🔗 Share this article

"Locals dub this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, the air from his lungs producing wisps of vapor in the cold evening air. "Numerous visitors have gone missing here, it's thought it's a portal to a different realm." The guide is leading a visitor on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Stories of unusual events here date back a long time – the grove is titled for a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, together with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a UFO hovering above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he adds, facing his guest with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from worldwide, curious to experience the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

It may be one of the world's premier destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of more than 400,000 people, called the innovation center of the region – are expanding, and developers are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Aside from a limited section home to regionally uncommon specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but Marius believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the government officials to recognise the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide describes some of the traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a young child going missing during a group gathering, then to return five years later with no recollection of the events, having not aged a moment, her clothes without the slightest speck of dust.
• More common reports detail smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings include complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals claim observing strange rashes on their skin, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or sense fingers clutching them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the stories may be unverifiable, there is much visibly present that is certainly unusual. Throughout the area are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been given to explain the misshapen plants: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or typically increased electromagnetic fields in the earth cause their strange formation.

But formal examinations have discovered no satisfactory evidence.

The Notorious Meadow

The expert's walks permit participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the clearing in the forest where Barnea captured his well-known UFO images, he gives his guest an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most powerful area of the forest," he comments. "Discover what's here."

The vegetation immediately cease as we emerge into a perfect circle. The only greenery is the short grass beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this unusual opening is natural, not the creation of landscaping.

The Blurred Line

Transylvania generally is a area which stirs the imagination, where the division is blurred between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to terrorise local communities.

Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – feels solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for reasons radioactive, climatic or entirely legendary, a hub for creative energy.

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