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"They call this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a tour guide, his exhalation creating clouds of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "So many visitors have vanished here, many believe there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is escorting a traveler on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here go back centuries – the forest is named after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a flying saucer hovering above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, turning to his guest with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and paranormal investigators from worldwide, eager to feel the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, known as the innovation center of eastern Europe – are advancing, and real estate firms are pushing for permission to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Barring a few hectares housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is without conservation status, but Marius believes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the local administrators to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

As twigs and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius describes some of the folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale tells of a young child vanishing during a family outing, later to reappear after five years with complete amnesia of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of dirt.
• More common reports describe mobile phones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors report noticing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing unseen murmurs through the woodland, or experience palms pushing them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there are many things before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been proposed to clarify the abnormal growth: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the earth explain their strange formation.

But formal examinations have turned up inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's excursions allow participants to engage in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the meadow in the forest where Barnea took his well-known UFO pictures, he gives the visitor an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath our feet; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the creation of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to haunt local communities.

The famous author's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith situated on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – appears tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors radioactive, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for human imaginative power.

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