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"Locals dub this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his breath creating clouds of vapor in the chilly evening air. "Numerous people have gone missing here, many believe it's a portal to a parallel world." This expert is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of bizarre occurrences here date back hundreds of years – the grove is named after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a UFO hovering above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, addressing his guest with a grin. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being one of the world's premier hotspots for supernatural fans, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for authorization to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section home to area-specific specific tree species, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius hopes that the company he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, motivating the authorities to acknowledge the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius tells some of the folk tales and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story describes a little girl disappearing during a family picnic, later to return after five years with no recollection of the events, without aging a single day, her garments shy of the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports describe smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals report observing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing ghostly voices through the trees, or sense palms pushing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radiation levels in the ground explain their crooked growth.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's tours permit guests to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO pictures, he gives the visitor an ghost-hunting device which detects energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most active part of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation abruptly end as we emerge into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the work of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting creatures, who rise from their graves to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building perched on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide states, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."