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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a local guide, the air from his lungs creating puffs of vapor in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Countless visitors have vanished here, many believe it's a portal to a parallel world." This expert is leading a guest on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient native woodland on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – the grove is called after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But don't worry," he states, turning to his guest with a smirk. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, the forest is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the innovation center of the region – are advancing, and construction companies are advocating for permission to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Barring a small area housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the company he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, persuading the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their footwear, the guide recounts some of the folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• One famous story tells of a young child vanishing during a family picnic, later to return half a decade later with no memory of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire shy of the smallest trace of dirt.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Various visitors claim seeing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, hearing disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the tales may be hard to prove, numerous elements visibly present that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are vegetation whose trunks are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radioactivity in the soil cause their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have turned up insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's tours enable visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the forest where Barnea took his famous UFO images, he gives his guest an electromagnetic field detector which measures energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most energetic part of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the creation of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing creatures, who rise from their graves to haunt regional populations.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure located on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – feels tangible and comprehensible compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, climatic or simply folkloric, a center for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the line between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."