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"People refer to this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation producing puffs of mist in the cold dusk atmosphere. "So many visitors have vanished here, it's thought there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is leading a visitor on a evening stroll through commonly known as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient native woodland on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – this woodland is called after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a unidentified flying object hovering above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But no need to fear," he continues, facing his guest with a smile. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the forest is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Except for a small area home to area-specific specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the government officials to recognise the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

While branches and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, Marius tells various folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• One famous story recounts a little girl disappearing during a family outing, only to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of dirt.
• More common reports explain cellphones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses vary from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Some people claim noticing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting disembodied whispers through the woodland, or sense hands grabbing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil account for their unusual development.

But research studies have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's excursions permit guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the clearing in the forest where Barnea captured his famous UFO pictures, he passes his guest an EMF meter which registers energy patterns.

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

The plants immediately cease as the group enters into a complete ring. The only greenery is the short grass beneath our feet; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this unusual opening is wild, not the result of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which fuels fantasy, where the line is unclear between reality and legend. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building situated on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – appears tangible and comprehensible versus these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for factors related to radiation, environmental or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius comments, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."