Venturing into this World's Most Haunted Grove: Gnarled Trees, Unidentified Flying Objects and Spooky Stories in Romania's Legendary Region.

"Locals dub this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks an experienced guide, the air from his lungs forming puffs of mist in the crisp night air. "Countless individuals have disappeared here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of strange happenings here go back a long time – the forest is titled for a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he claimed was a UFO floating above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But don't worry," he adds, facing the traveler with a grin. "Our tours have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, shamans, ufologists and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be a top global pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, called the Silicon Valley of the region – are expanding, and developers are pushing for authorization to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Barring a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the authorities to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and fall foliage break and crackle beneath their boots, Marius describes some of the traditional stories and claimed ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account recounts a little girl vanishing during a family outing, only to rematerialise five years later with complete amnesia of her experience, without aging a day, her garments lacking the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports describe mobile phones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Reactions include full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals claim observing unusual marks on their skin, perceiving unseen murmurs through the trees, or experience hands grabbing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

While many of the stories may be unverifiable, numerous elements before my eyes that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose stems are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been given to account for the abnormal growth: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth account for their crooked growth.

But scientific investigations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's walks enable guests to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the forest where Barnea photographed his famous UFO images, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which detects EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most active section of the forest," he states. "See what you can find."

The trees abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a area which inspires creativity, where the line is unclear between reality and legend. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting creatures, who return from burial sites to frighten regional populations.

The famous author's renowned fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith located on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – appears real and understandable in contrast to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for causes nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the boundary between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."