"They call this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states a local guide, his exhalation creating clouds of vapor in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "So many people have vanished here, it's thought it's an entrance to another dimension." This expert is leading a guest on a evening stroll through what is often described as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient local woods on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.
Centuries of Mystery
Accounts of strange happenings here go back hundreds of years – this woodland is called after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the far-off times, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when a defense worker called Emil Barnea took a picture of what he claimed was a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.
Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he adds, addressing the visitor with a grin. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."
In the decades since, Hoia-Baciu has drawn yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from around the globe, interested in encountering the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.
Modern Threats
It may be among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for lovers of the paranormal, the grove is facing danger. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of more than 400,000 people, called the Silicon Valley of the region – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for approval to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.
Except for a limited section containing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is lacking legal protection, but Marius is confident that the organization he co-founded – a local conservation effort – will help to change that, encouraging the authorities to acknowledge the forest's significance as a visitor destination.
Spooky Experiences
When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide describes numerous traditional stories and reported supernatural events here.
- A popular tale describes a young child disappearing during a family outing, only to reappear after five years with no recollection of what had happened, showing no signs of aging a day, her clothes lacking the smallest trace of dirt.
- Regular stories detail mobile phones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
- Emotional responses vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
- Various visitors report seeing unusual marks on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the forest, or feel palms pushing 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 plants whose bases are curved and contorted into fantastical shapes.
Multiple explanations have been given to account for the deformed trees: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the soil cause their unusual development.
But scientific investigations have turned up no satisfactory evidence.
The Notorious Meadow
The guide's excursions enable visitors to take part in a small-scale research of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the forest where Barnea photographed his renowned UFO images, he hands the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which registers EMF readings.
"We're entering the most energetic area of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."
The trees abruptly end as they step into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's clear that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is natural, not the work of people.
Fact Versus Fiction
This part of Romania is a area which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between reality and legend. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting bloodsuckers, who return from burial sites to haunt nearby villages.
The famous author's renowned fictional vampire is forever associated with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure perched on a cliff edge in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".
But including folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus the haunted grove, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for fantasy projection.
"Inside these woods," Marius states, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is very thin."
