Exploring this Globe's Spookiest Grove: Gnarled Trees, UFOs and Chilling Accounts in Transylvania.

"Locals dub this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a local guide, the air from his lungs creating puffs of condensation in the chilly evening air. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, many believe there's a gateway to another dimension." The guide is leading a visitor on a evening stroll through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth native woodland on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Accounts of unusual events here go back centuries – this woodland is titled for a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object hovering above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, facing the traveler with a smile. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, ufologists and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, this woodland is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the tech capital of eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are advocating for authorization to clear the trees to erect housing complexes.

Except for a few hectares home to locally rare specific tree species, this woodland is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the company he helped establish – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the government officials to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their footwear, Marius tells various folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a five-year-old girl disappearing during a group gathering, then to reappear five years later with complete amnesia of the events, without aging a single day, her garments lacking the tiniest bit of dirt.
• Regular stories detail smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Reactions range from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors state seeing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving ghostly voices through the woodland, or feel palms pushing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the stories may be unverifiable, numerous elements visibly present that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been given to clarify the abnormal growth: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the earth explain their strange formation.

But scientific investigations have discovered insufficient proof.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's tours allow visitors to engage in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the meadow in the woods where Barnea captured his well-known UFO images, he passes his guest an electromagnetic field detector which measures EMF readings.

"We're venturing into the most active part of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a complete ring. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the result of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

The broader region is a area which inspires creativity, where the border is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to frighten nearby villages.

The famous author's famous character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith situated on a stone formation in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the place beyond the forest" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes nuclear, environmental or simply folkloric, a hub for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide states, "the line between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."