Delving into the Globe's Spookiest Grove: Gnarled Trees, Unidentified Flying Objects and Chilling Accounts in Transylvania.

"People refer to this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating wisps of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Countless individuals have gone missing here, it's thought there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is escorting a traveler on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of unusual events here go back a long time – this woodland is called after a local shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a UFO hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, addressing the visitor with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, interested in encountering the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be a top global hotspots 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, known as the innovation center of eastern Europe – are advancing, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.

Except for a small area containing regionally uncommon Mediterranean oak trees, this woodland is without conservation status, but Marius is confident that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius recounts some of the local legends and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• One famous story tells of a young child vanishing during a family outing, then to return five years later with no memory of what had happened, without aging a single day, her attire without the tiniest bit of soil.
• Frequent accounts explain mobile phones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Feelings range from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim seeing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving unseen murmurs through the woodland, or feel hands grabbing them, although certain nobody is nearby.

Study Attempts

While many of the accounts may be unverifiable, numerous elements visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are vegetation whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to clarify the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the soil explain their crooked growth.

But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's tours allow participants to take part in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the meadow in the woods where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO images, he gives the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers EMF readings.

"We're entering the most energetic area of the forest," he says. "Try to detect something."

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the work of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

The broader region is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between reality and legend. In traditional settlements belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering vampires, who emerge from tombs to haunt nearby villages.

The famous author's well-known fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure perched on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – appears real and understandable in contrast to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, climatic or entirely legendary, a hub for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," the guide comments, "the boundary between fact and fiction is extremely fine."