"Locals dub this place a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains a tour guide, the air from his lungs creating puffs of vapor in the chilly evening air. "So many people have disappeared here, some say there's a gateway to a parallel world." This expert is escorting a visitor on a nocturnal tour through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of primeval native woodland on the edges of the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca.
Centuries of Mystery
Reports of strange happenings here date back centuries – the forest is titled for a local shepherd who is reportedly went missing in the long ago, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu achieved worldwide fame in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.
Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, turning to the visitor with a grin. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."
In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, traditional medicine people, ufologists and paranormal investigators from across the world, interested in encountering the strange energies believed to resonate through the forest.
Contemporary Dangers
It may be one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the forest is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, described as the tech capital of eastern Europe – are encroaching, and developers are campaigning for authorization to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.
Barring a limited section containing regionally uncommon specific tree species, the forest is lacking legal protection, but the guide believes that the initiative he was instrumental in creating – the Hoia-Baciu Project – will contribute to improving the situation, encouraging the local administrators to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.
Chilling Events
As twigs and autumn leaves snap and crunch beneath their shoes, the guide describes some of the local legends and claimed ghostly incidents here.
- A popular tale recounts a little girl vanishing during a group gathering, only to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of her experience, showing no signs of aging a day, her attire without the smallest trace of dust.
- More common reports detail cellphones and imaging devices unexpectedly failing on venturing inside.
- Reactions vary from full-blown dread to states of ecstasy.
- Certain individuals claim noticing bizarre skin irritations on their bodies, perceiving unseen murmurs through the woodland, or experience palms pushing them, despite being certain nobody is nearby.
Study Attempts
While many of the tales may be unverifiable, numerous elements clearly observable that is certainly unusual. All around are trees whose stems are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.
Various suggestions have been proposed to clarify the misshapen plants: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high radiation levels in the earth explain their crooked growth.
But scientific investigations have found no satisfactory evidence.
The Legendary Opening
The guide's walks allow participants to take part in a modest investigation of their own. Upon reaching the meadow in the woods where Barnea took his famous UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an ghost-hunting device which registers energy patterns.
"We're venturing into the most energetic area of the forest," he states. "Try to detect something."
The trees suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The only greenery is the low vegetation beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it hasn't been mown, and seems that this bizarre meadow is wild, not the creation of human hands.
Fact Versus Fiction
The broader region is a location which inspires creativity, where the division is unclear between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, shapeshifting creatures, who emerge from tombs to terrorise regional populations.
Bram Stoker's famous character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – an ancient structure located on a rocky outcrop in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".
But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the land past the woods" – appears tangible and comprehensible compared to these eerie woods, which give the impression of being, for factors radioactive, atmospheric or purely mythical, a nexus for creative energy.
"Within this forest," the guide comments, "the division between truth and fantasy is very thin."
