🔗 Share this article

"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his exhalation forming clouds of condensation in the cold dusk atmosphere. "So many individuals have gone missing here, many believe it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is guiding a guest on a nocturnal tour through what is often described as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval local woods on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Accounts of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – the forest is called after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea photographed what he reported as a unidentified flying object suspended above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he states, facing the traveler with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, ufologists and ghost hunters from across the world, interested in encountering the strange energies reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being among the planet's leading hotspots for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of more than 400,000 people, described as the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are expanding, and construction companies are campaigning for permission to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Except for a limited section housing area-specific specific tree species, this woodland is not officially protected, but Marius believes that the initiative he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will contribute to improving the situation, motivating the local administrators to recognise the forest's value as a travel hotspot.

Chilling Events

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their footwear, the guide tells numerous traditional stories and reported supernatural events here.

• A popular tale recounts a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, then to return five years later with complete amnesia of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her clothes without the slightest speck of dirt.
• Regular stories describe smartphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
• Reactions range from full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
• Certain individuals report observing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, perceiving unseen murmurs through the woodland, or feel palms pushing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

While many of the accounts may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is definitely bizarre. Throughout the area are trees whose trunks are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the earth cause their unusual development.

But formal examinations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's excursions enable participants to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the opening in the trees where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO photographs, he passes his guest an EMF meter which measures energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most energetic part of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."

The trees abruptly end as we emerge into a complete ring. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath the ground; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

The broader region is a location which stirs the imagination, where the division is indistinct between reality and legend. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing vampires, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a medieval building perched on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – seems solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for causes nuclear, climatic or entirely legendary, a nexus for fantasy projection.

"Within this forest," the guide states, "the line between reality and imagination is extremely fine."