The town of Trencin is located in the southwestern part of Slovakia, on the Vah River. One of its main attractions is the sky-high and fairly well-preserved old castle. At the end of the 13th century, it belonged to one of the most powerful Slovak nobles of those times - Matyusz Czak Trenczynski.
Guarded by baby Jesus
According to legend, in one of the dungeons of the Trenčín castle lies the body of Matt, as well as all his innumerable treasures. Loyal knights-vassals, including the castellan (caretaker) of the castle, Captain Ladislav Omodeevsky, buried their liege. Before his death, the castellan allegedly discovered the secret of the treasure, but said that it was very problematic to get into the underground tomb-treasury. A carefully disguised entrance leads into a sloping tunnel cut into the rock. At the end of the tunnel, on a blank wall, there is a fresco depicting the scene of the return of the Holy Family with the baby Jesus from Egypt. Pressing the eyes of Jesus opens the entrance to the underground hall, where there are large copper cauldrons and iron barrels filled with gold coins from the times of kings Ondrej III, Wenceslas II and Przemysl Otokar. With these coins, Matiusz Trenczynski paid the salaries of the royal soldiers in the garrisons of 32 cities and castles.
The ghost of a monk at his post
The resort town of Sklene Teplice is located 170 kilometers from the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava, at the foot of the Stiavnické Mountains in the picturesque valley of the Tepla River. In the vicinity of the town, there are the legendary ruins of the Pusty Grad castle. According to one of them, colossal treasures were hidden in this castle, which is still guarded by a mysterious monk. In order to make people fear, he is able to take on different guises. It is possible, of course, that this is another fantasy, but …
It is reliably known that on August 10, 1899, the founder of the Slovak Society of Museums, Andrei Kmet, was brought to a man who once upon a time, while plowing a field near Pusty Grad, dug out of the ground an earthen bowl that looked like a liturgical church vessel. At the time of the meeting with Kmet, he was already a helpless, seriously ill old man, with difficulty answering questions. From his fragmentary phrases, it followed that he knew a man who once found a passage leading to the cellars in the ruins of the castle, managed to enter a room enclosed by a grate, and saw many valuable objects there. But when this man took out of the chest a silver bowl of excellent work, a mysterious "red monk" suddenly appeared in front of him, almost frightening him to death.
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Killer dog
Another museum worker, Peter Petrik, in May 1926 heard this story from a local official.
In the 20s of the XIX century, a certain peasant woman from the nearby village of Repiste went to the mountain for spring mushrooms, at the top of which were the ruins of the Pusty Grad. There, about 50 meters from the remains of the defensive wall, she saw an entrance leading to the dungeons of the castle. And it was just on Good Friday, just before Easter, when, according to legends, all the evil forces guarding the treasures lose their power over them. In a word, the peasant woman entered the basement with the treasures and collected as many of them as she could carry. When she went outside, she saw a little dog next to her from nowhere, which, not lagging behind, ran after her. The peasant woman safely reached her house with wealth unexpectedly falling into her hands. But as soon as she crossed the threshold, she collapsed dead on the floor …
The treasures of the robber Janosik
Slovakia is predominantly a mountainous country with all its attributes: narrow winding roads and paths that stretch along the edges of abysses and bend around sheer cliffs, with gorges and steep passes, with numerous caves. Add to this the dense forests that cover the mountain slopes, and you have the perfect area for organizing … robbery. And in the Middle Ages, he flourished here. And where there are robbers, there are looted riches and buried treasures. A huge amount of information about such treasures, hidden in different parts of the country, has reached our days.
