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"People refer to this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, his exhalation creating clouds of condensation in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." The guide is guiding a guest on a night walk through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here extend back a long time – the forest is called after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a flying saucer hovering above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But no need to fear," he adds, facing his guest with a smirk. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, ufologists and paranormal investigators from worldwide, eager to feel the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be a top global pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, called the tech capital of the region – are encroaching, and developers are advocating for approval to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Barring a few hectares containing locally rare oak varieties, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, encouraging the local administrators to recognise the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their boots, Marius recounts various traditional stories and reported ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account recounts a young child vanishing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise five years later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a day, her clothes without the smallest trace of soil.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and photography gear unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Feelings vary from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state observing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, detecting ghostly voices through the forest, or sense palms pushing them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the accounts may be hard to prove, there are many things before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose stems are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to explain the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radiation levels in the ground cause their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours permit visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the forest where Barnea took his famous UFO images, he hands the traveler an ghost-hunting device which detects energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most active area of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this unusual opening is natural, not the work of people.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a location which inspires creativity, where the line is blurred between reality and legend. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith located on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a hub for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the boundary between reality and imagination is very thin."