This is Part 3 of my Frankenstein Castle Chronicles in Frankenstein, Rheinland Pfalz, Germany, the birthplace of Mary Shelley’s gothic horror novel of the same name (plausibly, that is).
In this article, I’ll finally take you up to and into the 12th-century castle ruins and show you exactly where I saw the shadow figure (or hoodie dude), and explain why it doesn’t make any sense, and if what I saw is what I really saw, then it’s some pretty scary stuff. Actually, it might be more frightening if it’s not what I thought it was! I’ll explain.
Update: Considering a missing woman was recently found dead in the area, I’m much more concerned about what might be lurking up there than I was before. I don’t recommend visiting alone. There are several dangers to be concerned about when visiting alone.
If you haven’t read the other parts in this series, you can go back and read them in any order at these links:
Walking up the cobblestone path that takes you past the graveyard and the church on your way up to the castle is an extraordinary mind-blowing experience in itself. Just view the photo above and imagine yourself there.
You pass history every step of the way, from an ancient wall leading up the hill, an 18th-century church, which also has ancient graves on its land, and even gravestones featuring the long faded chiseled lettering on them declaring the deceased, von Frankenstein!
It really is an awe-inspiring walk I recommend for anyone interested in history.
On the day I took the photo of the path it reminded me much more of Tim Burton’s, Sleepy Hollow, more so than Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein. But those are fantasies, I was walking real paths over a thousand years in use.
And then, of course, there’s the castle. It’s easy to forget you’re there for a castle when you’re walking such historic pathways that beg you to notice them and take photos at every turn.
Clearly, Frankenstein is a small town that packs a major historical wallop!
In fact, Frankenstein lays within history itself, on the crossroads of Bad Durkheim and Neustadt an der Weinstrasse.
Bad Durkheim is home to the world’s largest annual Wine Fest and Neustadt is famous for its position on Germany’s famous Wine street and, of course, neighboring Hambach castle, where in May 1982 President Ronald Reagan visited and gave his speech “an die Jugend der Welt” (to the youth of the world).
Along the two main roads between Frankenstein, Bad Durkheim and Neustadt are dozens of hilltop castles and abbeys. Some are in ruins and some are being restored, like the renovated Hambach castle.
Soon I will post about my visit to the 9th-century Limburg Abbey on the outskirts of Bad Durkheim, which is the burial home of Gunhilda of Denmark, who was the Queen consort of Germany by her marriage with King Henry III until her death in 1036. Anyone can visit her grave, which is still maintained until this day in the ruins of the abbey.
Actually, Frankenstein Castle at its earliest date belonged to Limburg Abbey, when it was only a security tower for the area in the 11th-century.
Death and Destruction
Frankenstein Castle is mostly a hollow, haunted shell of its former self. It’s built into the side of, and on top of, an incredibly large rock. There are no covered rooms remaining within the castle’s walls, at least, which can be reached, since much of it remains buried. In a moment I’ll show you a chilling doorway to nowhere filled with loose dirt and ancient rubble, still hiding and protecting the castle’s secrets.
The Holy Roman Emperor
The castle has been through countless wars and even though today this little town of Frankenstein is barely a dot on the map, back in its day its destruction was ordered by none other than Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor!
The castle was further destroyed during the German Peasants’ War during the middle of the 16th-century.
If that wasn’t bad enough, in the 17th-century the castle suffered through what’s now known as the 30-year war. The war took place throughout most of central Europe and Frankenstein Castle was captured by the Spanish General Ambrosio Spinola. It’s estimated that in parts of Germany up to 60% of the population died during the 30-year war, men, women, and children.
It’s impossible to calculate the number of deaths that have happened in and around the castle over the last 10 centuries. Saying it was thousands of souls may be doing it a kindness.
If you visit this castle during a quiet week as I did, when few others, if any, are visiting, you can literally feel the sorrow and despair still hanging in the air. I think if you listen to the wind, really listen to it up there, you can still hear screams. Before you say that it is impossible, I implore you to visit, listen to the wind, and then tell me otherwise. I’m not saying it’s not the wind sweeping through the trees, but I am saying it sounds like screams!
It does this castle an injustice to visit it without learning at least a little about its history. It’s been through so much.
The Hike Up to the Castle
If you read part 2 you will know that there are two ways up to the castle, the easy way and the hard way. The hard way requires walking along the edge of a cliff with no protection. I chickened out, hiked back down from the cliff (that’s when and where I saw the apparition I photographed in part 2), and returned to the path in the photo of the cobblestone road leading past the church.
The path that leads up from the church, and the one I decided to take after I could not follow the steeper one, was built to enable carts to be pushed and pulled up the hill, and later horse-drawn carts did the chore. Interestingly, the path has never been widened for cars, which makes sense since the castle has not been used for anything significant in modern times. In fact, the last troops to occupy the castle were French troops from 1700 to 1703 thereabouts.
It only took about 15 minutes for me to get from the church to the castle, which is a short time compared to hiking up to most hilltop castles in Germany.
When I rounded some trees and arrived at the castle, I first came to what’s called a “shield wall,” and no, it wasn’t made by Vikings. A shield wall is a wall fortification built with the purpose of blocking the most direct line of attack on a hilltop castle.
At that moment, from over the wall, I could see a wonderful view of the valley and the town below. I took a picture before taking another step.
As I walked closer to the castle and could see its tall walls reaching to the sky, I spotted someone ahead in a black hoodie go around a corner of the castle. That was disappointing because for a moment I thought I might have the castle all to myself. Oh well, it was too much to hope for.
