The landscape of Germany has inspired many authors and painters. Its medieval ruins, sentinels of an earlier age that have long lost their original purpose and shape but stubbornly still stand, seem to lurk from hills and forests, intriguing passing travelers to stop and explore. Among the earliest to appreciate them were the 19th century romantics who found beauty in withered hulks and in their dark histories. If they weren’t dark enough, they would write them that way or at least borrow a good name.
Author Mary Shelley may have appropriated a name she heard on a Rhine River cruise in 1816, that of a nearby castle named Frankenstein. Whether it’s true or not it has given the little hilltop castle a bit of notoriety to stand out from all the others.
Notoriety is important because in medieval Germany, if you had a hill you had a castle. The Odenwald hills are still dotted with the remains of fortresses such as Burg Frankenstein from which the many lords of that stratified land ruled. In that regard, it’s fairly typical except for its famous name which around Halloween attracts visitors like pitchfork and torch wielding villagers to a misunderstood perversion of science.
Something to realize when visiting is that the real castle and its forested hill have enough stories and myths that it doesn’t need another fictional one tacked on. Local legends include a dragon tale, mythical creatures, witches gathering on the hill and alchemist Konrad Dippel, who verifiably did live in the castle.
If there is a real mystery of Burg Frankenstein, it’s the castle’s age. Europe is full of castles, churches and places that have been consistently used or inhabited for their entire existence, but these existences stretch back so far no one remembers precisely when the first stones where laid. The oldest known reference to Burg Frankenstein is from 948 A.D.
On my trip it was dreary, heavy on fog and light on rain, and looking to get worse. Normally I hated this kind of weather when I traveled. But there isn’t any better weather to ask for when exploring the ruins of castle and especially one named Frankenstein.
The visit didn’t inspire me as a writer, but as a photographer it was perfect. Ominous weather, fog concealing and shadowing figures and shapes, and for the most part very few other people to ruin the mood or wander into my shots made it ideal for shooting eerie photography. A haunted atmosphere simply can’t be replicated at the height of tourist season under a cloudless blue sky.
It’s called a ruin but enough castle remains that it’s easy to see the appeal romantics had in such places. The castle walls and towers still stand and even though most of the buildings are gone or reduced to stony frames it’s easy to imagine the place in its prime when hundreds labored and lived in and around its cramped quarters. Burg Frankenstein is similar to other hilltop castles in Hesse in that it’s rather compact to fit on its stony perch. Walking atop the walls and climbing to the highest floor of the keep, where the Frankenstein family once lived, offered an excellent view of the lands they once dominated both literally and physically.
Another good area for photography was walking the narrow path that circles the castle walls and also includes a standalone rampart. There’s something about the combination of ruins and greenery that appeals to me. I could say there’s a statement to be made about the works of man falling to nature or I could just say it looks appealing.
The castle is in a nature park, so before heading out grab a map of the footpaths and points of interest then try to find as many as you can. Some will appeal to those with an interest in the paranormal such as the magnet stones which supposedly has drawn witches over the centuries, the sonnstein, humming stone, which is supposed to be good for your health and even better for your health is a Jungbrunnen, the fountain of youth which I’m pretty certain has run dry. What is definitely good health-wise is the exercise received from all the walking and fresh mountain air.
Burg Frankenstein was a fun and productive day out for me. It was also cheap, the entry fee was two Euros, and easy to get to. It is 20 miles from Frankfurt am Main and overlooks the town of Mulhtal. I rode a train from Frankfurt to Mulhtal’s Frankenstein stop then took a taxi to the castle. Because the road is winding and has no shoulder to walk on, I would recommend against attempting walking up the hill from the station.
Most of the year visiting is as simple as showing up, but if you want to visit during Halloween you need to purchase an entry ticket well ahead of time due to its Halloween monster festival. Because if your castle has a famous horror name, you might as well run with it.
