Venturing into this Globe's Spookiest Woodland: Gnarled Trees, UFOs and Spooky Stories in Romania's Legendary Region.

"People refer to this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs producing puffs of vapor in the chilly evening air. "Countless individuals have disappeared here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is guiding a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the long ago, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he states, turning to the traveler with a smile. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from around the globe, curious to experience the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being a top global destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a few hectares containing locally rare specific tree species, the forest is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the government officials to recognise the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

While branches and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide tells some of the folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale tells of a little girl disappearing during a family picnic, then to return five years later with complete amnesia of her experience, having not aged a single day, her attire lacking the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses include complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals claim noticing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, hearing disembodied whispers through the forest, or feel palms pushing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the tales may be unverifiable, there are many things clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. All around are vegetation whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to account for the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased radiation levels in the earth account for their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's excursions permit visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the meadow in the forest where Barnea photographed his famous UFO images, he gives the traveler an EMF meter which measures EMF readings.

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

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and looks that this bizarre meadow is organic, not the result of human hands.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a place which stirs the imagination, where the line is unclear between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing vampires, who emerge from tombs to terrorise regional populations.

The novelist's famous fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – feels tangible and comprehensible compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for reasons nuclear, climatic or entirely legendary, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius comments, "the line between reality and imagination is extremely fine."