Many strange events with the participation of entities from the other world have taken place (and are happening) in the countries of Central Europe - in particular, in Slovakia. In this predominantly mountainous country, ancient castles, fortresses, monasteries are well preserved. Well, such ancient structures are a favorite place for ghosts, spirits and other aliens from the Subtle World, personifying their deceased owners and inhabitants. The memory of such events is preserved in the form of legends and traditions, as well as in the form of documented cases.
Dr. Milos Esenski, a Slovak journalist and writer, researcher of anomalous phenomena and historical mysteries, tells about one of such cases.
On the night of June 2, 1908, Count Jan Palfiy died in Vienna at the age of 79. This is not to say that someone greatly grieved over his death. The count, who has long been known as a convinced bachelor and misogynist, was not married, he had no children, and the relatives who became his heirs were mainly interested in property. And above all - the castle with all its decoration, located among the picturesque mountains covered with forests near the Slovak town of Bojnica in the upper reaches of the Nitra River.
An autopsy of the deceased, which on the day of his death was performed by Austrian pathologists, gave an unexpected and shocking result: it showed that the elderly bachelor did not shy away from female society, because, according to the doctors, the cause of his death was the last stage of syphilis.
Preparing the body of the deceased for transportation to Slovakia, he was placed in a zinc coffin and filled with a preservative solution. 4 days later, the funeral cortege, consisting of a horse-drawn hearse and accompanying horse torchbearers, arrived at the count's ancestral castle, where a long time ago, by his order, a tomb in the form of a crypt was prepared in one of the numerous basements. After some time, 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.
Meanwhile, the heirs, impatiently awaiting the announcement of the will, upon hearing its contents, were extremely annoyed and outraged. The fact is that Count Palfiy was a connoisseur and connoisseur of works of art - for many years he searched for and bought canvases of old masters, sculptures and decorative items in many European countries and as a result spent almost all his fortune on these acquisitions.
But this is half the trouble - in his will, the count ordered: all the artistic treasures he collected must remain in the castle so that they can be studied for scientific purposes by art critics and museum workers, and also so that they can be viewed by everyone. Simply put, the Count bequeathed to turn the castle into a public museum rich in exhibits.
The heirs, who were already counting in their minds the profits from the sale of the works of art in the castle, this decision did not suit in any way. They were able to obtain a medical conclusion that by the time the will was drawn up, the count had already developed progressive paralysis, that is, syphilitic brain damage, characterized by progressive mental decay 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 recent times of his life.
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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 by tourists and other visitors, it did not become a respectable museum and a genuine temple of art, as the late Count hoped.
Over time, the passions that flared up in connection with the death of Count Palfy from the "fashionable disease" and the subsequent struggle of the heirs against the validity of his will subsided. It seemed that the count should have found peace and soul. But everything turned out differently.
Almost half a century later, mysterious events began to take place in the old Bojnice Castle. In 1957, one of the attendants reported that a thick, resinous liquid of dark red color had begun to ooze from the marble sarcophagus. Over time, it accumulated about two liters. The workers and inhabitants of the castle began to fear that this strange liquid could pose a threat to visitors and to themselves. 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.
It was assumed 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.
An interesting fact: 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 Bojnice Castle was returned and replaced in its original place in the castle chapel. an altar by a 14th century Florentine master.
It is likely that the two events coincided by chance, but many of the current workers and inhabitants of the castle considered this circumstance a sign from above. It was known that during his lifetime Jan Palfiy always came to the chapel and 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 him strength for many years to fight his terrible disease.
As for the artistic merit of the altar, then, as you can see, the Count considered it his most valuable acquisition for a reason: since 1933, the altar was in the Sternberg Palace in Prague and for 60 years was an adornment of its exposition.
Meanwhile, the mysterious events in the Bojnice Castle continue to this day. The employees of the detective and security agency regularly become witnesses of these events, ensuring the security of the castle and the works of art in it around the clock.
Here is what the head of one of the security shifts says: “Imagine a smooth and flat table surface with a cup of coffee on it. Nobody touches her. And this 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 the service dog barked furiously and began to rush at the door of one of these rooms. The door was opened, there was nobody in the room …"
Some workers of the castle claim that they often see translucent silhouettes of ghosts in the corridors and passages, appearing there in the predawn darkness. “And one of them once saw in the mirror the reflection of a figure wearing a black turban, the end of the cloth of which went down to the chest. Looking back in horror, she found that the room behind was empty …
In connection with these strange incidents, parapsychologists and psychics were invited to examine the castle. They confirmed that they felt the presence of some otherworldly forces, but they assured that, in their opinion, these forces did not pose any danger to those around them. And one of the guests, the famous "ghost hunter" Dr. Yonash, advised: "The ghosts should not be disturbed."
As for the state and location of the spirit of Count Jan Palfy himself, the opinions of experts on anomalous phenomena were divided. Some believe that he has not yet completely left the space of the sarcophagus and remains attached to this space. Others believe that a part of the count's biofield is still preserved in the walls of the castle, but its decay proceeds normally, and at the same time there is no danger to others.
Since the information about the current mysterious incidents in the Bojnice Castle is a documented fact, 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 says that in those days when the owner of the castle was a local tycoon named Jan Corvin, a lame cooper - a master of barrels - cursed the castle manager Peter Pak for not allowing him to wash his injured leg with water from the near the castle of a healing spring. After that, a key with healing water was hammered right outside the cooper's house, and the spring near the castle dried up. Not only that: all the money of the arrogant and greedy manager turned into small rounded pebbles. And the cooper recovered …
The dungeons of the Bojnice Castle also keep a lot of secrets. The stone foundations of the castle buildings were laid in the 13th century on the surface of a plateau formed by limestone tuff. In this light and porous rock, there are often vast voids of natural origin, which are easy to expand, deepen and connect to each other, cutting through tunnels in pliable natural material.
The entrance to one of these tunnels opens from the basements of the Bojnice Castle. Through this inclined tunnel, going down to a depth of 27 m, it is possible to get into a spacious almost circular cave with a diameter of about 22 m with two small lakes. The dome and walls of the cave are covered with amazingly beautiful incrustations of different 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 it was not a passion for romance that attracted the count to the cave, 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 were those "gates" to other dimensions that were given to visit Jan Palfia and from which he drew additional vital energy for himself.
According to the structure, the magic cave is like a passage room - several tunnels lead from it further into the depths of the mountain range. These are rather narrow and low passages. They are partly covered with collapsed rock. It is not known exactly how long they are and where they lead. According to legend, one of these tunnels is more than 400 m long and comes to the surface near the church located outside the city walls of Bojnice.
Today Bojnice Castle attracts all kinds of adventurers and lovers of everything mysterious and enigmatic. The fact is that every year a kind of festival is held in the castle, which brings together participants from many European countries. They all dress up in colorful robes that allow them to portray spirits, vampires, devils, witches and other evil spirits. The apotheosis of the festival is considered to be the Great Ball of Horrors, during which dozens of monsters and fairy-tale characters swing and whirl in wild dances to the beat of the music.
The main events of the festival are fortune-telling on cards and predicting the future using crystal balls, messages and consultations by parapsychologists, concerts of meditative music and performances by ensembles in historical knightly costumes. The history of the Bojnice Castle, intertwined with colorful legends, vivid choreography and spectacles, the main components of which are "light and sound", come to life before the eyes of participants and spectators.
V. Ilyin