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"They call this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his exhalation forming wisps of vapor in the chilly evening air. "Countless people have vanished here, many believe it's a portal to a different realm." This expert is escorting a visitor on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of unusual events here go back centuries – this woodland is called after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a UFO floating above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he states, turning to the visitor with a smirk. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from worldwide, eager to feel the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, called the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and developers are campaigning for permission to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a small area housing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he helped establish – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the local administrators to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, Marius describes various folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• One famous story describes a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family picnic, only to return after five years with no memory of what had happened, having not aged a day, her garments without the smallest trace of soil.
• Frequent accounts describe cellphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses range from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Some people claim observing unusual marks on their bodies, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or feel palms pushing them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be hard to prove, there is much before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose bases are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Different theories have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the soil explain their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's excursions allow visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the clearing in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO photographs, he passes the visitor an ghost-hunting device which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most powerful part of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a flawless round. The single plant life is the short grass beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this unusual opening is wild, not the result of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the border is indistinct between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering vampires, who emerge from tombs to terrorise local communities.

The famous author's well-known vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building perched on a stone formation in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – seems tangible and comprehensible compared to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for reasons nuclear, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is extremely fine."