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"Locals dub this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a local guide, his exhalation forming wisps of condensation in the crisp evening air. "Countless people have disappeared here, it's thought there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is escorting a visitor on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval local woods on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a unidentified flying object floating above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he adds, facing his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from around the globe, eager to feel the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the initiative he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the local administrators to acknowledge the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide recounts various folk tales and reported ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account recounts a little girl disappearing during a family outing, only to return after five years with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a day, her attire without the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts detail mobile phones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions vary from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state noticing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the tales may be hard to prove, there is much before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or naturally high radiation levels in the soil account for their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's tours allow visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the meadow in the woods where Barnea photographed his famous UFO photographs, he gives his guest an electromagnetic field detector which detects energy patterns.

"We're entering the most powerful area of the forest," he states. "See what you can find."

The trees abruptly end as the group enters into a flawless round. The only greenery is the short grass beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a area which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt regional populations.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – appears solid and predictable versus the haunted grove, which seem to be, for reasons related to radiation, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is very thin."