🔗 Share this article

"Locals dub this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," remarks a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating wisps of vapor in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "So many visitors have vanished here, many believe there's a gateway to a different realm." Marius is escorting a visitor on a evening stroll through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly woodland: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of primeval local woods on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

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 far-off times, accompanied by his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu came to global recognition in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a flying saucer hovering above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Countless ventured inside and failed to return. But don't worry," he states, facing his guest with a grin. "Our tours have a 100% return rate."

In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, shamans, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the unusual forces believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the grove is at risk. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of over 400,000 residents, called the Silicon Valley of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and real estate firms are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Except for a few hectares housing regionally uncommon specific tree species, this woodland is not officially protected, but Marius believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the government officials to appreciate the forest's significance as a tourist attraction.

Chilling Events

While branches and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, Marius recounts numerous traditional stories and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account recounts a five-year-old girl disappearing during a family outing, only to return after five years with no recollection of her experience, having not aged a single day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of soil.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and camera equipment mysteriously turning off on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions range from complete terror to states of ecstasy.
• Some people report observing unusual marks on their bodies, hearing ghostly voices through the woodland, or feel hands grabbing them, even when sure they are alone.

Scientific Investigations

While many of the tales may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements visibly present that is definitely bizarre. All around are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into bizarre configurations.

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have altered the growth, or typically increased radiation levels in the ground account for their crooked growth.

But research studies have found insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's excursions allow guests to participate in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the trees where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO photographs, he passes his guest an EMF meter which registers energy patterns.

"We're stepping into the most active part of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."

The vegetation immediately cease as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's clear that it's naturally occurring, and appears that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of human hands.

Fact Versus Fiction

Transylvania generally is a location which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In traditional settlements faith continues in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, form-changing bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities.

Bram Stoker's renowned character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith located on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is keenly marketed as "the vampire's home".

But including folklore-rich Transylvania – literally, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible in contrast to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for factors related to radiation, climatic or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy.

"Inside these woods," the guide comments, "the division between reality and imagination is extremely fine."