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"Locals dub this location an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath forming puffs of condensation in the cold evening air. "Countless visitors have vanished here, it's thought it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is leading a visitor on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the globe's spookiest grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

A Long History of the Unexplained

Reports of unusual events here extend back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a flying saucer floating above a round opening in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he states, facing his guest with a smile. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, curious to experience the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be a top global hotspots for supernatural fans, the forest is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, known as the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are advocating for approval to clear the trees to construct residential buildings.

Barring a few hectares containing area-specific oak varieties, the forest is lacking legal protection, but Marius hopes that the initiative he co-founded – a dedicated preservation group – will contribute to improving the situation, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's value as a tourist attraction.

Eerie Encounters

As twigs and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their boots, Marius describes some of the traditional stories and claimed supernatural events here.

• A well-known account recounts a young child vanishing during a family outing, only to return five years later with complete amnesia of the events, showing no signs of aging a moment, her clothes without the tiniest bit of soil.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses range from complete terror to feelings of joy.
• Some people state seeing unusual marks on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the trees, or feel hands grabbing them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Study Attempts

Despite several of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements clearly observable that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been suggested to account for the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have bent the saplings, or naturally high radiation levels in the earth cause their unusual development.

But scientific investigations have discovered insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The guide's walks permit guests to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea captured his renowned UFO images, he hands the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.

"We're venturing into the most active section of the forest," he comments. "See what you can find."

The trees abruptly end as the group enters into a flawless round. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this unusual opening is wild, not the creation of people.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a area which inspires creativity, where the line is indistinct between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who rise from their graves to terrorise nearby villages.

The famous author's well-known vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is keenly marketed as "the count's residence".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible in contrast to these eerie woods, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, environmental or entirely legendary, a hub for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," the guide comments, "the line between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."