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"People refer to this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath creating clouds of condensation in the crisp night air. "Countless people have vanished here, many believe it's a portal to a parallel world." The guide is leading a visitor on a night walk through commonly known as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval native woodland on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – the grove is titled for a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a UFO suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he states, facing his guest with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from worldwide, eager to feel the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the forest is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the innovation center of the region – are encroaching, and real estate firms are campaigning for approval to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Except for a few hectares housing locally rare oak varieties, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the organization he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, persuading the local administrators to recognise the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide tells various folk tales and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child disappearing during a family outing, only to rematerialise half a decade later with no memory of the events, showing no signs of aging a moment, her garments shy of the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Various visitors state noticing strange rashes on their skin, detecting unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel fingers clutching them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radiation levels in the soil explain their unusual development.

But research studies have turned up inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's excursions enable visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the opening in the forest where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO pictures, he hands his guest an EMF meter which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most active part of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this unusual opening is organic, not the creation of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which stirs the imagination, where the line is blurred between fact and folklore. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing creatures, who return from burial sites to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's well-known fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – appears tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which appear to be, for factors radioactive, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the boundary between fact and fiction is extremely fine."