Delving into this World's Most Haunted Woodland: Twisted Trees, UFOs and Chilling Accounts in Transylvania.

"People refer to this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a local guide, his exhalation producing clouds of vapor in the cold night air. "Countless visitors have vanished here, some say there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is escorting a traveler on a night walk through commonly known as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of unusual events here go back a long time – the forest is called after a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, along with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a flying saucer suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and failed to return. But rest assured," he adds, addressing his guest with a smile. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, curious to experience the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Although it is a top global pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, this woodland is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of a population exceeding 400,000, called the innovation center of the region – are advancing, and developers are advocating for permission to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area housing regionally uncommon specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's value as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

While branches and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their footwear, Marius recounts some of the folk tales and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A popular tale recounts a little girl going missing during a family picnic, only to return half a decade later with complete amnesia of what had happened, having not aged a moment, her attire without the tiniest bit of dust.
• Regular stories detail smartphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Some people state observing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense palms pushing them, even when certain nobody is nearby.

Research Efforts

While many of the stories may be hard to prove, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are trees whose bases are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Different theories have been proposed to explain the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radioactivity in the earth cause their strange formation.

But research studies have turned up inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

Marius's excursions allow visitors to take part in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the clearing in the woods where Barnea captured his renowned UFO images, he gives his guest an EMF meter which detects energy patterns.

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

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath the ground; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and looks that this strange clearing is wild, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

The famous author's famous character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the land past the woods" – feels real and understandable versus this spooky forest, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a hub for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide says, "the division between reality and imagination is very thin."