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"People refer to this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his breath producing clouds of mist in the crisp night air. "Numerous visitors have disappeared here, it's thought it's an entrance to a different realm." Marius is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of unusual events here extend back a long time – the forest is called after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object hovering above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But no need to fear," he states, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, eager to feel the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, the forest is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are pushing for authorization to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Except for a small area containing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide tells various traditional stories and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, later to return five years later with no memory of her experience, showing no signs of aging a day, her garments shy of the smallest trace of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Some people report noticing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the stories may be unverifiable, there is much clearly observable that is certainly unusual. All around are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Different theories have been suggested to clarify the deformed trees: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the ground explain their unusual development.

But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's walks permit participants to engage in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the woods where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most powerful area of the forest," he says. "Try to detect something."

The plants suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is wild, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to frighten nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – feels tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for factors nuclear, climatic or simply folkloric, a nexus for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," the guide comments, "the division between fact and fiction is extremely fine."