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"People refer to this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs producing puffs of mist in the cold dusk atmosphere. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, it's thought it's a portal to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of strange happenings here extend back hundreds of years – the grove is titled for a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained global recognition in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But don't worry," he continues, turning to the traveler with a grin. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being one of the world's premier hotspots for supernatural fans, this woodland is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Barring a small area containing locally rare oak varieties, the forest is not officially protected, but the guide hopes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide describes various local legends and reported paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account describes a little girl disappearing during a family outing, later to return after five years with no memory of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a single day, her clothes shy of the tiniest bit of soil.
• More common reports explain smartphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Reactions include absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals claim observing unusual marks on their bodies, perceiving unseen murmurs through the trees, or experience fingers clutching them, despite being sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the tales may be impossible to confirm, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. All around are plants whose stems are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Various suggestions have been given to explain the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the ground account for their unusual development.

But formal examinations have found no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's excursions enable participants to engage in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the opening in the woods where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he passes the visitor an EMF meter which measures EMF readings.

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

The trees abruptly end as they step into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this strange clearing is organic, not the work of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a area which fuels fantasy, where the line is blurred between truth and myth. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting creatures, who rise from their graves to terrorise nearby villages.

The novelist's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – feels solid and predictable compared to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for causes related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius comments, "the division between fact and fiction is very thin."