"People refer to this location a mysterious vortex of Transylvania," explains an experienced guide, the air from his lungs forming clouds of condensation in the chilly night air. "Countless visitors have disappeared here, some say it's a portal to a different realm." This expert is guiding a guest on a night walk through what is often described as the planet's most ghostly grove: Hoia-Baciu, a square mile of old-growth local woods on the edges of the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca.
A Long History of the Unexplained
Reports of strange happenings here extend back centuries – the forest is titled for a local shepherd who is said to have vanished in the distant past, accompanied by 200 of his sheep. But Hoia-Baciu came to international attention in 1968, when a defense worker known as Emil Barnea captured on film what he described as a unidentified flying object suspended above a circular clearing in the middle of the forest.
Many came in here and vanished without trace. But rest assured," he adds, turning to the visitor with a smirk. "Our guided walks have a 100% return rate."
In the years that followed, Hoia-Baciu has brought in yogis, spiritual healers, extraterrestrial investigators and paranormal investigators from around the globe, curious to experience the unusual forces reported to reverberate through the forest.
Contemporary Dangers
Despite being among the planet's leading pilgrimage sites for supernatural fans, the grove is facing danger. The western districts of Cluj-Napoca – a contemporary technology center of over 400,000 residents, called the Silicon Valley of Eastern Europe – are advancing, and real estate firms are campaigning for approval to remove the forest to erect housing complexes.
Except for a limited section containing area-specific Mediterranean oak trees, the forest is without conservation status, but the guide believes that the organization he helped establish – a local conservation effort – will assist in altering this, persuading the authorities to recognise the forest's importance as a travel hotspot.
Eerie Encounters
When small sticks and autumn leaves break and crackle beneath their shoes, the guide recounts various traditional stories and reported ghostly incidents here.
- A well-known account describes a little girl vanishing during a family outing, then to rematerialise half a decade later with complete amnesia of what had happened, having not aged a moment, her attire shy of the tiniest bit of dirt.
- Frequent accounts detail cellphones and camera equipment inexplicably shutting down on stepping into the forest.
- Emotional responses range from absolute fear to moments of euphoria.
- Some people report seeing strange rashes on their skin, detecting ghostly voices through the forest, or sense hands grabbing them, although certain nobody is nearby.
Study Attempts
Despite several of the accounts may be hard to prove, there are many things clearly observable that is certainly unusual. Everywhere you look are plants whose stems are warped and gnarled into fantastical shapes.
Various suggestions have been suggested to account for the abnormal growth: that hurricane winds could have bent the saplings, or typically increased radiation levels in the ground explain their strange formation.
But formal examinations have turned up inconclusive results.
The Famous Clearing
The guide's walks enable visitors to participate in a little scientific inquiry of their own. As we approach the meadow in the trees where Barnea took his well-known UFO photographs, he passes the traveler an electromagnetic field detector which measures electromagnetic fields.
"We're entering the most powerful part of the forest," he states. "Discover what's here."
The vegetation abruptly end as we emerge into a perfect circle. The single plant life is the trimmed turf beneath their shoes; it's obvious that it's naturally occurring, and looks that this unusual opening is wild, not the result of landscaping.
Fact Versus Fiction
The broader region is a place which inspires creativity, where the line is unclear between truth and myth. In countryside villages superstition remains in strigoi ("screamers") – undead, form-changing creatures, who emerge from tombs to haunt local communities.
The novelist's renowned fictional vampire is always connected with Transylvania, and the historic stronghold – a Saxon monolith located on a stone formation in the mountain range – is actively advertised as "the count's residence".
But including legend-filled Transylvania – actually, "the territory after the grove" – feels real and understandable in contrast to these eerie woods, which seem to be, for causes related to radiation, environmental or entirely legendary, a nexus for creative energy.
"Within this forest," the guide states, "the line between reality and imagination is very thin."
