Overgrown walls, walls sprayed with graffiti: Although they are rare, there are so-called "lost places" in Bavaria too - some with a gloomy past.
Munich - There are abandoned buildings * that the ravages of time are gnawing at. Often it seems as if they were full of life yesterday. As if their owners had left them immediately. With that morbid, ailing charm *, disused factories, orphaned villas or hidden bunkers - so-called "Lost Places" * - always attract onlookers. Castle ruins and their horror legends are just as fascinating. Many a natural gem - whether mountain, valley, moor or body of water - becomes a “dark place” as soon as you know your dark past.
For the historian Laura Bachmann, too, these places exude a special aura: "If you look at them, you feel like you're on a journey through time and you wonder whether their story has already been told to the end." she wanted to have those who are right on her doorstep documented.
So she went on a discovery tour with the historian Anne Dreesbach.
The result: a travel guide that shows 33 eerily beautiful places in Upper Bavaria - and even gives tutoring in local history.
The old pumping station in Penzberg
There is a legend in Penzberg (Weilheim-Schongau district): King Max I lost his crown.
When the villagers brought them back to him, he gave them the “Maxkroner Landl”.
Construction work on a pumping station began here in the 1940s.
After the war, the system was part of the mine from 1951 and pumped water from the Loisach to the power station.
In 1971 it was shut down.
Deep shafts, old machines and a tower make the pumping station a popular, but also a dangerous playground for those who are looking for a thrill.
The travel guide reveals which stairs are still accessible, but entering the private property is forbidden anyway.
The artist villa on Lake Starnberg
Ammerland on Lake Starnberg has always attracted artists: in 1871, painter and spiritualist Gabriel von Max also had a villa built in the Münsingen district.
Max was not only considered eccentric because of a tendency towards the supernatural.
He also owned a skull collection with over 60,000 exhibits and kept a herd of monkeys.
He lived there until his death in 1915.
Today the paint is peeling off the facade and the wooden parapet is rotten.
The owners have wanted to demolish the villa for years, but the listed building holds against it.
So you can catch a glimpse of the Max Villa * from the outside.
At least for the moment.
The ghost clinic in Münsing
In Münsing (Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district) Bachmann and Dreesbach have discovered a “lost place”.
Harald Juhnke, Inge Meysel and Rudolph Moshammer - they are all said to have undergone a rejuvenation cure in the Wiedemann Clinic *.
Opened in 1952, the sanatorium has been empty since 2008.
The shine of the past can only be guessed at.
Nature is rampant and window panes have been smashed.
Even if a tour of discovery through the abandoned facility seems appealing, entry is strictly forbidden.
The travel guide explicitly points this out.
"Before a retirement home is built here, the ghostly atmosphere of the place can also be captured from the outside," says Bachmann.
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The Werdenfels castle ruins are not just an idyllic gem and spectacular vantage point.
Because of the witch trials, it is also known as the “dark place”.
© Bruckmann-Verlag
Garmisch-Partenkirchen: The Werdenfels castle ruins
Cold, bad harvests, high grain prices: in the 16th century, witches were blamed for everything.
Also in the county of Werdenfels (district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen).
Caspar von Poißl had a total of 48 women and one man tortured and executed between 1589 and 1591.
Two women died in custody.
The witch trials got so out of hand that they had to be stopped.
After all, everyone in Werdenfels denounced everyone at some point.
The castle ruins between Garmisch and Farchant * are not only a beautiful vantage point, but also a really gloomy place.
The Tatzelwurm near Oberaudorf am Inn
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The Tatzelwurm Gorge near Oberaudorf am Inn is also a place with a dark past.
© Bruckmann-Verlag
The pilgrimage chapel in Birkenstein (Miesbach district) has been the destination of countless pilgrims since the middle of the 17th century. Anyone who set out in Tyrol back then had to go through the ominous gorge near Oberaudorf am Inn (Rosenheim district). According to legend, there lived a monster with a huge, fire-breathing mouth, razor-sharp teeth and six paws. In 1687 a pilgrim believed he saw the Tatzelwurm for the first time. The thunder of the falling water, the rising spray, the slippery stones in the gorge - the journey was not safe back then, so the Tatzelwurm really devoured some pilgrims. The popular gorge is also a place with a dark past.
(sco) * Merkur.de / bayern is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
The book:
A. Dreesbach, L. Bachmann: "Lost & Dark Places Upper Bavaria: 33 forgotten, abandoned and eerie places." Bruckmann-Verlag, 19.99 euros
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