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

"They call this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath producing wisps of vapor in the crisp night air. "Countless visitors have gone missing here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." The guide is escorting a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of unusual events here extend back centuries – the grove is titled for a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But no need to fear," he continues, turning to the traveler with a grin. "Our guided walks have a flawless completion rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for authorization to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Barring a few hectares home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the organization he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius tells numerous local legends and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account tells of a young child going missing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise after five years with no memory of her experience, having not aged a moment, her attire shy of the smallest trace of soil.
• More common reports detail smartphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report noticing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, detecting unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

While many of the stories may be hard to prove, numerous elements visibly present that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are plants whose stems are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been given to clarify the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high radioactivity in the ground account for their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have turned up inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's tours enable participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which detects EMF readings.

"We're entering the most energetic part of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The trees abruptly end as the group enters into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and seems that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a place which inspires creativity, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise nearby villages.

Bram Stoker's renowned character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors radioactive, atmospheric or simply folkloric, a center for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide says, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."