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"They call this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his breath forming wisps of mist in the chilly evening air. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, it's thought it's an entrance to a parallel world." The guide is escorting a guest on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient local woods on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back centuries – the grove is called after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a unidentified flying object hovering above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But no need to fear," he states, turning to his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and paranormal investigators from worldwide, eager to feel the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the innovation center of the region – are encroaching, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Barring a small area containing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to acknowledge the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide tells some of the local legends and reported supernatural events here.

• One famous story recounts a young child vanishing during a group gathering, then to return five years later with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a moment, her attire shy of the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people state seeing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, detecting unseen murmurs through the trees, or experience fingers clutching them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth explain their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's tours enable participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the opening in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO photographs, he passes the visitor an EMF meter which registers EMF readings.

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

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the short grass beneath our feet; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is wild, not the work of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is blurred between fact and folklore. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure perched on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for reasons related to radiation, climatic or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius comments, "the boundary between reality and imagination is very thin."