Photo: museums and exhibitions, castles, fortresses and palaces, Lauenstein Castle , Bavaria

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Lauenstein Castle and Dramatic Story of the White Lady

Museums and Exhibitions • Castles, Fortresses and Palaces

The ancient Lauenstein Castle, built in the X century, is the main attraction of Ludwigsstadt. The number of legends per square meter is over the scale here. And they're all scary. One of them tells that a dead girl can be found in the castle forest on the full moon, who is desperately digging in the land with bare hands. Once a cook served at the castle, who had a frivolous girlfriend. They had a great time in the secluded wilderness, and then a rich farmer proposed to the girl. In order not to disgrace her family, the girl provoked a miscarriage and buried the baby under a tree. But locals followed her, anathematized as a witch, and hammered a stake into her chest...

There is also a story associated with Lauenstein Castle telling that a small peasant boy appears in the basement of the fortress on the first Wednesday of each new year. He is looking for an amazing gold room, which he found by chance, wandering around the castle. When the boy brought his parents there to take a little bit of gold and no longer live in need, there was a solid wall instead of the mysterious treasury door. His parents have already died and the castle was destroyed several times, but the boy still goes there and searches for gold.

But Lauenstein’s main legend is associated with the dramatic story of the White Lady - Katharina von Orlamünde, the repentant child-killer, who lived here in the first half of her life. The young widow left after the death of her husband with two small children, decided to gain the heart of the Count of Hohenzollern from Nuremberg. He did not mind, but said that four eyes watching the development of their relations, were embarrassing him. Katharina took the hint, and literally killed her children, telling others that they died from a disease. The crime was solved, but the criminal narrowly escaped the death penalty: she pledged to repent at the Vatican and to build a monastery. The story goes that the meeting with the White Lady in the corridors of the castle means trouble.

Besides the ghosts, Lauenstein Castle has several exhibition halls of medieval art. Every two years, the traditional knight holiday called Burgfest is held here in mid-summer and Lauenstein Castle is open for excursions every day from Tuesday to Sunday.

Lauenstein Castle and Dramatic Story of the White Lady

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