As you know, the favorite places for ghosts and spirits are ancient castles. The theme of haunted castles is one of the most popular in both literature and cinema.
But in addition to fiction on this topic, there are well-documented cases of paranormal phenomena, which were witnessed by the inhabitants and guests of ancient castles. These events will be discussed below.
Death of Count Palfia
The beginning of this story can be considered on June 2, 1908, when Count Jan Palfy died in Vienna at the age of 79. A convinced bachelor, he was not married, had no children, and the relatives who became his heirs were mainly interested in the count's property. And above all, his ancestral castle with all the decoration, located among the forests in the picturesque mountains near the Slovak town of Bojnica.
The result of the autopsy of the late count was shocking: it turned out that the elderly bachelor did not shy away from female society, because, according to the conclusion of the pathologists, the cause of his death was syphilis at the last stage.
Preparing the body of the deceased for transportation to Slovakia, it was filled with a preservative solution and placed in a zinc coffin. Four days later, the funeral cortege, consisting of a horse-drawn hearse and accompanying horse torch-bearers, arrived at the castle, where a long time ago, by order of the count, a tomb in the form of a crypt was prepared in one of the basements. Soon a huge sarcophagus of pink marble brought from Innsbruck was installed in the crypt, in which a zinc coffin with the body of the count was placed.
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Struggle for the inheritance
When the heirs heard the text of the count's will, they were extremely annoyed and even outraged. The fact is that the count, being a connoisseur of works of art, for many years searched for and bought canvases of old masters, sculptures and decorative items in many European countries. As a result, almost all of his fortune was spent on these acquisitions.
And according to his will, all the art treasures collected by the count were to remain in the castle and be available for study by art historians and museum workers, as well as for viewing by everyone. In short, the count wished that after his death the castle would become a public museum.
The heirs, who had already calculated the profits from the sale of the works of art in the castle, were not happy with such a will. They managed to obtain a medical opinion that by the time the will was drawn up, the count had already developed a syphilitic brain damage, characterized by a progressive mental breakdown up to dementia.
They also managed to "organize" several witnesses who agreed to appear in court and give examples of numerous oddities in the Count's behavior in the last period of his life. On this basis, the heirs were able to challenge a number of key points of the will. As a result, many artistic values became their property and, after a violent carve-up, were sold out. And although the castle was opened for inspection, it did not become a respectable museum and a true temple of art, as the late count wanted.
Began…
Almost half a century passed, and mysterious events began to take place in the Bojnice Castle. In 1957, one of the attendants reported that a thick, dark red liquid, similar to blood, began to ooze from the marble sarcophagus. Over time, it accumulated about two liters. Analyzes - chemical and bacteriological - showed that the liquid has a complex composition, contains several types of bacteria, but does not pose a danger to human health.
Earl's sarcophagus
Photo: victor.com.ua
It was suggested that the liquid was formed as a result of a reaction between the preservative solution introduced into the body of the graph and the zinc from which the coffin was made, and it began to flow out after the corrosion had eaten through the metal. True, the pundits were somewhat embarrassed by the fact that this took as much as 50 years.
However, the secretion of fluid from the sarcophagus ceased in September 1995, on the very day when, in accordance with an agreement between the governments of the Czech Republic and Slovakia on the division of the cultural heritage of the former Czechoslovakia, the altar of the 14th century Florentine master was returned to the Bojnice Castle chapel. It is possible that the two events coincided by chance, but many of the workers and inhabitants of the castle took this circumstance as a sign from above.
It was known that during his lifetime, Jan Palfiy often spent long hours in front of the altar. According to people who knew the Count closely, the altar connected him with other worlds and provided him with the opportunity to draw additional energy from the surrounding space, which gave Palfiy the strength to fight a terrible disease for many years.
As for the artistic merits of the altar, then, apparently, the count did not in vain considered it his most valuable acquisition. Indeed, since 1933, the altar has adorned the exposition of the Sternberg Palace, which is part of the National Gallery of Prague.
Mysterious phenomena multiply
Meanwhile, the strange events in the Bojnice Castle did not stop. They were regularly witnessed, in particular, by the employees of the agency providing security for the castle. Here's what the head of one of the security shifts says:
- On a smooth and flat table surface - a cup of coffee. Nobody touches her. But the cup suddenly starts bouncing. Or here's another: the key turns by itself in the lock of a huge old chest. I would never have believed this if I had not seen both with my own eyes! The guards tell me that they often hear muffled voices or unintelligible muttering in empty, locked rooms outside. One day a service dog started barking at the door of one of these rooms. The door was opened, and there was no one in the room …
According to some of the castle workers, translucent silhouettes often appear in the corridors and passages before dawn. And one of the employees once saw in the mirror the reflection of a figure in a black turban. Looking back in horror, she found that the room was empty.
In connection with these mysterious incidents, parapsychologists and psychics were invited to examine the castle. They confirmed that they feel the presence of some otherworldly forces, but they assured that, in their opinion, these forces do not pose any danger to those around them. And one of the guests, the famous "ghost hunter" Dr. Yonash, advised: "The spirits should not be disturbed."
The mysterious world of Bojnice Castle
Since the information about the mysterious incidents in the Bojnice Castle has documentary evidence, there is every reason to believe that information about similar events that took place here in the distant past is reliable.
There is an old legend about the “stone ducats” of the Boynitsa. It tells of the time when the castle was owned by a local tycoon named Jan Corvin. Then a lame cooper - a master of making barrels - cursed the castle manager Peter Pak for not allowing him to wash his injured leg with water from a healing spring near the castle. After that, a key with healing water was hammered right outside the cooper's house, and the spring near the castle dried up.
Moreover, all the money of the arrogant and greedy manager turned into small rounded pebbles. And the cooper recovered.
There are many mysteries hidden in the dungeons of the castle. Its stone foundation was laid in the 13th century on the surface of a plateau formed by limestone tuff. In this light and porous rock, there are often volumetric voids, which are easy to expand, deepen and connect to each other by cutting through tunnels.
The entrance to one of these tunnels opens from the basements of the Bojnice Castle. This inclined tunnel, which goes down to a depth of 27 meters, leads to a spacious, almost circular cave with a diameter of about 22 meters with two small lakes. The dome and walls of the cave are covered with amazingly beautiful deposits of various colors: from golden yellow to crimson red.
There is reliable information that Count Palfius loved to retire in this cave and gaze into the water surface illuminated by the light of a torch. They say that he performed some secret rituals there that allowed him to penetrate into other dimensions of the real world, and the perfectly flat surface of one of the underground reservoirs played the role of a magic mirror. Probably, this cave and the precious altar in the chapel served as those "gates" to other dimensions that were given to visit Jan Palfia and in which he drew additional vital energy for himself.
According to the structure, the magic cave is like a passage room, from which several tunnels lead further into the depths of the mountain range. These are rather narrow and low passages, partially covered with collapsed rock. It is not known exactly how long they are and where they lead. Legend has it that one of these tunnels is over 400 meters long and comes to the surface near the church located outside the city walls of Bojnice.
Vadim Ilyin
"Secrets of the 20th century" June 2013