Creepy Germany

Guten abend meine freunde! Heute machen wir eine reise nach deutschland. Welche Seiten werden wir sehen? wen werden wir treffen? Wird Jon das lesen können? Ich denke, wir werden es herausfinden!

 

Anyways, for those of you that don't speak German… Well you'll never know what we said there, and for those of you that do, Moody's German is rusty and we're sure Google's help in translating was probably off, so hopefully it wasn't too ridiculous. At any rate, today on the train we are back to our creepy series, and if you're remotely intuitive, you'll already know we are heading to the great country of Germany! The country that gave us some amazing inventions like the hole punch, the mp3, the coffee filter, and everyone's favorite...Fanta...and all the other crazy and cool shit they've given the world!  All of that cool stuff aside, we are looking at some other stuff that Germany is giving to the world… Creepy shit! So without further ado, let's get into it! 

 

Let's start with a cryptid legend! First up we have the Nachtkrapp. The origins of the Nachtkrapp legends are still unknown, but a connection possibly exists to rook infestations in Central Europe. Already feared due to their black feathers and NoNscavenging diet, the mass gatherings quickly became an existential threat to farmers and gave rooks and crows their place in folklore as all-devouring monsters. Several versions of the Nachtkrapp exist. In most legends, the Nachtkrapp is described as a giant, nocturnal raven-like bird.

The most popular (and hideous) of the legends claim that the Nachtkrapp leaves its hiding place at night to hunt. If it is seen by little children, it will abduct them. The giant bird then flies to its nest whereby it grossly devours the child by first ripping off their limbs and then picking out their heart.

There are of course, other legends, in which the Nachtkrap will merely abduct children by placing them in his bag (how he holds this bag I do not yet know) and take them 'away'.

There is also the Wütender Nachtkrapp (German, lit. Angry Night Raven).  Despite its name, this appears to be a tamer version of the Nachtkrapp; instead of abducting children, it simply crows loudly and flutters its wings, until the children have been terrorized into silence.

 

Then, there is the Guter Nachtkrapp (German, lit. Good Night Raven) This scary sumbitch is a benevolent version of the Nachtkrapp. This bird enters the children's room and gently sings them to sleep. Creepy shit for sure

 

Let's stick with cryptid legends for a second. We're gonna throw the Aufhocker in here real quick too. The word Aufhocker literally means to 'lean upon'. It is a creature that  is said to jump on the back or shoulders of lone wanderers at night, its attack instilling such horror in their victims that they collapse in fright. Although some myths state that the individual collapses not from fright but because once the Aufhocker attaches to a victim it grows dramatically in size/weight. 

 

The Aufhocker statue in Hildesheim Germany has depicted the Aufhocker as a human in shape. However  the actual form and nature of this mythological creature is quite unclear. Interestingly, many stories apparently describe the Aufhocker as a shapeshifter, who may appear in the guise of a dog or a sad old lady (personally the sad old lady guise would be the scariest). However, the link with the dog shape-shifter is interesting because in Belgium there is a  hell hound called the Kludde, whose modus operandi is remarkably similar to the Aufhocker, in that it stalks lonely roads at night, and jumps on the back of travellers ripping their throats out.

However, there are other descriptions of the Aufhocker as a type of zombie (corporal undead), or kobold (type of Germanic imp) or as some type of vampire or werewolf.

According to some reports the Aufhocker is "considered to be a very dangerous theriomorph that tears the throats out of humans. The connection to attacking victims in the throat is what links the aufhocker to vampirism."

(A theriomorph is: a creature (usually a deity) capable of taking the form of an animal)

 

According to myth, the aufhocker can not be killed. However, as the Aufhocker seems to have been blended with vampirism, lycanthropy and hell-hound mythology throughout the ages, it is said that they can be driven off by prayer, church bells, dawn or profuse swearing which should be no problem for us.

