Exploring this Globe's Spookiest Woodland: Contorted Trees, UFOs and Spooky Stories in Transylvania.

"People refer to this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, his exhalation creating puffs of condensation in the crisp night air. "Countless visitors have gone missing here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." The guide is leading a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the globe's spookiest woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient native woodland on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back centuries – the forest is titled for a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and never came out. But rest assured," he adds, addressing the traveler with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from around the globe, curious to experience the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, called the Silicon Valley of the region – are expanding, and construction companies are pushing for approval to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Barring a small area home to locally rare specific tree species, this woodland is without conservation status, but Marius hopes that the company he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the local administrators to recognise the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their footwear, Marius describes numerous folk tales and reported ghostly incidents here.

• A well-known account describes a little girl vanishing during a family outing, later to rematerialise after five years with no recollection of the events, having not aged a single day, her garments without the smallest trace of soil.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions range from absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Various visitors claim observing unusual marks on their bodies, detecting unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, although convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been given to account for the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radioactivity in the soil account for their crooked growth.

But research studies have discovered inconclusive results.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's tours allow guests to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the clearing in the trees where Barnea took his well-known UFO pictures, he passes the traveler an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

"We're entering the most energetic area of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."

The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this strange clearing is wild, not the result of people.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a location which stirs the imagination, where the line is indistinct between fact and folklore. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities.

The novelist's well-known vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure situated on a cliff edge in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – seems tangible and comprehensible in contrast to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for human imaginative power.

"Within this forest," the guide comments, "the division between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."