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"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his exhalation creating wisps of condensation in the cold evening air. "Countless people have disappeared here, many believe it's a portal to a different realm." The guide is guiding a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of strange happenings here go back centuries – the forest is titled for a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a UFO hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But don't worry," he continues, addressing the visitor with a grin. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, eager to feel the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being a top global destinations for supernatural fans, the grove is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are advancing, and real estate firms are pushing for permission to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section housing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the local administrators to recognise the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius describes various folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale describes a little girl vanishing during a group gathering, then to rematerialise after five years with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a moment, her attire without the slightest speck of dirt.
• More common reports explain cellphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses include absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors state seeing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, perceiving unseen murmurs through the woodland, or experience fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the earth cause their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's excursions permit guests to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea captured his famous UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most powerful area of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation immediately cease as the group enters into a perfect circle. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's clear that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the creation of human hands.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a place which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting creatures, who rise from their graves to haunt local communities.

The novelist's renowned fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith situated on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – feels solid and predictable versus this spooky forest, which appear to be, for factors radioactive, environmental or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide says, "the line between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."