Monday, November 05, 2007
Burg Frankenstein
The weekend before Halloween, we decided to head up to Frankenstein’s Castle to experience the display of more than 70 monsters, witches, vampires, werewolves, zombies and assorted other ghouls. The castle itself is mostly in ruin, essentially walls with no remaining roof. It’s the castle where Mary Shelley is purported to have visited and heard the local folklore of German alchemist and philosopher Johann Conrad Dippel. Folklore accuses him of body snatching and of trying to bring the dead to life. Whether Mary Shelley gained inspiration for her “Frankenstein” novel from these myths or whether these myths were retroactively influenced by her novel is difficult to gauge.
In any case, the 13th century castle ruins sit atop a hill near Darmstadt. All that’s left of the castle are two towers and a chapel... and plenty of room for Fright Night festivities a few weeks of the year. When we entered the castle ruins, a few vexes greeted us, and, as to be expected, tried snatching the backs of our legs and arms as we passed.
We traveled there on a “family day,” when the monsters were less scary and intimidating. MacKenzie quickly figured out that if one of the creatures was too intimidating, she should simply hold out her autograph card and pen for them to sign. They’d usually break character enough to take the card and pen to give an autograph.
We went with Hannah and her mom Emily. Unfortunately, Hannah really didn’t like this troll splashing water on everyone and refused to walk past him into the rest of the grounds. I think the nearby chain-saw wielding monster also contributed to her hesitance. We ended up touring the grounds on our own (Zachary, MacKenzie and me), then going through a second time with Hannah and Emily once Hannah felt a little more brave.
The grim reaper got hold of Zachary and considered making him his next victim. Fortunately, Zachary cooperated and was soon released.
MacKenzie burned at the stake for a short while, with one of the two remaining castle towers behind her. Good thing she wasn’t dressed as a witch this evening, otherwise she may not have made it down from the inferno.
This room held two rather Gothic-looking creatures, complete with chain mail and axes. When we went through the second time, we decided not to bring Hannah to this room, lest she have another panic attack.
As soon as Zachary saw one of the monsters grab a visitor and throw him into a coffin, he decided he wanted to experience that sensation as well. After a few minutes, he couldn’t stand it so he approached the monster and asked when he planned on doing so again. The monster shrugged his shoulders, looked around, then motioned to the coffin. Zachary obligingly followed. Good thing it was family night, otherwise I imagine the coffin would have been a little less inviting. After closing the lid, the monster climbed on top of the coffin and stomped around for a while before climbing down and releasing Zachary from inside.
Zachary didn’t want his autograph card signed by the monsters, but when MacKenzie noticed one ghoul marking cards with his sword when kids approached him without a pen, she asked him to get a sword autograph for her (she already had the pen version). Zachary quickly obliged.
As it became darker, the monsters became a little more mischievous. This one cornered MacKenzie and pretended to whack her with his sword as she stood nearly motionless against the brick wall.
MacKenzie also calmly posed for a photo while Dracula tried to get near her neck. Afterward, Dracula gave her a gummi.
This was a cool view of the castle ruins from above Dracula’s dining room.
Of course, no visit to Frankenstein’s Castle would be complete without finding Frankenstein’s monster. He was in a good mood and gladly posed for a photo with Hannah, MacKenzie and Zachary. The kids were all tired by the end of the evening, but seemed to really have enjoyed themselves. Even Hannah relaxed a bit by evening’s end, especially after she figured out MacKenzie’s autograph card secret to calling off the monsters.
To see Burg Frankenstein online, go here--in English or here--more in German.
In any case, the 13th century castle ruins sit atop a hill near Darmstadt. All that’s left of the castle are two towers and a chapel... and plenty of room for Fright Night festivities a few weeks of the year. When we entered the castle ruins, a few vexes greeted us, and, as to be expected, tried snatching the backs of our legs and arms as we passed.
We traveled there on a “family day,” when the monsters were less scary and intimidating. MacKenzie quickly figured out that if one of the creatures was too intimidating, she should simply hold out her autograph card and pen for them to sign. They’d usually break character enough to take the card and pen to give an autograph.
We went with Hannah and her mom Emily. Unfortunately, Hannah really didn’t like this troll splashing water on everyone and refused to walk past him into the rest of the grounds. I think the nearby chain-saw wielding monster also contributed to her hesitance. We ended up touring the grounds on our own (Zachary, MacKenzie and me), then going through a second time with Hannah and Emily once Hannah felt a little more brave.
The grim reaper got hold of Zachary and considered making him his next victim. Fortunately, Zachary cooperated and was soon released.
MacKenzie burned at the stake for a short while, with one of the two remaining castle towers behind her. Good thing she wasn’t dressed as a witch this evening, otherwise she may not have made it down from the inferno.
This room held two rather Gothic-looking creatures, complete with chain mail and axes. When we went through the second time, we decided not to bring Hannah to this room, lest she have another panic attack.
As soon as Zachary saw one of the monsters grab a visitor and throw him into a coffin, he decided he wanted to experience that sensation as well. After a few minutes, he couldn’t stand it so he approached the monster and asked when he planned on doing so again. The monster shrugged his shoulders, looked around, then motioned to the coffin. Zachary obligingly followed. Good thing it was family night, otherwise I imagine the coffin would have been a little less inviting. After closing the lid, the monster climbed on top of the coffin and stomped around for a while before climbing down and releasing Zachary from inside.
Zachary didn’t want his autograph card signed by the monsters, but when MacKenzie noticed one ghoul marking cards with his sword when kids approached him without a pen, she asked him to get a sword autograph for her (she already had the pen version). Zachary quickly obliged.
As it became darker, the monsters became a little more mischievous. This one cornered MacKenzie and pretended to whack her with his sword as she stood nearly motionless against the brick wall.
MacKenzie also calmly posed for a photo while Dracula tried to get near her neck. Afterward, Dracula gave her a gummi.
This was a cool view of the castle ruins from above Dracula’s dining room.
Of course, no visit to Frankenstein’s Castle would be complete without finding Frankenstein’s monster. He was in a good mood and gladly posed for a photo with Hannah, MacKenzie and Zachary. The kids were all tired by the end of the evening, but seemed to really have enjoyed themselves. Even Hannah relaxed a bit by evening’s end, especially after she figured out MacKenzie’s autograph card secret to calling off the monsters.To see Burg Frankenstein online, go here--in English or here--more in German.
Labels: Germany, MacKenzie, Travel, Zachary
