flying saucer floating above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he adds, turning to the visitor with a smirk. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, curious to experience the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is among the planet's leading hotspots 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, known as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are advocating for authorization to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a few hectares housing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the initiative he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the government officials to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their shoes, Marius describes various traditional stories and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale tells of a young child vanishing during a family outing, only to rematerialise half a decade later with no memory of what had happened, without aging a moment, her attire shy of the tiniest bit of dirt.
• More common reports describe smartphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings vary from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors state noticing unusual marks on their arms, hearing ghostly voices through the woodland, or experience fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the tales may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth account for their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have found insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours enable visitors to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the woods where Barnea took his renowned UFO pictures, he passes his guest an electromagnetic field detector which registers electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most powerful area of the forest," he states. "See what you can find."

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath our feet; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a area which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering vampires, who rise from their graves to terrorise nearby villages.

The famous author's well-known character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – seems solid and predictable versus this spooky forest, which seem to be, for reasons radioactive, climatic or purely mythical, a center for creative energy.

"Within this forest," Marius comments, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."