New book about mystical places in the Oberland

Fritz Fenzl is drawn to eerie places.

He has now written a book about it - with many examples from the Oberland.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

- A magical hill, the devil's footprint, necromancy and an ancient animal on the bottom of the lake: Bavaria is full of scenes of sagas and legends.

Dr.

Fritz Fenzl visited 75 of these places and wrote down their stories in the “Book of uncanny places in Bavaria - Mystical places and their stories”.

The photos for this are from Raphael Lichius.

Fenzl reports on the "thousand year old linden tree" near Holzhausen, which housed a small Madonna in its trunk.

In 1996 a violent storm hit the tree and fell victim to it.

But the figure of Mary in its tree grotto remained intact.

“On site you can feel a certain itching and tingling sensation under the soles of your feet,” the author describes his own feelings.

"A classic magical place with almost unbelievable power from below."

The Villa Max: a haunted house?

According to Fenzl, there is a haunted house just a few kilometers away, right on Lake Starnberg.

Here, in the almost completely dilapidated Villa Max, once lived the important painter Gabriel von Max, who was known as an occultist.

In secret séances he invoked ghosts.

“And they are still there,” believes Fenzl.

"Von Max knowingly exceeded limits - and you can feel that here."

Also read: Gabriel von Max: painter, spiritualist and friend of the monkeys

A few kilometers further south, however, in the Walchensee near Kochel, an ancient animal is said to live on the ground.

Quietly, biting his own tail, he forms a kind of magic ring.

According to legend, a sacrifice had to be made every year, usually in the form of a gold ring.

Because woe if one day its power discharges like an explosion ...

Fenzl has divided the book into four regions (Munich, Upper Bavaria, Allgäu and Swabia, Franconia).

In an info box, he also points out the special characteristics of the respective location, often with a wink.

There are also tips here for a break.

"In the Ambacher Landhotel Huber", enthuses Fenzl, for example, "the char miller is an experience."

The author has written 65 books

The author was born in Munich in 1952.

He started writing - he was the youngest tower scribe in the 1970s - as a student (German studies, Catholic theology, history, art history and sculpture); his doctorate was about Ludwig Thoma.

He later headed the Munich literary archive Monacensia for nine years and wrote 65 books for Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Fenzl discovered his interest in magic and its places very early on, and it was deepened through his own research into sagas and wonders.

“I'm also a lively divining rod,” he says with a hearty laugh.

"For example, I only feel water veins in the ground with my hands." And: "Every place has its reason - in a negative as well as a positive sense."

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Reading for gray autumn days: Fritz Fenzl's new book.

© Private

In addition to his research, he noticed that particularly negative places also attract negatives.

“A straight stretch in the Bavarian Forest - and yet serious accidents happen here again and again.

Or the Großhesseloher bridge.

Why do so many people choose the same place to commit suicide? ”Various sources unanimously report that between 1877 and 1978 around 290 people jumped to their death from here.

“That can't be a coincidence.” When the bridge was rebuilt 35 years ago, the pedestrian crossing was barred.

Info:

"The book of uncanny places in Bavaria - mystical places and stories" is published by J. Berg Verlag for 22.99 euros under ISBN 978-3-86246-702-0