🔗 Share this article

"People refer to this place an enigmatic zone of Transylvania," states an experienced guide, the air from his lungs creating clouds of vapor in the chilly night air. "Numerous people have gone missing here, some say it's a portal to another dimension." This expert is guiding a visitor 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 indigenous forest on the fringes of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.

Centuries of Mystery

Reports of unusual events here extend back centuries – this woodland is named after a regional herder who is reportedly went missing in the distant past, together with his entire flock. But Hoia-Baciu achieved international attention in 1968, when a military technician named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he described as a flying saucer floating above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.

Many came in here and never came out. But rest assured," he continues, turning to his guest with a smirk. "Our excursions have a perfect safety record."

In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yoga practitioners, spiritual healers, UFO researchers and ghost hunters from worldwide, interested in encountering the mysterious powers believed to resonate through the forest.

Modern Threats

It may be a top global destinations for lovers of the paranormal, the forest is at risk. The western suburbs of Cluj-Napoca – a modern tech hub of over 400,000 residents, known as the Silicon Valley of the region – are expanding, and construction companies are advocating for approval to cut down the woods to erect housing complexes.

Except for a small area housing area-specific specific tree species, this woodland is without conservation status, but Marius is confident that the organization he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will assist in altering this, motivating the authorities to appreciate the forest's significance as a visitor destination.

Chilling Events

When small sticks and seasonal debris break and crackle beneath their boots, the guide recounts various folk tales and reported supernatural events here.

• A well-known account describes a young child vanishing during a family picnic, later to reappear half a decade later with no recollection of the events, without aging a moment, her attire lacking the tiniest bit of dust.
• Regular stories describe smartphones and photography gear inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
• Reactions range from absolute fear to states of ecstasy.
• Various visitors state seeing strange rashes on their skin, hearing unseen murmurs through the forest, or feel hands grabbing them, even when convinced they're by themselves.

Research Efforts

Although numerous of the stories may be hard to prove, numerous elements before my eyes that is undeniably strange. All around are plants whose stems are bent and twisted into fantastical shapes.

Different theories have been suggested to account for the deformed trees: that hurricane winds could have altered the growth, or naturally high electromagnetic fields in the soil account for their unusual development.

But formal examinations have found insufficient proof.

The Legendary Opening

Marius's excursions allow guests to take part in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the meadow in the forest where Barnea captured his famous UFO pictures, he gives the visitor an EMF meter which measures electromagnetic fields.

"We're stepping into the most powerful section of the forest," he comments. "Try to detect something."

The trees abruptly end as we emerge into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath the ground; it's apparent that it's naturally occurring, and seems that this unusual opening is wild, not the creation of landscaping.

Fact Versus Fiction

This part of Romania is a place which inspires creativity, where the border is indistinct between fact and folklore. In rural Romanian communities superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – otherworldly, shapeshifting creatures, who return from burial sites to frighten local communities.

The novelist's well-known character Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and Bran Castle – a Saxon monolith situated on a stone formation in the Transylvanian Alps – is heavily promoted as "the vampire's home".

But including myth-shrouded Transylvania – truly, "the place beyond the forest" – appears solid and predictable compared to these eerie woods, which appear to be, for causes related to radiation, environmental or simply folkloric, a center for fantasy projection.

"In Hoia-Baciu," Marius states, "the division between reality and imagination is remarkably blurred."