 

Ok those sound pretty crazy. Let's go visit a creepy place now. The Bärenquell Brewery East Berlin Germany

 

The fall of the Berlin Wall impacted Germany, Europe, and the world in oh so many different ways. It changed the entire world. But it also changed the world of one of our favorite things... beer. It was known among all of the Germans that the West side made much better beer than the East side. The construction of this humongous beer factory started in 1882 when the first building was constructed, the official residence of the brewery. Over the next forty years or so ten more buildings were added on the premises around the official residence. One was the administrative building with its tower in neo-Renaissance style, built in 1888. Three years later the bottle bearing building was added to the lo, sketched up and built in the Gothic revival architectural style. Just a year afterward (1902) another neo-Gothic wing was added to it. This one would function as a barrel factory and a storage room. In 1906 the main four-stories central brewery building was constructed in the same Gothic style with a castle-like appearance. After the central building was done, business was booming, and the brewery was doing nicely. What was left was to construct the other small but necessary facilities. Like a horse stable with a water tower in 1910, and the beer bottling cellar with a loading station that was used as a smaller warehouse as well. A couple more smaller warehouse buildings were built in 1920. As time moved forward some of the machinery needed repairs and the solution was very simple. They constructed a workshop building in 1927, this time diverging from the usual Gothic style the workshop was done in the style of Expressionism. The architects behind all of the buildings were Emil Holland, Robert Buntzel, and H.O.Obrikat. Sadly today only two of them remain standing, the official residence building from 1882 and the Renaissance administrative building of the Director that was added in 1888. Under Socialist rule, the Bärenquell Brewery had operated as a state-owned Volkseigenen enterprise. During the Treuhandanstalt programme of privatizing these businesses at the end of this era, the brewery was bought in 1990 by the Henniger brewery. The last Berliner Pilsener Spezial beer was bottled on 1st of April 1994 when Bärenquell beer production was moved to Kassel. Since the beer was no longer brewed in Berlin, they changed the name from Berliner Pilsener Spezial to Original Pilsener Spezial. The brand changed hands one more time. However, Bärenquell beer ceased to be brewed in 2009. After the brewery was closed some of the buildings remained to function as rental warehouses. Others were rented for different private business and small-time production factories. After a while all of them left the premises and every single building was abandoned. The place became closed to the public but that never stopped urban explorers and graffiti artist. It was also a place where young local people hung out and ironically drank beer. The buildings days are not over and even though it is heavily damaged it just may be saved and renovated. As of 2014, Bärenquell Brauerei has a new owner, a firm that owns a chain of furniture shops has the papers for the property. The plan most likely is to open another mega furniture store on the premises. Some of the brewery’s smaller buildings have already been torn down to open place for the new shopping mall structure. There's not a ton of stories about hauntings here but there are a few and that's enough for us… Because it's a brewery and fuck it we can do what we want, you don't like it… Get your own podcast. Most of the things we found about hauntings here involve creepy sounds and a few shadow people stories. People claim to hear disembodied voices late at night and many report hearing sounds like things being thrown out, dropped, and banging and clanging noises. There's also been reports from kids hanging out in the brewery at night of strange shadows and possible apparitions, but to be fair… They were most likely under the influence. 

 

Ok now that we got our obligatory alcohol reference into the episode let's see what else we can find.

 

Well let's take a nice hike… How's that sound? We could hike through the Black Forest, that could be fun… Or could it…

This forest is surrounded by castles, monasteries, and ruins. The wilderness of this site has many tales to its name, making it one of the most haunted sites in Munich. Based on local folklore, ghosts, witches, werewolves and even the devil are believed to haunt this forest. One of the more well known tales from the black Forest is that of Der Grossman! Der Großmann (der Grossman), or “The Tall Man”/ "The Great Man", is a supposed mythical creature associated with woodcuts carved by an unknown artist in 16th century Germany. Said woodcuts portrayed it as a tall, disfigured man with white spheres where his eyes should be, similar in appearance to the Slender Man. Der Großmann was commonly described as a fairy of the Black Forest who abducted bad children that entered the forest at night, and would stalk them until they confessed their wrongdoings to a parent. We found A supposedly translated account from 1702 describes an alleged incident involving Der Großmann:

 

My child, my Lars… he is gone. Taken from his bed. The only thing that we found was a scrap of black clothing. It feels like cotton, but it is softer… thicker.

