🔗 Share this article

"People refer to this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating clouds of condensation in the crisp night air. "So many visitors have gone missing here, it's thought there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is leading a visitor on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of unusual events here date back hundreds of years – the forest is called after a area shepherd who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea captured on film what he reported as a flying saucer suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But no need to fear," he continues, addressing his guest with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the unusual forces said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

It may be among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the forest is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are pushing for permission to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a limited section housing regionally uncommon specific tree species, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius believes that the company he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the local administrators to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius recounts various local legends and alleged ghostly incidents here.

• A popular tale recounts a little girl vanishing during a group gathering, then to reappear half a decade later with no memory of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire without the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts explain mobile phones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on venturing inside.
• Emotional responses include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Certain individuals claim observing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, detecting disembodied whispers through the woodland, or sense hands grabbing them, although sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, there is much before my eyes that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are vegetation whose bases are bent and twisted into unusual forms.

Different theories have been given to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or naturally high radiation levels in the earth account for their unusual development.

But formal examinations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's tours enable guests to engage in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the opening in the woods where Barnea took his famous UFO images, he passes his guest an EMF meter which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're venturing into the most active section of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation suddenly stop dead as we emerge into a complete ring. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and seems that this strange clearing is natural, not the work of human hands.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a area which stirs the imagination, where the line is unclear between reality and legend. In traditional settlements superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.

The famous author's famous fictional vampire is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a medieval building perched on a rocky outcrop in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "Dracula's Castle".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – seems solid and predictable in contrast to the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for causes radioactive, environmental or entirely legendary, a hub for fantasy projection.

"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the line between fact and fiction is very thin."