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"They call this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation creating clouds of condensation in the crisp evening air. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of strange happenings here extend back hundreds of years – the grove is titled for a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a UFO hovering above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, facing the traveler with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the forest is under threat. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the innovation center of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are campaigning for approval to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area home to regionally uncommon oak varieties, the forest is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the company he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the authorities to recognise the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, Marius recounts various traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child disappearing during a family picnic, later to reappear half a decade later with complete amnesia of her experience, showing no signs of aging a day, her garments lacking the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Frequent accounts detail smartphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings include absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
• Some people claim noticing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving ghostly voices through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

While many of the tales may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is undeniably strange. All around are trees whose stems are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to explain the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radioactivity in the soil explain their crooked growth.

But research studies have found inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

Marius's tours enable participants to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the clearing in the woods where Barnea took his well-known UFO pictures, he hands his guest an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

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

The trees abruptly end as we emerge into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the work of people.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a area which inspires creativity, where the line is indistinct between fact and folklore. In countryside villages faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing creatures, who rise from their graves to frighten local communities.

The famous author's renowned vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building perched on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But even legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for reasons related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the division between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."