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"Locals dub this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath creating clouds of condensation in the cold evening air. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." This expert is leading a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here date back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But rest assured," he continues, facing the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, curious to experience the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the forest is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for authorization to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section containing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the organization he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's importance as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

As twigs and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius tells various folk tales and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story describes a young child disappearing during a family picnic, only to return half a decade later with no memory of the events, without aging a single day, her clothes shy of the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports describe mobile phones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to moments of euphoria.
• Some people claim observing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the woodland, or feel hands grabbing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's tours permit guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the clearing in the forest where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO pictures, he gives his guest an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

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

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this unusual opening is natural, not the result of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting creatures, who return from burial sites to frighten local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – seems solid and predictable compared to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for causes radioactive, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the line between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."