🔗 Share this article

"They call this location the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," states a tour guide, his breath producing puffs of mist in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "So many visitors have gone missing here, many believe there's a gateway to another dimension." Marius is escorting a guest on a night walk through frequently labeled as the world's most haunted forest: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of ancient native woodland on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.

Hundreds of Years of Enigma

Accounts of bizarre occurrences here date back hundreds of years – the forest is named after a area shepherd who is said to have vanished in the long ago, accompanied by 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 claimed was a flying saucer hovering above a round opening in the heart of the forest.

Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he continues, addressing the visitor with a grin. "Our guided walks have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted meditation experts, spiritual healers, ufologists and supernatural researchers from across the world, interested in encountering the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.

Current Risks

Despite being among the planet's leading destinations for lovers of the paranormal, this woodland is at risk. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of a population exceeding 400,000, called the tech capital of the region – are encroaching, and construction companies are campaigning for approval to cut down the woods to build apartment blocks.

Barring a limited section housing regionally uncommon Mediterranean oak trees, the grove is not officially protected, but Marius is confident that the organization he co-founded – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will assist in altering this, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's importance as a visitor destination.

Eerie Encounters

When small sticks and fall foliage split and rustle beneath their footwear, Marius recounts numerous traditional stories and alleged paranormal happenings here.

• A well-known account recounts a little girl vanishing during a family outing, only to reappear after five years with no recollection of what had happened, without aging a day, her clothes without the slightest speck of dust.
• Frequent accounts explain cellphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
• Emotional responses include full-blown dread to moments of euphoria.
• Some people report seeing bizarre skin irritations on their arms, detecting ghostly voices through the trees, or feel palms pushing them, despite being sure they are alone.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the accounts may be impossible to confirm, there is much visibly present that is definitely bizarre. Everywhere you look are trees whose trunks are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.

Multiple explanations have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or inherently elevated electromagnetic fields in the ground cause their crooked growth.

But formal examinations have discovered inconclusive results.

The Famous Clearing

The expert's tours allow guests to engage in a small-scale research of their own. As we approach the clearing in the trees where Barnea photographed his well-known UFO images, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which detects EMF readings.

"We're entering the most energetic area of the forest," he says. "See what you can find."

The plants abruptly end as the group enters into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the short grass beneath their shoes; it's apparent that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the result of people.

The Blurred Line

This part of Romania is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is blurred between reality and legend. In rural Romanian communities belief persists in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, appearance-altering bloodsuckers, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is always connected with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a medieval building located on a stone formation in the mountain range – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But despite folklore-rich Transylvania – truly, "the territory after the grove" – appears solid and predictable in contrast to this spooky forest, which seem to be, for reasons related to radiation, environmental or simply folkloric, a nexus for creative energy.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius comments, "the line between fact and fiction is very thin."