🔗 Share this article

"They call this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a tour guide, his exhalation producing clouds of mist in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "So many people have vanished here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." This expert is guiding a visitor on a evening stroll through commonly known as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the fringes of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is named after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, along with two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a flying saucer suspended above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he continues, addressing his guest with a smile. "Our tours have a flawless completion rate."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has drawn meditation experts, shamans, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Contemporary Dangers

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for supernatural fans, the forest is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of a population exceeding 400,000, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and construction companies are campaigning for authorization to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Barring a small area home to area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide believes that the initiative he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will help to change that, persuading the authorities to appreciate the forest's significance as a travel hotspot.

Spooky Experiences

As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide describes various traditional stories and claimed paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account tells of a young child vanishing during a group gathering, only to rematerialise half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, without aging a single day, her attire shy of the smallest trace of dirt.
• Regular stories explain mobile phones and camera equipment unexpectedly failing on stepping into the forest.
• Feelings include absolute fear to feelings of joy.
• Some people report observing strange rashes on their bodies, perceiving ghostly voices through the forest, or experience hands grabbing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be unverifiable, there is much before my eyes that is undeniably strange. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into bizarre configurations.

Multiple explanations have been given to clarify the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the soil account for their crooked growth.

But scientific investigations have discovered insufficient proof.

The Famous Clearing

The guide's walks enable visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the clearing in the woods where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he hands his guest an electromagnetic field detector which detects EMF readings.

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

The trees abruptly end as they step into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the short grass beneath the ground; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and appears that this unusual opening is organic, not the work of landscaping.

Between Reality and Imagination

Transylvania generally is a location which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between fact and folklore. In countryside villages belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise local communities.

The famous author's renowned fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure situated on a stone formation in the Carpathian Mountains – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable compared to this spooky forest, which appear to be, for reasons nuclear, environmental or purely mythical, a center for human imaginative power.

"In Hoia-Baciu," the guide comments, "the boundary between reality and imagination is extremely fine."