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"They call this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation forming wisps of condensation in the crisp night air. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – the forest 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 international attention in 1968, when a military technician called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object hovering above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he states, addressing his guest with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from worldwide, curious to experience the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, described as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and developers are campaigning for authorization to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Barring a limited section containing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the company he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, encouraging the authorities to acknowledge the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their footwear, the guide tells various traditional stories and reported ghostly incidents here.

• One famous story recounts a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, then to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of the events, without aging a single day, her garments shy of the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings range from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Some people report noticing unusual marks on their arms, perceiving ghostly voices through the woodland, or sense palms pushing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. All around are vegetation whose bases are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the soil account for their strange formation.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's walks enable participants to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the opening in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO pictures, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which detects EMF readings.

"We're stepping into the most energetic area of the forest," he says. "See what you can find."

The vegetation abruptly end as we emerge into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this unusual opening is organic, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a location which stirs the imagination, where the line is indistinct between truth and myth. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise local communities.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure located on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But even folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors nuclear, climatic or simply folkloric, a center for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the division between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."