 

Lars came into my bedroom yesterday, screaming at the top of his lungs that "The angel is outside!" I asked him what he was talking about, and he told me some nonsense fairy story about Der Großmann. He said he went into the groves by our village and found one of my cows dead, hanging from a tree.

 

I thought nothing of it at first…But now, he is gone. We must find Lars, and my family must leave before we are killed. I am sorry, my son… I should have listened. May God forgive me.

 

Wow… Well that's unsettling. We also found a story involving a haunted hostel in the black Forest. 

            

              "When I was 12 years old I went on a school trip to the Black Forest in Germany. The hostel we were staying at seemed relatively normal to begin with but each night we were more and more convinced that there was a ghostly presence.

 

I was in a shared dormitory with 3 of my friends. It started on the first night when I was the first to fall asleep. When I awoke the next morning they asked if I had heard someone come and stand outside our bedroom door at 1am in the morning. I was asleep so I had not heard anything, so it didn't really occur to me it was anything scary. The second night we all sat up talking and at 1am we heard someone come up the stairs and stand outside our dormitory. My friend nervously laughed and the person must have heard us because they ran down the stairs so fast it left us speechless.

 

The third night we all went to sleep quite early hoping we would sleep past 1am, however this time we awoke to one of the girls in our dorm screaming and crying. When we turned the lamp on and calmed her down she said she had turned over and saw a man sitting on the end of my bed.

 

After that nothing happened. We sat up each night and waited until 1am but the person never came back. The day I came back from Germany I went for a nap because I was exhausted from the long journey. My mum came into my room to get my suitcase when apparently I shot upright in bed, eyes wide open, deeply breathing.

 

My mum said she had never seen me do anything like that before and she had to lie me back down and wait for me to go back to sleep. I have no recollection of this. Since then nothing has happened but I definitely know something traumatised us in that hostel."

 

What else can you find in the black Forest, well let us tell you. There are stories of Water nymphs that are supposed to live in the dark depths of the Mummel Lake at the foot of Hornisgrinde at Buhl, Baden. Then there's the Legend of Fremersberg Mountain

A small cloister of Franciscans had a monastery on the southern slope of Fremersberg Mountain from 1426 until 1826. It was named Kloesterle. The monks were not only concerned with the spiritual health of the people, they also concerned themselves with their earthly peace. For instance, when ghosts raising a ruckus on the mountain, raised fear and anxiety among the villagers with their rumblings, the monks caught the troublemakers, put them in sacks, and carried them to poltergeist graves, where they remain banned once and for all. So the story goes.....

 

How about the Legends of Yberg Castle

Myths of this ancient castle tell of fair ladies who appear in the night; of unusual Bowling games on the first Monday of every month and of a mysterious vault, that no one could find, filled with delicious wines.

 

Or you could go with the Myth of the Village of Ittersbach

In 1232 Herman, Margrave of Baden, gave his villages of Utilspur (today called Ittersbach) and Wolmerspur to the convent St. Gallen. As a settlement Wolmerspur disappeared, but the cause is unknown whether war, plague or famine. According to myth, at midnight during Advent a headless horseman on a white steed rides in the cemetery over the terrain of the destroyed village of Wolmerspur.

 

Then there's The Legend of Hex Von Dasenstein

In the village of Kappelrodeck (Kreis Ortenau) there is an old legend surrounding the town's namesake family. High on a hill sits Rodeck Castle that was, for centuries, the seat of this aristocratic family. Centuries ago, legend has it, that a beautiful daughter of the family fell in love with a peasant boy. Her powerful father forbid her to marry the boy. The girl ran away to the other side of the valley and took up life as a hermit in a huge outcrop of rocks in the middle of the mountainside vineyards. The outcropping was known as Dasenstein. Over the years, the townsfolk came to believe that the girl was a powerful and good witch who watched over their blessed grape crops. The local wine cooperative goes by the name, Hex von Dasenstein (Witch of Dasenstein). Its wines are renown throughout Europe and in 1982, its spatburgunder (pinot noir) was named best wine in Europe and served to President Reagan during his ill fated visit to Bitburg.

