Boris Karloff never walked these grounds, but the history of Burg Frankenstein may have inspired author Mary Shelley’s famous monster.
It also inspired one of the oldest Halloween parties in Germany, started by the US Army 31 years ago.
Since then an estimated 15,000 people flock to the former keep near Darmstadt in western Germany annually for chills, frights and the chance to walk through the halls of the place that many believe inspired the creation of The Modern Prometheus, as Shelley subtitled her famous novel.
This year, the weekend parties started last Friday and extend through next Sunday.
Once a massive fortress, all that remains of the castle is a pair of towers and a chapel.
But that is plenty of space for Halloween-inspired mischief and merry mayhem with a torture chamber, fireworks, flaming swords and, of course, a rather tall, gray-tinged hulking collection of body parts with a major fear of fire.
What’s left of the 1,000-year-old castle — it was first mentioned in local records in 948 — offers the perfect atmosphere for thrill-seeking.
A shuttle bus winds up through the dark woods and at the top there are only festival lights and the stars overhead.
Some 80 monsters lurk inside the castle walls ready to give the guests what they came for. Witches banter back and forth, casting spells outside their hut.
A deadly pale lumberjack sneaks up behind the unsuspecting and his chain saw roars to life. In the darkness, a werewolf growls, trying to chew on a living ear, and vampires crane to bite exposed necks of passers-by.
Walter Scheele, a writer and chronicler of the castle, has traced the history of both the castle and the festival.
Halloween came in earnest with the US Army, Scheele said.
“After World War II the US Army stayed in Darmstadt and they brought Halloween with them,” he said.
“They had their party at the barracks until it was too noisy and they asked if they could have it at the castle instead,” Scheele said.
Mathias Buehrer, who owned the “Frankenstein Inn” inside the castle at the time, agreed to host the festivities.
It’s been there ever since.
“The US Army broadcast the message over the radio, on the American Forces Network,” he said.
“‘Come to Burg Frankenstein, home of the monster,’ they said before every program. And then people from all over Europe came to the castle,” Buehrer said.
While the US Army is in the process of leaving Darmstadt, soldiers and their families remain drawn to the castle.
Busloads of men and women and their families come here annually to celebrate in costume, just like haunted houses back home. A Halloween party in a castle named Frankenstein is too perfect to miss.
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