Nature
PUBLISHED
As a popular science publication, we tend to shy away from talk of interdimensional portals, unsubstantiated sightings of UFOs, and vampires, if we can help it. Nevertheless, some "spooky" places are so steeped in folklore, history, and psychological intrigue that they’re worth a cautious wander through. Hoia-Baciu Forest is one of them.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.You can find it near the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania. With its lingering fog, hanging trees, and medieval mountainside castles, it’s easy to imagine why Bram Stoker chose this landscape as the setting for his iconic masterwork of Gothic horror, Dracula.
Hoia-Baciu Forest is a place where the theatrical creepiness of Transylvania is especially rich. Strange things, locals say, have long associated with the forest for centuries. Legend says it was named after a shepherd who vanished centuries ago along with his flock of 200 sheep, never to be seen again.
The woodland gained international notoriety in the late 1960s when military technician Emil Barnea claimed to have captured photographs of anomalous blobs hovering above and within the trees, which many believed to be UFOs. The images, needless to say, are not too convincing to the modern observer.
Even today, this eerie backdrop continues to attract all kinds of reports of paranormal phenomena and supernatural happenings.
Over the past few decades, Hoia-Baciu Forest has become a hive of “dark tourism,” drawing visitors from around the world with promises of vampires, UFOs, ghosts, and other unexplained occurrences.
Not all guests have an enjoyable trip, though. Tourists entering the woods have reported feelings of nausea, heightened anxiety, the sensation of being watched, and unexplained failures of electronic devices. This isn't to mention the (unconfirmed) stories of missing people.
“They call this place the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania,” Marius Lazin, a tour guide of Hoia-Baciu Forest, told the Guardian in 2025. “So many people have disappeared here, some say it’s a portal to another dimension.”
Bear in mind, we could not find any peer-reviewed evidence to back up any of these claims. Even reliable media reports were tricky to identify. Perhaps what’s most intriguing about Hoia-Baciu Forest is that it’s continually inspired tales of supernatural strangeness. Is it something in the air?
Psychologists who study paranormal belief note that unfamiliar environments, suggestibility, and expectation can strongly shape our perceptions, especially in regard to the supernatural. Hoia-Baciu forest is the perfect place for these brain-foolish factors to run wild. Dense forests can distort sound and light, unfamiliar surroundings can trigger anxiousness, and strange stories of disappearances can linger in the back of the mind.
While some speculate about unusual magnetic activity or other mysterious influences, the most compelling explanation for the forest’s eerie reputation lies not in the landscape itself, but in the minds of those who wander through it.