 

The Mummelsee The Mummelsee is a 17-metre-deep (about 55ft) lake at the western mountainside of the Hornisgrinde in the Northern Black Forest of Germany. The Mummelsee has a legend of a king who lived beneath the water and dragged down women to his kingdom under the water many years ago.

 

I mean we could go on, sometimes you get a twofer… This was like a 7fer

 

 This forest is on pretty much every list of the most haunted forests in the world, sounds like for good reason! You can find all sorts of stories from the area that will make you think twice before hanging around. 

 

It seems in our travels that religious sites are usually good for some creepiness and it's no different here. We're gonna check out the Wessobrunn Monastery. Wessobrunn Abbey (Kloster Wessobrunn) was a Benedictine monastery near Weilheim in Bavaria, Germany. According to tradition, it was founded in 753 by Duke Tassilo III, but its origins probably are associated with the important Huosi family, founders of benediktbeuern. It soon became an imperial abbey. In the 9th century, when it colonized the wastelands between the Ammer and Lech Rivers, a monk wrote the famous Wessobrunn Prayer, one of the oldest and best examples of Old High German literature. In 955 Hungarians destroyed the monastery, whose lands were ruled by provosts until 1065, when Benedictines returned from sankt emmeram in Regensburg and established a double monastery. One of the nuns, Diemud, c. 1150 excelled as a poet and calligrapher (45 MSS). Romanesque stone sculpture of the 12th–13th century discovered in Wessobrunn belongs among the German masterpieces of the period. The abbey joined the reforms of hirsau and melk (1438). In 1414 Abbot Ulrich Höhenkirchner was mitered. Under Leonhard Weiss (1671–96) began a period of glory, as Wessobrunn became a center of scholarship and baroque art with its famous school of stucco artists and painters. In the 18th century 30 monks taught at Salzburg University and at other Benedictine schools of higher learning. Wessobrunn monks compiled a Bible concordance that became a standard exegetic work. Three-fourths of the buildings, including the Romanesque church, were demolished after suppression of the abbey in 1803. Only the hostelry, with stuccoed and painted floors and halls, still stands. The grounds are owned by the archabbey of St. Ottilien; the buildings of Wessobrunn are occupied by the Missionary Benedictine Sisters of Tutzing. The monastery is also known as one of the haunted sites in Germany. Based on an event in the 12th century, a sister in the monastery went into hiding in the underground tunnel because she broke her vows. She was locked inside and reported to have died of starvation. This resulted in the tale that the sister’s spirit is never at rest and still roams the areas of this monastery. Many many people have reported seeing an apparition roaming the halls and grounds. There are also many reports of people hearing a lady weeping and crying. 

 

Sticking with the religious places, let's check out Kloster Unterzell. The Kloster cell was a former convent of the Premonstratensians in Zell am Main in Würzburg in Bavaria in the diocese of Wuerzburg. A dark chapter in the history of the Unterzell Monastery is the fate of the superior Maria Renata Singer von Mossau , who was sentenced to death and executed in 1749 during the witch persecution in the Würzburg monastery. This story is where the Hauntings are believed to come from. Locals and visitors to the monastery have reported witnessing her spirit passing through the corridors of the Kloster Unterzell. They say you can also see her lurking in shadows and just outside of your field of vision but disappearing when you look. You can find some stories on different reddit type sites that'll creep you out for sure. 

 

There are tons of creepy haunted castles in Germany and most of them are pretty fucking awesome to see. We've got a few for you here! We'll start with Hohenzollern Castle.

