🔗 Share this article

"Locals dub this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his breath forming wisps of mist in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Numerous visitors have gone missing here, some say it's a portal to another dimension." Marius is guiding a traveler on a evening stroll through what is often described as the globe's spookiest forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval indigenous forest on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of bizarre occurrences here date back a long time – the grove is called after a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the far-off times, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a flying saucer suspended above a oval meadow in the middle of the forest.

Many came in here and failed to return. But no need to fear," he states, facing the traveler with a smirk. "Our excursions have a flawless completion rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, shamans, UFO researchers and paranormal investigators from worldwide, interested in encountering the strange energies said to echo through the forest.

Current Risks

Although it is among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are advancing, and developers are campaigning for permission to remove the forest to construct residential buildings.

Barring a small area containing area-specific specific tree species, the grove is lacking legal protection, but the guide hopes that the company he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's importance as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

As twigs and seasonal debris snap and crunch beneath their boots, the guide tells various traditional stories and alleged supernatural events here.

• A popular tale describes a five-year-old girl vanishing during a group gathering, then to reappear after five years with complete amnesia of the events, having not aged a single day, her garments without the smallest trace of soil.
• Frequent accounts explain mobile phones and imaging devices mysteriously turning off on entering the woods.
• Reactions range from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
• Certain individuals claim noticing strange rashes on their bodies, detecting unseen murmurs through the trees, or sense fingers clutching them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

Despite several of the tales may be unverifiable, there are many things clearly observable that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are trees whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to account for the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the ground explain their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have turned up insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

The expert's walks allow guests to take part in a little scientific inquiry of their own. When nearing the meadow in the forest where Barnea captured his renowned UFO photographs, he hands his guest an EMF meter which registers energy patterns.

"We're entering the most energetic part of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath our feet; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this bizarre meadow is natural, not the work of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

This part of Romania is a location which fuels fantasy, where the border is blurred between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting creatures, who rise from their graves to terrorise local communities.

Bram Stoker's well-known character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith located on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".

But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – seems real and understandable versus the haunted grove, which give the impression of being, for reasons radioactive, climatic or purely mythical, a hub for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius states, "the line between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."