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"They call this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a local guide, his breath producing clouds of condensation in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "So many people have vanished here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is leading a visitor 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 primeval native woodland on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of unusual events here go back centuries – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object suspended above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But rest assured," he states, facing his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a few hectares containing locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their footwear, the guide tells some of the folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account tells of a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise five years later with no memory of the events, showing no signs of aging a moment, her clothes without the smallest trace of dust.
• Regular stories detail mobile phones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals state noticing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving ghostly voices through the forest, or feel palms pushing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. All around are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been given to explain the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the earth explain their crooked growth.

But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's walks allow participants to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO images, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most energetic part of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The plants suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this unusual opening is organic, not the result of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting creatures, who rise from their graves to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for reasons radioactive, climatic or simply folkloric, a hub for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide says, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is very thin."