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"People refer to this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation creating puffs of mist in the cold evening air. "Countless people have disappeared here, many believe it's an entrance to another dimension." Marius is leading a guest on a evening stroll through commonly known as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth local woods on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of unusual events here extend back a long time – the grove is called after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the centre of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, addressing his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, curious to experience the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, called the innovation center of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are pushing for authorization to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Aside from a few hectares containing regionally uncommon specific tree species, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to recognise the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide recounts some of the folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• One famous story tells of a young child going missing during a group gathering, then to reappear after five years with no recollection of the events, without aging a single day, her garments without the smallest trace of soil.
• Regular stories describe smartphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on venturing inside.
• Feelings vary from absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals state noticing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving unseen murmurs through the trees, or sense fingers clutching them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the tales may be unverifiable, there are many things before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to account for the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have shaped the young trees, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the ground explain their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have found insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's walks allow visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the trees where Barnea took his famous UFO pictures, he passes the traveler an ghost-hunting device which measures 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 the group enters into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the work of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten regional populations.

The novelist's well-known fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building situated on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – feels real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which appear to be, for factors radioactive, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," Marius states, "the line between reality and imagination is very thin."