One of the most famous robbers of the legend is called Janos, or Janosika. Well, of course, he buried the treasures more than anyone else: a huge casket with jewelry in a cave on the Lakhovy Laz pass not far from Zvolin; a chest full of gold and silver coins in a deep well on the outskirts of Presov. In a cave on Mount Oltar no, 15 kilometers from Klenovets, I, at the head of my mob, fought with the ghouls who lived there, and after the victory took possession of their treasures, which are still there in a safe hiding place. This treasure can be found only once a year - on Good Friday, but as soon as the finder tries to take it, stones begin to fall from the top of the mountain, and a real blizzard rises in the cave itself. At the same time, the angry grumbling of evil spirits guarding the treasures is heard from under the ground, and it is better not to mess with spirits …
They also say that in a cave at the top of Mount Vepor, the "mountain lads" left such a treasure, before which all the treasures of 40 robbers, defeated by the brave Ali Baba, pale in color. But the entrance to this cave opens only at Christmas midnight, at the moment when in churches during the solemn mass the choir begins to sing the spiritual hymn "Glory to the Lord Almighty." It is also known that a spell has been imposed on many treasures, which begins to act when the people who find it quarrel when dividing the spoils.
How to look for treasures
Since ancient times, handwritten and printed "manuals" for treasure hunters have been known. In one of these handwritten reference books of the 17th century, the following list of signs is given by which you can find the treasure … In such a place:
- tall grass does not grow;
- in the evening or at night, just before dawn, lights, sparks or tongues of flame appear;
- in spring the snow melts earlier than in other places;
- there is no dew or frost;
- Plants look like they were burned by the sun during a drought;
- a person is suddenly seized with fear or "goosebumps" start to run on his skin;
- the fire goes out for no reason;
- both day and night, light may suddenly appear, from which a person becomes scared;
- if bushes grow, they are very low, their leaves are gray or some other strange color, which is especially noticeable in autumn.
Tragic quest
However, even such comprehensive information and knowledge from reliable sources of those landmarks by which it is possible to determine the location of the treasure do not guarantee against committing fatal mistakes in the search process. Here's an example.
In the first half of the 19th century, a certain Helwig moved to Bratislava from the Saxon city of Marienburg, who brought with him an old guide to finding treasures and "neutralizing" the evil forces guarding the treasures. Soon he got married and began to live with his wife at her parents' house on Shendorfskaya Street. Helvig, working as a carpenter in a workshop located at the house, devoted all his free time to preparing for a campaign for the riches, which, according to the exact information he had, were buried at the crossroads outside the town of Chervony Kzhizh.
Almost 15 years passed like this. When the preparation was finally completed, Helvig sent his apprentice Gabenyar in search of the treasure, but he returned with nothing. After that, Helwig decided that he would take matters into his own hands, called his son with him and invited Jan Hamelik, who lived nearby, on Vysokaya Street in house 404, as a partner.
So, on March 13, 1837, 48-year-old Helwig, his 14-year-old son Ondrej and 30-year-old Jan Hamelik set off. They told their relatives that they were going to work in one of the neighboring villages. They easily found the necessary crossroads, to which on one side a garden on the site belonging to the local judge Scharitzer opened, and on the other side adjoined the common grave of people who died in the past from a pestilence. By all indications, the treasure was in it!
For three days the treasure hunters dug out the grave, and the longer they dug, the less hope they had for success.
And so, at about noon on March 17, the chief of the Bratislava Civil Guard, Captain Krishtof Power, received a message from Judge Sharitzer that three corpses had been found in the cellar in his garden. The captain, accompanied by two officers, immediately went to the scene. There was still a strong smell of smoke and burning in the cellar, the burnt bodies of three men lay on the floor, next to the remnants of the fire, and strange objects lay around: books with spells of spells against evil spirits, candles, a bunch of dry grass, several pieces of chalk, a measuring tape German production, copper plates with mysterious hieroglyphs, metal crucifix.
The corpses were identified in the morgue of the city hospital on the basis of objects found near them. On the title page of one of the books, the owner's name was written - Helwig …
The protocol, signed by three doctors, indicates that the death of these people was due to burnout (that is, carbon monoxide poisoning). In addition, at the time of death, all three were in a state of alcoholic intoxication, which, apparently, was the main cause of the tragedy.
Vadim Ilyin. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" № 7 2011