Attention: I’m about to take you on adventures you’ve never seen on TV or anywhere else unless you’ve been to these places in person. And I hope what I share with you inspires you to travel and visit these locations, too.
Crypt, Speyer “Dom” Cathedral, Germany. 11th Century.
Erik, Diana, and I have explored and continue to explore and film castles and locations you’ve most likely never heard of, but they include some of the most fascinating and sometimes quite frightening castle ruins in the world, but because they’re so deep in the forests of Europe and many are so high up in the sky, they don’t get the attention they deserve. Whether they are haunted or not is almost secondary to the actual experiences and filming of these locations, but I will say you’re in for some very strange and shocking footage at times.
We’ve captured photographic and audio evidence that we can’t always explain. Things that have made us say: “O M G,” and there have been times, despite some of our best efforts not to, when a location was just too overwhelmingly creepy and super strange stuff started happening, we got out of there!
Photo By Erik Jessie
The photo above is a shadow figure at the Dragon’s Teeth near the border of France and Germany. Hitler had these barriers built to block tanks from the allies. A quarter of a million allied troops died overtaking the wall of Dragon’s Teeth, or better known as The Siegfried Line. The photo has not been modified, other than cropping, and any photographic expert can examine it.
We’ve also had some genuine fun—but not like when Erik suddenly disappears in the black forest type of fun, which did happen, but when he’s worried the headless horseman is after us, fun!
When asked what I love most about going to these places my answer is that I love that we get to show people places they may never get a chance to visit themselves and share the history.
I also love the fact that many of these locations, especially in France and Germany, are the proud owners of some of the most amazing origin stories, such as The Princess and The Frog, The Headless Horseman, The Lady in White, and so many more. And the original legends are often not even close to the stories we’ve read all our lives.
At first, I was nervous about filming, I wasn’t comfortable talking in front of a camera and I didn’t have any experience filming, and you’ll notice all of that, but what’s wonderful about these places is that in most cases the locations are so amazing my skills (or lack thereof) don’t matter that much. However, with that said, over the last few years, I’ve gotten a bit better at it and it’s wonderful that after having finally recovered enough from my surgery I can get back out there and share our adventures with you!
Photo by Diana Palacios
Questions I’ve been asked:
Q: How many castles have you visited?
A: About 300. But that’s not much when you consider that there are over 30,000 in Germany alone, and yet, most people have only heard of a handful of them. Neuschwanstein Castle is still just a baby compared to most of the castles we’ve filmed so far. With that said, I recently filmed in the dragon’s keep of the Disney castle in Paris, France. Sorry, I couldn’t help it. You can find that on my Facebook page. Or, watch it below. As I said, we have fun, too!
Q: Why do you go to all these places?
A: Because I love exploring. I’ve been exploring since I was very young when my father was stationed in Germany. I’ll never forget when my friends and I were exploring the woods behind base housing and as we hiked up the nearby mountain, we saw our first castle ruins in the distance on the opposite mountain. That left an impression on me I’ll never forget. (You can read about that experience in my book “The Wee-Jees” if you like.)
Q: Do you believe in ghosts?
A: Based on what I’ve seen, heard, and experienced I know ghosts are real. Some of the locations we visit are thousands of years old, steeped in deadly history, and one of the videos you can watch on YouTube is when we hiked to a sacrificial altar the Celts used over 2500 years ago. We had to hike deep into the Palatinate Forest in Germany to find it. I can promise you, that if you visit such locations that are so secluded and steeped in terrible history, you will realize there’s something else out there. Not far from there we picked up voices on our devices that we still can’t explain. You’ll hear those voices in videos we haven’t posted yet!
You can already watch our visit to Frankenstein Castle during the witching hour. We captured something that still gives me chills! That night’s visit still haunts me. Something was up there with us and as you watch the video you will hear me call out to Erik 3 different times where I thought I saw him, but he was somewhere else! It’s on my YouTube channel.
Photo by Erik Jessie (Frankenstein Castle)
Q: Where’s your favorite location so far?
A: Dragon’s Mountain near Bad Durkheim Germany. It was the most grueling hike Erik and I have ever undertaken to a secluded location. But it paid off when we found the legendary “Dragon’s Lair,” where Siegfried, according to myth and legend, killed the dragon Fafnir. You can already watch our hike and discovery of the lair on my YouTube channel. Next would be the Crypt below the Speyer Cathedral, the largest Roman crypt in all of Europe and somehow, I got to visit and film it entirely alone, only in the presence of Emperors and Empresses entombed inside the crypt. It was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget. That video is not posted yet.
Q: What’s your favorite castle?
I like that these are two different questions as location can be anywhere and which castle is more specific, even so, I’ll give two answers: My favorite castle that is not in ‘ruins’ is Castle De Haar in the Netherlands, it’s the largest castle in all of the Netherlands and it’s where I captured what looks like an apparition (see the photo above).
My favorite castle that IS in ruins would have to be Hardenburg Castle in Germany because that’s where I captured the most compelling voices on audio when filming in the castle. The voices and what they say, which are quite clear, are shocking. The video for that adventure is not yet posted.
I can’t wait for you to strap in and join us on these adventures!
If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel yet, now’s the time, because we’re getting ready to rock and roll and you haven’t seen anything yet! (Also, the giveaway for new subscribers ends in a week.) If you’ve ever wanted to go exploring ancient and lost locations, you could get the chance to go with me if you enter the drawing! So go and do it, it doesn’t cost you a thing to subscribe and enter!
Go here to subscribe and enter on my YouTube Channel.
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Best of luck,
Bryan
