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"They call this spot a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs forming clouds of mist in the crisp evening air. "Numerous visitors have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to a different realm." This expert is guiding a traveler on a nocturnal tour through commonly known as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of ancient local woods on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of unusual events here go back centuries – this woodland is called after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, along with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a flying saucer floating above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and never came out. But no need to fear," he adds, turning to the visitor with a smile. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has brought in meditation experts, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Despite being a top global destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is under threat. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are expanding, and real estate firms are pushing for permission to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.

Aside from a few hectares containing area-specific oak varieties, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

While branches and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide tells numerous local legends and reported supernatural events here.

• A well-known account tells of a young child going missing during a family picnic, later to return after five years with no recollection of the events, showing no signs of aging a moment, her garments without the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts describe mobile phones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report observing strange rashes on their bodies, hearing disembodied whispers through the forest, or feel fingers clutching them, although sure they are alone.

Study Attempts

Although numerous of the accounts may be hard to prove, there is much clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose stems are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Various suggestions have been suggested to clarify the deformed trees: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radioactivity in the earth explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours allow guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the opening in the woods where Barnea took his renowned UFO photographs, he passes his guest an ghost-hunting device which registers energy patterns.

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

The trees suddenly stop dead as they step 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 unusual opening is wild, not the work of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a location which fuels fantasy, where the line is indistinct between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to haunt nearby villages.

The novelist's famous fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – a Saxon monolith located on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – appears tangible and comprehensible in contrast to the haunted grove, which seem to be, for reasons nuclear, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a nexus for human imaginative power.

"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the line between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."