"People refer to this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, his breath producing wisps of condensation in the chilly dusk atmosphere. "Countless visitors have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a traveler on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth native woodland on the fringes of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.
A Long History of the Unexplained
Reports of strange happenings here go back centuries – this woodland is called after a area shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea photographed what he described as a UFO suspended above a round opening in the heart of the forest.
Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, addressing the visitor with a smirk. "Our tours have a perfect safety record."
In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from around the globe, eager to feel the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.
Contemporary Dangers
Despite being one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, called the innovation center of eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are advocating for authorization to remove the forest to build apartment blocks.
Except for a few hectares home to regionally uncommon oak varieties, this woodland is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the organization he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, encouraging the authorities to recognise the forest's value as a tourist attraction.
Eerie Encounters
As twigs and autumn leaves split and rustle beneath their boots, Marius describes various traditional stories and alleged paranormal happenings here.
- One famous story describes a young child going missing during a family picnic, then to return five years later with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of dust.
- Regular stories describe smartphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
- Emotional responses vary from absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
- Certain individuals claim noticing unusual marks on their bodies, perceiving disembodied whispers through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, even when sure they are alone.
Study Attempts
While many of the stories may be unverifiable, there is much clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into unusual forms.
Various suggestions have been proposed to clarify the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radioactivity in the ground cause their strange formation.
But formal examinations have found insufficient proof.
The Legendary Opening
The expert's tours enable guests to engage in a modest investigation of their own. When nearing the meadow in the trees where Barnea photographed his famous UFO photographs, he passes the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which registers energy patterns.
"We're venturing into the most active section of the forest," he says. "Discover what's here."
The plants suddenly stop dead as the group enters into a complete ring. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it hasn't been mown, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the work of landscaping.
Fact Versus Fiction
This part of Romania is a location which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between truth and myth. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering vampires, who emerge from tombs to terrorise regional populations.
Bram Stoker's famous vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the legendary fortress – an ancient structure situated on a rocky outcrop in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "Dracula's Castle".
But even myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – appears real and understandable compared to the haunted grove, which appear to be, for reasons related to radiation, atmospheric or purely mythical, a center for human imaginative power.
"Inside these woods," Marius says, "the boundary between reality and imagination is very thin."
