Delving into this Planet's Most Ghostly Forest: Twisted Trees, Flying Saucers and Eerie Tales in Romania's Legendary Region.

"People refer to this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath producing clouds of mist in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Countless individuals have vanished here, many believe it's a portal to a parallel world." The guide is guiding a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient local woods on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back centuries – the grove is called after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But no need to fear," he continues, facing the visitor with a smile. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, curious to experience the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, known as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Except for a limited section home to locally rare oak varieties, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, motivating the local administrators to recognise the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their shoes, Marius describes various traditional stories and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale recounts a five-year-old girl vanishing during a family picnic, then to return after five years with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a single day, her garments lacking the slightest speck of soil.
• Regular stories detail mobile phones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim seeing unusual marks on their skin, detecting disembodied whispers through the trees, or sense hands grabbing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the stories may be hard to prove, numerous elements before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose bases are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to account for the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or typically increased radioactivity in the soil cause their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's walks allow guests to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the woods where Barnea captured his well-known UFO pictures, he gives his guest an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most active area of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The plants abruptly end as the group enters into a complete ring. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the creation of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which inspires creativity, where the line is unclear between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting vampires, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's well-known vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building situated on a stone formation in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the land past the woods" – seems tangible and comprehensible versus the haunted grove, which seem to be, for reasons radioactive, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide states, "the boundary between reality and imagination is extremely fine."