1222 AD – ONGOING

I grew up in a small suburb by the name of Hohenlimburg, which is a suburb of a Town called Hagen in the federal state Nordrheinwestfalen of Germany. I could tell you a lot of weird, creepy, strange and wondrous Storys of my own experience, or from people close to me at that time, but since there’s so much of it, i just stick to the place Hohenlimburg itself for now, because it’s just a weird place with a weird energy, weird people and creepy legends and History surrounding this place, in the truest sense of the word, because of it’s geography. the town of Hohenlimburg is surrounded by forrest and hills, like you’re in a hole surrounded by wood overgrown Hillsides. there are so many historicall places with dark history located on this hill sides, for example: Settlement is said started 900 years ago from a site on those hills called “Hùhnenpforte” which translates to english like : Gate of Giants.

Right by the Gate of Giants, there are the ruins of a fortress called “Raffenburg”. The word “Burg” means fortress and “Raffen” is a very medieval term which describes a behavior of being greedy and seeking to posses as well as horting valuables/treasure. The people who lived in that fortress, were a bunch of “Raubritter” which means robbing knights. They are said to have raided and terrorized the people, especially the ones of noble heritage in the area. The ruins of that fortress are known to be haunted. There are reports of levitating stones, which would suddenly and with high speed, like projectiles fly towards people and hit them really hard. this has happened to several people, leaving some with head trauma.

The area has in general a dark and weird feeling to it. There’s a tunnel system under earth, which was an escape corridor from the former fortress. it’s 7 kilometers long, but the entrance is a hidden and well kept secret. Another site located on the hills is ” Schloß Hohenlimburg ‘” – Castle Hohenlimburg, which isn’t far from Raffenburg . It belongt to a Family of Nobility : Bentheim von Tecklenburg. They were some of the regular targets of the Raffenburg raids, untill they managed to find some allies and were able to besiege Raffenburg and end the terror of the raiding wild knights. Schloss Hohenlimburg has a Museum, which has a really creepy item on display. The black hand is said to have been the Hand of a boy, who raised his hand agains his own mother, whereupon same hand became black and fell off. The hand on display in the museum looks like a burned hand made of charcoal.

Of course the castle has his typical ghost hauntings, in this case a white lady, who has been seen by several witnesses over time. Another Hill site has another famous historical spot, the “Reher Galgen”. Reh is the Name of an area within the town and also means deer, Galgen is the german term for the gallows, The gallows of Reh. The gallows of reh, is a very old oak tree ( acording to tradition, court was held under a linden tree, executions under oak trees ), on which people used to be executed by hanging. There is a little sign, marking the tree, but even before noticing it, if you walk up there, looking for the gallow tree, you will recognise it exactly as soon as you see it! It’s much smaller than the other oaks around it, has a weird, distorted shape and it doesn’t bare any fruit, comes season. It has an unwelcoming vibe, to say the least.

Located in the center of Hohenlimburg is the quarter Elsey, named after a nun by the name “Else” who lived in the year 1300 ad in a monestary by a church that is still there to this day. She became pregnant and gave birth in secret and didn’t know how to hide the child, so out of fear and desperation, she drowned the baby in the well by the church, which still stands untill today. Her aparition is still being seen by the well, mourning her child. What a great story to name a town quarter by, right? The town has a lot of mentally ill people, very high drug use (during the early 90 The central Hospital had the most modern detox rehab in all of Germany, being a suburb with a population of just 30 000 ) and in general lot of strangeness. People moving away more and more, cause it’s once flourishing steel industry has moved production to other places, resulting in an overaverage percentage of old and poor people.