Delving into this World's Most Haunted Woodland: Gnarled Trees, Unidentified Flying Objects and Chilling Accounts in Romania's Legendary Region.

"Locals dub this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a tour guide, his breath creating wisps of condensation in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "Countless individuals have gone missing here, many believe there's a gateway to a different realm." Marius is leading a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient indigenous forest on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of unusual events here date back centuries – this woodland is titled for a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a UFO floating above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But no need to fear," he states, addressing the visitor with a grin. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, shamans, ufologists and supernatural researchers from worldwide, interested in encountering the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being a top global pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for authorization to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a few hectares home to locally rare specific tree species, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius hopes that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their shoes, the guide tells numerous folk tales and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account tells of a little girl going missing during a family picnic, only to rematerialise half a decade later with no recollection of what had happened, having not aged a day, her clothes lacking the tiniest bit of dirt.
• More common reports describe smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Reactions range from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state noticing strange rashes on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

While many of the tales may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are trees whose trunks are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to account for the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the ground explain their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's tours allow participants to engage in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his famous UFO images, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which registers EMF readings.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this strange clearing is organic, not the work of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is indistinct between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to frighten regional populations.

The novelist's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure perched on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable in contrast to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for reasons nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a nexus for human imaginative power.

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