 

The White Lady of Hohenzollern

Around 500 years ago, the prince-elector of Brandenburg, Joachim II, took a mistress called Anna Sydow after his second wife, Hedwig Jagiellon of Poland, suffered a severe injury. The injury put a great strain on his marriage and the elector grew very close to Anna, putting her up in the Jagdschloss Grunewald, a Renaissance-style castle in Berlin.

 

Joachim grew so fond of Anna that he was even seen in public with her, which disgruntled the public. They had several children together and Joachim even bestowed the title of Countess von Arneberg on his daughter, Magdalene. The years passed and one day, Joachim made his son, Johann Georg, swear an oath to protect Anna after his death. He made his son swear the oath again a year later and, a year before his death, arranged for Magdalene to be placed in the care of Johann.

 

Despite his promises, Johann reneged on his oath and imprisoned Anna in Spandau Citadel, almost immediately after his father died. Johann then married Magdalene to a court pension clerk. Anna remained in the prison for four years until she died.

 

Johann continued his life as elector of Brandenburg, imposing taxes on the poor and exiling the Jewish people from Brandenburg. He thought he had seen the last of Anna Sydow, but he was wrong. Eight days before his death, Anna appeared as a ghastly apparition; the White Woman.

 

Sightings of the White Woman have persisted since that time, particularly before the death of one of the Hohenzollern Kings of Prussia. In the mid-1800s, King Frederick William IV of Prussia, stopped by Pillnitz Castle to visit his cousins, the King and Queen of Saxony.

 

That night, everything was still. The air was cold and crisp, and it was silent as a strange fog descended on the castle. Reports by on-duty sentries from that night tell of five ghastly spectral figures walking through the castle walls and towards the King’s chambers. One figure, a White Woman, led the other four, headless men carrying a casket. Inside the casket, another man lay, a crown where his head was supposed to be.

 

The next day, King Frederick William began to suffer from terrible symptoms, which would continue for three months. He suffered a haemorrhagic stroke which would leave him incapacitated. He remained this way for three years, until he finally died.

 

The White Woman has all but disappeared, mainly due to the German monarchy being abolished, as the House of Hohenzollern had no more kings in its line. It is said, however, that she might appear to the forsaken few who wander around the Berlin Schloss or the Spandau Citadel.

 

Well that is a fun story… Let's check out another!

 

Burg Eltz is a picturesque medieval castle, tucked away in the hills in the west of Germany, between Koblenz and Trier. It is one of Germany’s more famous castles and has never been destroyed or taken in battle. Since its construction, and even to this day, the castle has been owned by the Eltz family.

 

The castle is also said to be haunted by the forlorn ghost of Agnes, daughter of a fifteenth-century earl from the noble Eltz family. Agnes’ hand in marriage was promised to the squire of Braunsburg when they were both just children. Years passed and as the two passed into adulthood, their engagement day drew close. Their families arranged for them to finally meet for the first time, just days before the engagement took place.

 

Upon meeting the young squire, Agnes was shocked at how rude and callous he was. Agnes begged her father to call off the engagement, but he refused - the marriage had been sealed years ago and had to be honoured. Negotiations concerning dowry and heritage began between the two families. In the final meeting, when everything had been agreed, the squire turned to kiss his soon-to-be bride. Agnes refused to kiss her betrothed and he responded angrily, swearing vehemently at her.

 

Tensions rose and the squire’s family were expelled from the castle. The Braunsberg squire raised his forces and laid siege. The Eltzer guards were tricked into leaving the castle and chasing an expeditionary force, allowing the squire to sneak in with his heavily armoured bodyguard one night. They began massacring the Eltzer residents, servants and the few guards that were left behind.

 

Agnes awoke to the sound of murder and upon seeing the slaughter from the window of her tower, rushed to the castle armoury. She took her brother’s ornate breastplate and sword and rushed into battle, ferociously hacking back the attackers. Her courage inspired the few remaining defenders to slowly turn the tide of the battle. The attackers seemed all but beaten until an arrow struck and pierced Agnes’ armour, fatally wounding her.

 

Upon seeing her fall, the Eltzer defenders rushed the squire, hacking him down and driving off the attackers. The castle was saved but Agnes succumbed to her wounds, her spirit forever cursed to haunt the very castle she fought to defend.

