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"People refer to this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a local guide, his exhalation producing clouds of condensation in the cold evening air. "Countless individuals have vanished here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." Marius is guiding a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here date back hundreds of years – the forest is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object hovering above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But don't worry," he continues, turning to the traveler with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being a top global destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, called the Silicon Valley of the region – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for approval to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Except for a few hectares housing area-specific specific tree species, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius hopes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the local administrators to recognise the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide recounts numerous folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• One famous story tells of a five-year-old girl going missing during a family picnic, then to reappear five years later with complete amnesia of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a single day, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe mobile phones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Feelings include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals state noticing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, detecting unseen murmurs through the woodland, or feel palms pushing them, although sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been given to clarify the abnormal growth: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth account for their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's walks permit visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the clearing in the forest where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO pictures, he passes the visitor an ghost-hunting device which detects energy patterns.

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

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of human hands.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's famous character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building perched on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – appears solid and predictable in contrast to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for factors nuclear, climatic or purely mythical, a nexus for creative energy.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the line between fact and fiction is very thin."