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

"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation forming wisps of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Countless people have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." This expert is escorting a visitor on a night walk through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a UFO hovering above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But rest assured," he continues, facing the traveler with a smile. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, curious to experience the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is one of the world's premier hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of the region – are advancing, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Barring a small area housing regionally uncommon Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the organization he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, encouraging the local administrators to appreciate the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide tells various local legends and alleged supernatural events here.

• One famous story describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, without aging a day, her garments without the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Regular stories explain cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions range from absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors report seeing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or sense fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things visibly present that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are plants whose stems are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to clarify the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the ground explain their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's tours allow guests to take part in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the clearing in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

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

The vegetation immediately cease as the group enters into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and seems that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the creation of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which stirs the imagination, where the line is unclear between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing vampires, who return from burial sites to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's well-known fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a stone formation in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – appears solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, climatic or entirely legendary, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."