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"They call this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath producing clouds of condensation in the chilly evening air. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, it's thought it's an entrance to another dimension." This expert is guiding a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Reports of bizarre occurrences here extend back a long time – this woodland is titled for a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, along with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a flying saucer floating above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But no need to fear," he continues, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, curious to experience the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section containing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their shoes, the guide recounts various traditional stories and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story tells of a young child vanishing during a family outing, only to return five years later with no memory of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a single day, her clothes without the slightest speck of dirt.
• Frequent accounts explain smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings include absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals claim observing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, perceiving disembodied whispers through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the accounts may be unverifiable, there is much clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

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

But formal examinations have found inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's walks allow guests to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO pictures, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most active area of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The plants abruptly end as they step into a complete ring. The only greenery is the short grass beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this strange clearing is natural, not the result of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a location which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure perched on a stone formation in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – feels real and understandable versus the haunted grove, which appear to be, for factors nuclear, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a hub for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the boundary between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."