Delving into this World's Most Haunted Forest: Twisted Trees, Flying Saucers and Chilling Accounts in Romania's Legendary Region.

"People refer to this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a local guide, the air from his lungs creating wisps of condensation in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "Numerous people have gone missing here, it's thought it's a portal to a parallel world." Marius is escorting a guest on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here date back a long time – the forest is called after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a flying saucer floating above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But don't worry," he continues, facing the visitor with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be a top global hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, known as the tech capital of the region – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for authorization to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a few hectares containing area-specific oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the organization he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, motivating the government officials to recognise the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius tells some of the traditional stories and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale recounts a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, later to rematerialise half a decade later with no memory of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her garments shy of the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts describe mobile phones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Reactions vary from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim seeing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

Although numerous of the stories may be unverifiable, numerous elements visibly present that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are curved and contorted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to account for the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high radiation levels in the ground cause their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The guide's tours allow visitors to participate in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the clearing in the trees where Barnea captured his famous UFO photographs, he passes the visitor an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

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

The vegetation immediately cease as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this unusual opening is organic, not the work of human hands.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a place which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, form-changing creatures, who rise from their graves to haunt regional populations.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – an ancient structure located on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – seems real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius says, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."