Exploring the Planet's Most Ghostly Grove: Twisted Trees, Flying Saucers and Eerie Tales in Transylvania.

"Locals dub this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a local guide, his breath forming puffs of mist in the cold evening air. "So many visitors have gone missing here, some say it's an entrance to another dimension." Marius is leading a traveler on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here go back centuries – the grove is titled for a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a round opening in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But rest assured," he adds, addressing the visitor with a smile. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, shamans, ufologists and paranormal investigators from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being among the planet's leading hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are pushing for permission to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Barring a few hectares home to locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the initiative he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, encouraging the government officials to recognise the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

While branches and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, the guide tells numerous folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale tells of a little girl going missing during a family picnic, only to return after five years with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a single day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Feelings vary from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Some people report observing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, numerous elements clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose trunks are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to clarify the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased radioactivity in the ground account for their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's walks enable guests to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the trees where Barnea took his renowned UFO pictures, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

"We're entering the most powerful part of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation abruptly end as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the result of people.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a area which inspires creativity, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise nearby villages.

The famous author's famous vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building situated on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – appears tangible and comprehensible compared to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for causes radioactive, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," Marius says, "the line between fact and fiction is extremely fine."