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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his exhalation producing puffs of condensation in the chilly night air. "Numerous individuals have disappeared here, many believe it's an entrance to a parallel world." Marius is escorting a visitor on a evening stroll through commonly known as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient native woodland on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of unusual events here extend back hundreds of years – the grove is titled for a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a flying saucer floating above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But don't worry," he states, turning to the visitor with a smile. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, ufologists and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is among the planet's leading destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the innovation center of the region – are advancing, and real estate firms are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Except for a small area home to regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide is confident that the company he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the authorities to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide describes some of the folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account recounts a five-year-old girl going missing during a group gathering, later to return five years later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a day, her clothes shy of the tiniest bit of soil.
• More common reports detail cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses vary from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people report observing strange rashes on their skin, detecting disembodied whispers through the woodland, or sense palms pushing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose stems are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth account for their unusual development.

But research studies have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's walks permit participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the meadow in the forest where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he passes the traveler an ghost-hunting device which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most active part of the forest," he states. "See what you can find."

The plants immediately cease as they step into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is wild, not the result of people.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building perched on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – appears tangible and comprehensible compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors related to radiation, environmental or entirely legendary, a hub for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius states, "the boundary between fact and fiction is very thin."