Delving into the Planet's Most Ghostly Forest: Gnarled Trees, Flying Saucers and Spooky Stories in Transylvania.

"Locals dub this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a local guide, the air from his lungs producing puffs of vapor in the crisp night air. "Countless visitors have gone missing here, many believe there's a gateway to another dimension." This expert is leading a guest on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval local woods on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of unusual events here date back centuries – the grove is named after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object floating above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But don't worry," he adds, turning to the traveler with a smirk. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, shamans, ufologists and supernatural researchers from across the world, curious to experience the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being a top global hotspots for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for authorization to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a limited section home to locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide recounts various local legends and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story recounts a little girl vanishing during a family picnic, then to reappear five years later with no recollection of the events, showing no signs of aging a single day, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors state noticing unusual marks on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the woodland, or experience hands grabbing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the accounts may be unverifiable, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose bases are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the soil explain their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's excursions permit guests to take part in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the clearing in the woods where Barnea captured his renowned UFO images, he hands the traveler an EMF meter which registers energy patterns.

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

The plants immediately cease as the group enters into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this unusual opening is organic, not the work of human hands.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is indistinct between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing vampires, who emerge from tombs to terrorise local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a stone formation in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable in contrast to these eerie woods, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide states, "the line between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."