"They call this spot the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, his breath creating puffs of vapor in the crisp dusk atmosphere. "Countless visitors have vanished here, many believe it's an entrance to a parallel world." The guide is escorting a guest on a night walk through frequently labeled as the planet's most ghostly forest: Hoia-Baciu, an area covering one square mile of ancient indigenous forest on the edges of the metropolis of Cluj-Napoca.
A Long History of the Unexplained
Stories of bizarre occurrences here go back a long time – this woodland is called after a regional herder who is said to have vanished in the distant past, together with 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu gained worldwide fame in 1968, when an army specialist named Emil Barnea took a picture of what he reported as a unidentified flying object hovering above a oval meadow in the heart of the forest.
Numerous entered this place and vanished without trace. But don't worry," he states, turning to the visitor with a smirk. "Our excursions have a 100% return rate."
In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has attracted yogis, traditional medicine people, UFO researchers and supernatural researchers from worldwide, interested in encountering the mysterious powers reported to reverberate through the forest.
Contemporary Dangers
Although it is one of the world's premier pilgrimage sites for paranormal enthusiasts, the grove is facing danger. The outlying areas of Cluj-Napoca – an innovative digital cluster of more than 400,000 people, known as the Silicon Valley of the region – are expanding, and real estate firms are pushing for approval to clear the trees to build apartment blocks.
Barring a limited section containing regionally uncommon oak varieties, the grove is not officially protected, but the guide is confident that the company he was instrumental in creating – a dedicated preservation group – will help to change that, persuading the authorities to acknowledge the forest's importance as a visitor destination.
Chilling Events
While branches and fall foliage snap and crunch beneath their shoes, Marius recounts numerous local legends and alleged supernatural events here.
- A well-known account tells of a little girl disappearing during a group gathering, later to return five years later with no recollection of the events, showing no signs of aging a day, her clothes without the smallest trace of dust.
- Regular stories detail smartphones and imaging devices inexplicably shutting down on entering the woods.
- Reactions include full-blown dread to feelings of joy.
- Certain individuals claim noticing strange rashes on their arms, hearing unseen murmurs through the trees, or experience palms pushing them, despite being sure they are alone.
Research Efforts
Although numerous of the stories may be hard to prove, there are many things visibly present that is undeniably strange. Throughout the area are plants whose bases are warped and gnarled into unusual forms.
Various suggestions have been given to clarify the misshapen plants: powerful storms could have shaped the young trees, or inherently elevated radiation levels in the earth explain their unusual development.
But research studies have discovered insufficient proof.
The Famous Clearing
Marius's excursions allow participants to participate in a modest investigation of their own. As we approach the meadow in the forest where Barnea captured his well-known UFO photographs, he hands the visitor an electromagnetic field detector which detects electromagnetic fields.
"We're stepping into the most energetic section of the forest," he says. "Try to detect something."
The plants suddenly stop dead as they step into a flawless round. The sole vegetation is the trimmed turf beneath our feet; it's obvious that it's not maintained, and appears that this strange clearing is organic, not the creation of landscaping.
The Blurred Line
This part of Romania is a place which fuels fantasy, where the division is indistinct between fact and folklore. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – supernatural, appearance-altering vampires, who return from burial sites to frighten nearby villages.
Bram Stoker's renowned vampire Count Dracula is permanently linked with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith perched on a cliff edge in the Carpathian Mountains – is actively advertised as "Dracula's Castle".
But despite myth-shrouded Transylvania – literally, "the place beyond the forest" – feels real and understandable compared to this spooky forest, which give the impression of being, for factors nuclear, environmental or simply folkloric, a hub for creative energy.
"Within this forest," Marius says, "the boundary between truth and fantasy is remarkably blurred."
