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"Locals dub this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his exhalation forming puffs of vapor in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "Numerous people have gone missing here, many believe there's a gateway to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a traveler on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here extend back centuries – the forest is titled for a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a flying saucer floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

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

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, shamans, ufologists and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is among the planet's leading hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of the region – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for authorization to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a small area housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the company he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the government officials to acknowledge the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide recounts various traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story describes a little girl going missing during a group gathering, then to reappear after five years with complete amnesia of what had happened, without aging a moment, her garments shy of the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories explain smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Feelings include absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people claim seeing unusual marks on their bodies, hearing disembodied whispers through the woodland, or experience fingers clutching them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements visibly present that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the soil cause their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's tours allow participants to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the meadow in the forest where Barnea captured his famous UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which detects EMF readings.

"We're venturing into the most energetic section of the forest," he says. "See what you can find."

The plants suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this strange clearing is natural, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a location which stirs the imagination, where the border is unclear between truth and myth. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

The famous author's renowned fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith located on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – appears real and understandable versus the haunted grove, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a hub for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide says, "the line between truth and fantasy is very thin."