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"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his exhalation creating wisps of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Countless individuals have disappeared here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is escorting a visitor on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a flying saucer floating above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he continues, turning to the visitor with a grin. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, shamans, ufologists and paranormal investigators from worldwide, interested in encountering the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for supernatural fans, the grove is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, described as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are advocating for approval to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Barring a few hectares housing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is without conservation status, but the guide believes that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius recounts numerous traditional stories and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account tells of a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family picnic, later to reappear half a decade later with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a moment, her garments lacking the tiniest bit of dust.
• More common reports detail cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state seeing unusual marks on their skin, hearing disembodied whispers through the forest, or experience hands grabbing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

While many of the accounts may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are plants whose bases are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been given to clarify the misshapen plants: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the ground account for their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's walks allow participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO images, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers EMF readings.

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

The trees immediately cease as we emerge into a flawless round. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this unusual opening is wild, not the work of human hands.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is unclear between truth and myth. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith situated on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – appears solid and predictable versus these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for causes radioactive, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the division between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."