 

And what tour of creepy castles would be complete without…. Fucking Frankenstein's castle. 

 

On a hilltop in the Odenwald mountain range, overlooking the German city of Darmstadt, are the crumbling remains of the real-life Frankenstein Castle. The stone structure has stood upon the hilltop since the mid-13th century. Some say that the castle’s dark legend made its way to a young Mary Shelley, providing inspiration for her great novel. While “Frankenstein” conjures thoughts of mad scientists and lumbering monsters, the phrase is in fact a fairly normal phrase for castles in southern Germany. The term “Frank” refers to the ancient Germanic tribe, while “stein” means stone. “Frankenstein” means “Stone of the Franks.” Lord Conrad II Reiz of Breuberg constructed the castle sometime around 1250. He christened the structure Frankenstein Castle, and afterward adopted the name “von und zu Frankenstein.” As founder of the free imperial Barony of Frankenstein, Lord Conrad held power over nearby Darmstadt, Ockstadt, Nieder-Beerbach, Wetterau, and Hesse.

 

As for the castle’s dark legend, that can be traced back to alchemist Johann Conrad Dippel, who was born in the castle in 1673. It is suggested that Dippel influenced Mary Shelley's fantasy when she wrote her Frankenstein novel, though there is no mention of the castle in Shelley's journals from the time. However, it is known that in 1814, prior to writing the famous novel, Shelley took a journey on the river Rhine. She spent a few hours in the town of Gernsheim, which is located about 16 kilometres (10 miles) from the castle. Several nonfiction books on the life of Mary Shelley claim Dippel as a possible influence. Dippel created an elixir known as Dippel’s Oil. Derived from pulverized animal bones, the dark, viscous oil was used as late as World War II, as a chemical warfare agent that rendered wells undrinkable without actually making the water poisonous. Rumors surrounding Dippel hold that, during his time at Frankenstein Castle, he practiced anatomy as well as alchemy, even going so far as to exhume corpses and perform medical experiments on them. There are some reports claiming that Dippel actually created a monster that was brought to life by a bolt of lightning—though it seems most likely that Shelley’s tale inspired these stories, and not the other way around. Rumours about Dippel appear to be modern inventions, too. For example, he is said to have performed experiments with cadavers, in which he attempted to transfer the soul of one cadaver into another. Soul-transference with cadavers was a common experiment among alchemists at the time and was a theory that Dippel supported in his writings, thus making it possible that Dippel pursued similar objectives, but there is no direct evidence to link him to these specific acts. There is also no evidence to the rumour that he was driven out of town when word of his activities reached the ears of the townspeople — though he was often banned from countries, notably Sweden and Russia, for his controversial theological positions. He also eventually had to flee to Giessen after killing a man in a duel.

 

An intriguing local legend tells of a Lord Georg of Frankenstein, who lived in the castle and fought a dragon that lurked at a nearby well. The legend goes that the lord was stung by the dragon’s poison tail during the skirmish, and died after making his way back to the castle. The supposed tomb of Lord Georg can still be visited in the church in the nearby village of Nieder Beerbach.

 

The forest near the castle is also home to a particularly eerie natural anomaly. Due to magnetic stone formations within the mountains, there are places near Frankenstein Castle where compasses cease to work properly. Legends say that witches used these areas for their sabbaths on Walpurgisnacht.

 

In 2008, the SyFy show Ghost Hunters International dedicated an entire episode to Frankenstein Castle. While there, the investigators met with a Frankenstein expert and claimed that the castle held “significant paranormal activity.” Sounds were recorded in the castle’s chapel and entrance tower, including a recording of what some believe was a voice speaking in Old German saying, “Arbo is here.” 

 

Also, Hidden behind the herb garden of the castle, there is a fountain of youth. Legend has it that on the first full-moon after Walpurgis Night, old women from the nearby villages had to undergo tests of courage. The one who succeeded became rejuvenated to the age she had been on the night of her wedding. It is not known if this tradition is still being practiced these days. 

