🔗 Share this article

"Locals dub this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his exhalation producing wisps of mist in the crisp evening air. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, many believe there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is leading a visitor on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval local woods on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Stories of unusual events here go back a long time – this woodland is named after a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the far-off times, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when an army specialist called Emil Barnea photographed what he claimed was a flying saucer hovering above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But don't worry," he continues, turning to the visitor with a grin. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and supernatural researchers from across the world, eager to feel the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for paranormal enthusiasts, the forest is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, called the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are pushing for approval to cut down the woods to construct residential buildings.

Except for a small area housing regionally uncommon Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the company he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the government officials to acknowledge the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their footwear, the guide describes some of the folk tales and claimed supernatural events here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl going missing during a group gathering, later to rematerialise five years later with complete amnesia of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a single day, her garments without the tiniest bit of soil.
• More common reports explain cellphones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on entering the woods.
• Feelings range from absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Some people claim noticing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, perceiving ghostly voices through the woodland, or sense fingers clutching them, despite being convinced they're by themselves.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to account for the abnormal growth: strong gales could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth account for their strange formation.

But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's walks permit guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he passes the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

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

The trees immediately cease as we emerge into a complete ring. The only greenery is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's not maintained, and looks that this unusual opening is wild, not the work of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which fuels fantasy, where the border is unclear between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing creatures, who return from burial sites to terrorise local communities.

The famous author's renowned character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building perched on a stone formation 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 the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for causes nuclear, environmental or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"Within this forest," the guide comments, "the boundary between reality and imagination is extremely fine."