Halloween thrill-seekers flock to Romania's most haunted region

Many visitors are expected to visit Romania during Halloween despite climbing COVID rates.

Despite climbing COVID-19 rates, Romania is keeping Transylvania, home of Vlad the Impaler, Dracula's castle and the "world's most haunted forest," open to vaccinated visitors this Halloween.

The Hoia Baciu forest in Romania's northern region of Transylvania is known as a hotbed for paranormal activity. The forest, also referred to as Romania's "Bermuda triangle," gets its name from the legend of a "bacciu" or shepherd who supposedly went missing with his flock of 200 sheep.

Visitors on the forest's scary night time tours often report inexplicable feelings of nausea, anxiety and paranoia. Full of crooked trees, the forest became famous in 1968 after a UFO-like figure was photographed creeping above "the clearing," an empty stretch of land in the middle of the forest.

Alex Dan, a tour guide and founder of the Hocia Baciu Project, said people often come here to have paranormal experiences and connect with this mystic environment.