 

Sounds like a fun place!

 

This next one isn't necessarily a haunted spot but we found the story and thought it was cool. It's about a "devil's bridge". One of the most famous Devil's bridges in the world is the Steinerne Brücke (Stone Bridge) in Regensburg, Germany. The legend behind the Stone Bridge is quite the amazing tale. The story involves a race between two builders, the mentor versus his protégé. The mentor was building a cathedral while his protégé was constructing a bridge—the two of them made a bet, and the bet was to see who could finish their structure first.

 

Eager to beat his mentor, the protégé made a deal with the Devil. In this pact, the Devil would receive the first three souls to cross the bridge. With the Devil's help the protégé won the bet. Filled with regret, the protégé guarded the bridge, refusing to let anyone cross. He was later visited by his mentor who was concerned by his behavior. The protégé broke down and confessed to his mentor of the deal he made with the Devil. The mentor came to the young man's aid, sending a rooster, a hen and a dog over the bridge. The Devil was so enraged that he was tricked by the cunning mentor, he attempted to destroy the bridge, but it was too strong to be ruined. However, the Devil's attempt did leave a bump in the middle of the bridge that is still there to this day.

 

Awesome story.

 

Next up we headed back to school… Wait no fuck that. We’ll just talk about a school haunted by… Well.. Nazis of course. Bitburg school is no ordinary school. It's an American school for children of service members. The school is also taught by military servicemen, which means that people who see ghosts here have military connections. Back before Bitburg became a United States military base, it was a Nazi military zone. In the interwar years, Bitburg, like most of the Eifel region, was impoverished and comparatively backward. Economic growth began after the Nazi Seizure of Power and the Nazi regime's introduction of employment-boosting public works projects, including infrastructure for war, particularly the Westwall; new armed forces barracks; and the development of the Kyll Valley railway. It is said that the building now used as the post office at Bitburg Annex (what is left of Bitburg Air Base) was the headquarters for Adolf Hitler when he was in the city.

 

In late December 1944, Bitburg was 85 percent destroyed by Allied bombing attacks, and later officially designated by the U.S. military as a "dead city." Subsequently, the town was occupied by Luxembourg soldiers, who were replaced by French forces in 1955. 

 

As you can imagine… Some pretty fucked up things probably went on in the area which would most likely lead to some crazy hauntings. Most of them seem to be focused at the bitburg middle school. There are many reports from reputable military individuals about the strange goings on at the school. Many people have their lights flickering on and off throughout the school. It's apparently a pretty common occurrence. People also report that at night the sounds of people screaming at the top of their lungs can be heard. Are these the voices of people that were tortured or killed in the area? There are a few stories about people seeing shadows and apparitions as well.

 

Damn maybe we would have actually liked going to school if our school was like this!

 

Lastly for this episode we're gonna visit Osnabrück Hünenbetten. This place used to be a major pagan temple and gravesite. When Charlemagne set out on a tirade to convert the inhabitants of the region to Christianity, a bloody massacre took place here. Now massacres, as we all know, are not a pleasant thing and this one led to the deaths of many pagan priests. The troops destroyed the largest altar stone to prove the supremacy of the Christian God over paganism. So it's no surprise that there are some crazy tales that come from this place. Take for instance the stories of how people see bloodstains appear on the rocks at the site, especially on the winter and summer equinox. There are reports of poltergeist activity as well. It's also said that on quiet nights you can hear the screens of the people who were massacred. There's also reports of strange lights and orbs being seen at the site as well. 

 

Okay, meine Freunde, das ist alles, was wir für diese Episode haben. wir hoffen, euch hat unsere Zugfahrt im gruseligen Deutschland gefallen. 

 

For those of you who don't speak German, you'll never know what I've just said. And for those that do speak German, well you're probably laughing at the translation and ALSO still probably never know what we actually were saying. And in saying that, it's time for … DIE FILME!!!

 

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-horror-movies-about-castles/ranker-film

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