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"They call this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a local guide, his breath producing puffs of vapor in the chilly night air. "So many people have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." The guide is escorting a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval local woods on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, addressing the traveler with a grin. "Our tours have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, ufologists and paranormal investigators from worldwide, curious to experience the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, known as the innovation center of the region – are expanding, and developers are pushing for authorization to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section containing regionally uncommon oak varieties, this woodland is without conservation status, but Marius believes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide tells various local legends and alleged supernatural events here.

• One famous story describes a young child vanishing during a family outing, then to rematerialise five years later with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a single day, her attire without the tiniest bit of soil.
• Frequent accounts describe smartphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Reactions range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals state noticing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the soil cause their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's walks permit visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the clearing in the forest where Barnea took his well-known UFO pictures, he hands the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most powerful part of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The trees abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and looks that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a area which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten regional populations.

The famous author's well-known vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – feels solid and predictable versus these eerie woods, which seem to be, for factors radioactive, environmental or entirely legendary, a nexus for creative energy.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the line between reality and imagination is extremely fine."