I started taking more photos and saw an interesting stone fairytale-type bay window high above me. It was quite remarkable, and it’s amazing that it’s still intact. You can see it in the below photo.
From there I walked around the castle and came to where it opens up and you can walk within the devastated walls of the castle. You can even explore the remaining rooms, but none have ceilings and all have dirt floors, the wood from the ceilings and floors long ago destroyed by fire and other catastrophes.
If heights don’t bother you, you can climb ancient steps carved into the hilltop rock that takes you to the highest point of the castle where you can look out over the entire valley below.
It’s almost a shame they installed modern metal handrails. I realize it’s a dangerous climb, but it takes a little away from the majesty. Otherwise, the castle is like you’ve traveled back in time. However, I am the first to admit that without the rails, I would not have made the climb.
Just before I went up the steps, I spotted the person in the black hoodie again!
He was moving fast, and suddenly he (or she) concerned me. Who needed to be moving that fast up here? He went through what looked like a doorway across the way.
The doorway is in the photo below, which was close to where I was standing before I took the photo. I could see a little more of the door than the picture is showing, enough to see someone go in there. Anyway, it’s seriously creepy looking, and it felt just as creepy being there with whoever that was.
The photo alone still creeps me out.
I stood half-frozen for a few minutes, it had gotten really cold up there and this guy was starting to concern me, I thought about leaving. But I didn’t think it was fair that I couldn’t explore the castle anymore. I figured if he was going to try anything he would have done it already. I walked closer to the door to see what was going on, and since there was clearly a low wall between us, I knew he couldn’t just get to me from there—at least, not immediately.
My blood went cold when I got to the edge of the wall.
I hadn’t been able to see from where I had been that the door was actually on a second or third level, and there was NO FLOOR! Without ropes or something to climb up, there was no way to get into that door. I had literally seen the guy run into the room! I swear it. It was too high for him to jump into.
Fuck.
Now I really was getting nervous.
I didn’t know what to think. The guy looked solid and human, but there was no way he could have gotten into that room the way he did. It was impossible! It’s hard for me to believe he was a shadow figure, or, even a Wee-Jee (learn more about Wee-Jees here). I’m quite familiar with shadow figures and this ‘thing’ I saw seemed much more physically substantial.
That’s when I decided I wasn’t taking any chances and left. And the sad thing is, when I would check later, most of my photos from the visit didn’t come out or were ruined. It was really upsetting. I know I had taken some great shots.
I can’t prove the hoodie person/thing was a shadow figure, Wee-Jee, or anything other than a human, but I can say it didn’t “feel” right.
On the return trip, it was just as unnerving in that area of the castle, but this time there were several other people visiting as well, so I didn’t get that same freaky, totally creeped-out feeling of the unknown.
However, I entered the creepiest part of the castle that I didn’t get to during the previous visit. It contains two more doors, one on the ground level and another on the second level, both are gated in. The fact the lower door is gated is weird because it leads nowhere and is filled with dirt and gravel.
It appears the gate is there to keep people from trying to dig it out as if something is being hidden. Or, perhaps, visitors are being protected from something.
It’s really odd. You would think archeologists would want to explore deeper into parts of the castle where the rooms are potentially still intact.
Frankly, I think something bad is in there. The feeling there is not pleasant at all. Somehow I felt a chilling breeze come from the barred, dirt-filled room and I got sick to my stomach. I immediately felt better once I backed away from the entrance.
Someone else came in and I had to wait for him to leave the area so that I could take a selfie and it was another super weird experience because as he walked out, he looked at me, and in German, he told me, “It’s fucked up in there,” without any other explanation. Damn. But he was right.
I finally took my selfie, but I had to bundle up first because another bone-chilling breeze had come through the castle. My fingers could barely hold my phone for the selfie it was that cold.
What’s funny is you can see all the hairs on my head standing straight up! I know that’s not any proof of the paranormal, but I tell you, something wasn’t right. What feeling or sense do you get when you view the lower gated doorway or even the one on the second floor?
Interestingly, as I walked away from that area, I felt much, much warmer.
This post has gotten much longer than I expected and so I’ll bring it to an end. Thankfully, I never saw whoever or whatever it was in what looked like a hoodie again.
In the photo of the doorway above, a friend says he can see something in it in the darkness. I personally cannot, but maybe you can?
As I mentioned in the previous post, there are no restaurants or shops or anything like that in Frankenstein, so if you visit, bring your own snacks. I recommend you bring a friend. Going up there alone as I did isn’t for the faint of heart, and besides any potential unexplainable activity, there are points on the castle walls which are quite perilous, and if you slip and fall that could be all she wrote.
Keep in mind it’s ruins, and since the castle and the area are not monetized, it’s desolate up there, so there are no emergency services.
UPDATE:
Unbeknownst to me, I found out after visiting the castle that many strange things have been reported in the area over the last few years, and even as recently as December a woman was found dead in an abandoned house just down the hill. Some say refugees have been hiding up there and some say other stranger things have been seen and heard. In light of this new information, Frankenstein might not be the optimal place to visit by yourself at the moment!
Below is a police bulletin about the deceased woman. I used Google translate before screen capturing so you could read it with ease.
Still, Frankenstein Castle is a wonder of history and not to be missed, just, well, go with friends and make sure it’s still daylight… But then again,
**A little piece of trivia for you: back in the 90’s I attended a Halloween party at Frankenstein Castle and during the party, something unexplained happened and several people started screaming and before I knew it we were all screaming and we all ran down the hill and left, leaving all of our belongings up there! Several of us went back the next morning to get what we left behind and everything was gone. I still believe someone played a nasty trick on us.
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