Delving into the Globe's Spookiest Grove: Contorted Trees, Unidentified Flying Objects and Chilling Accounts in Romania's Legendary Region.

"People refer to this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a local guide, his exhalation forming wisps of mist in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Numerous people have disappeared here, many believe it's a portal to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a visitor on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of strange happenings here extend back centuries – the forest is named after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a UFO floating above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he states, facing the traveler with a smile. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, curious to experience the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Barring a limited section home to locally rare Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the authorities to recognise the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius describes some of the folk tales and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account describes a young child vanishing during a family picnic, later to return half a decade later with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a single day, her attire lacking the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Regular stories detail smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals state observing bizarre skin irritations on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the woodland, or feel palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are trees whose stems are curved and contorted into unusual forms.

Different theories have been proposed to account for the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high radiation levels in the ground explain their unusual development.

But research studies have turned up inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's excursions permit participants to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the opening in the woods where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an EMF meter which detects electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most energetic section of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The plants abruptly end as the group enters into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the creation of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a area which stirs the imagination, where the border is indistinct between truth and myth. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to terrorise regional populations.

The famous author's renowned vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith situated on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – seems tangible and comprehensible compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for reasons nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the line between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."