🔗 Share this article Venturing into this Globe's Spookiest Forest: Contorted Trees, UFOs and Eerie Tales in Romania's Legendary Region. "They call this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a local guide, his breath producing wisps of condensation in the cold evening air. "Countless people have vanished here, some say there's a gateway to a parallel world." This expert is leading a traveler on a evening stroll through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of old-growth indigenous forest on the outskirts of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca. Hundreds of Years of Enigma Accounts of bizarre occurrences here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is titled for a regional herder who is believed to have disappeared in the long ago, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the heart of the forest. Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he adds, facing his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a perfect safety record." In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yogis, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest. Contemporary Dangers It may be a top global pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, known as the tech capital of the region – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for approval to clear the trees to erect housing complexes. Barring a limited section containing locally rare oak varieties, the forest is without conservation status, but Marius believes that the company he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, persuading the government officials to recognise the forest's value as a visitor destination. Spooky Experiences While branches and seasonal debris split and rustle beneath their shoes, Marius tells some of the folk tales and alleged ghostly incidents here. A popular tale recounts a young child vanishing during a family picnic, later to return half a decade later with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a single day, her clothes without the smallest trace of dust. More common reports explain smartphones and photography gear mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest. Emotional responses range from absolute fear to states of ecstasy. Various visitors report noticing strange rashes on their skin, hearing ghostly voices through the forest, or sense hands grabbing them, although convinced they're by themselves. Scientific Investigations While many of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements visibly present that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose trunks are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations. Different theories have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: strong gales could have altered the growth, or naturally high radioactivity in the ground cause their strange formation. But formal examinations have turned up no satisfactory evidence. The Legendary Opening Marius's tours allow participants to participate in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the opening in the woods where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he passes the traveler an ghost-hunting device which measures electromagnetic fields. "We're entering the most powerful section of the forest," he says. "See what you can find." The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is wild, not the work of landscaping. Fact Versus Fiction Transylvania generally is a place which stirs the imagination, where the division is unclear between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages. Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure located on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "the vampire's home". But including legend-filled Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – feels real and understandable in contrast to this spooky forest, which appear to be, for reasons nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a center for creative energy. "In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the division between fact and fiction is extremely fine."