Standing over the Gates of Hell
HOUSKA CASTLE
Located 47 kilometers north of the city of Prague in the Czech Republic, there stands Houska Castle. It is an early Gothic style edifice built between 1253 and 1278, during the reign of Ottokar I of Bohemia and is one of the best preserved castles of that time period. And as you can see by the photograph above, Castle Houska doesn’t appear quite how we might picture a castle to be. To begin with, it is far from any strategic location which castles were built in and made to defend. Indeed, the outside of the castle lacks many of the traditional fortifications which are expected in a 13th century castle and the fortifications that are in place seen to have been best designed to keep enemies within the castle than to keep them out! In reality, the castle was constructed to serve as an administration center from which the extensive royal estates could be managed from. Later on, it was passed down to the Aristocracy, passing from one owner to another and in the late 14th century it underwent some Renaissance-style modifications. By the 18th century, it ceased to serve as a noble residence and fell into a state of disrepair before being renovated in 1823. By 1897, it was purchased by Princess Hohenlohe and in 1924, bought by Josef Šimonek, President of Škoda (look it up on the Internet if you don’t believe me!)
Included in the castle’s history is the rumor that back in the 1930‘s and 1940‘s during World War II, the castle was occupied and used by the German SS who conducted numerous experiments in the occult which included work on dimentional portals and other fringe science. Many years after the war was over, workers digging in the castle’s courtyard unearthed the skeletons of three SS soldiers. Official reports say they had been executed, not so official reports claim that they had died under very mysterious circumstances.It is said among the locals that Houska Castle was built to keep evil in, that the castle sits directly over the Gates of Hell and the castle’s chapel was located directly over the gates of hell to keep them closed. Legend has it that when construction of the castle began, local prisoners who had been sentenced to death were invited to the site and offered a reprieve if they agreed to be lowered down into the massive pit that appeared to be bottomless and then report their findings once brought back up to the surface. The first volunteer was lowered down and after only a few brief seconds of being swallowed by the darkness of the hole, began to scream, his cries of terror heard far above to those who stood waiting and watching. When the unfortunate fellow was pulled back to the surface, his hair had gone white and the look on his face was that of sheer terror. He continued to scream. He was sent eventually to an asylum for the insane where he died two days later from some unknown cause...
The Gates to Hell have always been there according to the locals, it’s been there longer than the present structure, which had been build on the remains of an old timber fortress which had stood there before it’s construction, again supposedly to hold back those demons and condemned souls which inhabit it.
The castle’s dark reputation followed it down through the ages; During the 30 years war, it was said that a renegade Swedish commander and his force of brigands too the castle as a headquarters and committed horrendous acts within it’s walls. Emperor Ferdinand III had called it “The cursed castle” and there are tales of ancient monks who hid treasure within it’s walls. Houska Castle seems to be something straight out of a horror story as there are tales of a half-man, half-beast who crawled out from the pit and of strange flying demons which burst from out of the pit’s bottomless darkness. And what of it’s paranormal activity? Well, over the centuries, there have been those who’ve seen the creature which is said to have climbed out of the hole which sits under the chapel. It has been described as being semi-transparent in nature and resembles a half-man, and a mixture of a giant frog and a bulldog. It’s said that those who hear it growl in the night are filled instantly with fear a dread.
There’s the tale of the mad monk who is known to haunt the castle’s chapel. Dressed in a simple brown robe, he has been seen carrying a ghostly axe which he uses to attack those who disturb the peace and quiet of the castle. One of the most disturbing ghostly sightings have been the reports of people seeing a long line of poor dead souls, all chained together, walking through the gates of the castle, each soul sporting some ghastly and gruesome injury, with some it’s said, to be carrying their own head. According to the witnesses, there’s also a huge black dog who runs up and down the line of souls, nipping and tormenting them as they make their arduous trek towards the chapel and the Gates to Hell.
There have been reports of strange moaning, screaming and the voices of numerous persons speaking in many different languages coming up from under the stone floor of the chapel and a number of visitors to the chapel have made the comment that the walls of the chapel always appear to be wet. Then there is the ghost of a great black horse just outside of the front gate, dropping great drops of blood from it’s neck and as it runs towards the castle, it simply vanishes. And then there is the ghost of the beautiful young lady in the white dress who is often seen walking past the windows looking outside. No one knows who she is but she appears to be the most normal of all of the ghosts who inhabit Houska Castle, if there is such a thing as a normal looking ghost. The cellar is nicknamed “Satan’s Office” and it even has a throne embellished with horns and a trident and a black robbed faceless priest has been seen materializing in front of it and walking up the stairs before vanishing...
The castle is quite a tourist attraction in the region and visited by many. Perhaps if you ever find yourself traveling through Eastern Europe, you might think of stopping and resting a bit at Houska Castle --- Guests are always welcome there if you call in advance...
mají dobrý den (Have a good day) ---
No comments:
Post a Comment