🔗 Share this article Delving into the World's Most Haunted Forest: Twisted Trees, UFOs and Spooky Stories in Romania's Legendary Region. "Locals dub this spot an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, his breath forming wisps of mist in the chilly night air. "Numerous people have disappeared here, it's thought there's a gateway to a different realm." Marius is escorting a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a section spanning 640 acres of old-growth native woodland on the outskirts of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca. Centuries of Mystery Stories of strange happenings here date back hundreds of years – the forest is titled for a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, accompanied by two hundred animals. But Hoia-Baciu achieved global recognition in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a flying saucer suspended above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest. Countless ventured inside and vanished without trace. But no need to fear," he continues, facing the visitor with a smile. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate." In the time after, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, extraterrestrial investigators and ghost hunters from across the world, eager to feel the mysterious powers said to echo through the forest. Contemporary Dangers Despite being one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, called the tech capital of Eastern Europe – are expanding, and developers are pushing for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks. Except for a few hectares containing area-specific oak varieties, this woodland is without conservation status, but Marius believes that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's value as a tourist attraction. Chilling Events As twigs and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide recounts various local legends and claimed supernatural events here. A well-known account tells of a young child disappearing during a family outing, then to reappear half a decade later with complete amnesia of the events, showing no signs of aging a day, her clothes shy of the slightest speck of dust. More common reports explain smartphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest. Feelings vary from absolute fear to moments of euphoria. Various visitors report seeing unusual marks on their skin, perceiving disembodied whispers through the forest, or sense hands grabbing them, although certain nobody is nearby. Study Attempts Despite several of the stories may be impossible to confirm, numerous elements visibly present that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes. Various suggestions have been suggested to explain the abnormal growth: strong gales could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated radioactivity in the earth account for their unusual development. But research studies have turned up insufficient proof. The Legendary Opening Marius's walks enable participants to take part in a small-scale research of their own. When nearing the opening in the trees where Barnea took his well-known UFO images, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields. "We're venturing into the most active section of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something." The plants immediately cease as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the result of human hands. Between Reality and Imagination This part of Romania is a area which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing vampires, who return from burial sites to haunt local communities. The novelist's renowned character Dracula is forever associated with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the count's residence". But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – feels tangible and comprehensible versus this spooky forest, which appear to be, for reasons radioactive, atmospheric or entirely legendary, a center for creative energy. "In Hoia-Baciu," the guide states, "the boundary between fact and fiction is remarkably blurred."