On the beautiful island known as Pfaueninsel in Berlin, there are rumours about the soul of an alchemist doing black magic still remains.
The Pfaueninsel or Peacock Island is a little island in the River Havel In Berlin. The island is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the impressive Prussian architecture. The Pfaueninsel castle looks like something out of a fairy tale, and the island is a heaven for nature and animal lovers.
In the late 1600s the island was called Kaninchenwerder, or rabbit island after they set up a rabbit breeding station by Elector Frederick William I of Brandenburg of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
Did you know: The Hohenzollern family has a long history of being a cursed family, and many have claimed to have been haunted by the Lady in White. Read more
The Alchemist on the Island
The island was also a place where alchemist Johann Kunckel built a glass foundry where he produced artificial rubies known as gold ruby glass. The elector who he produced the red colored glass was so pleased with him that he gifted him the island.
Entering and leaving the island was made a punishale offens except for Kunckel himself, and the whole place became shrouded in secrecy. The black smoke and smell of chemicals from the islands made the farmers around the island suspicious and they started to believe it was witchcraft going on out there.
After he lost financial support after his patron, the Great Elector died, the foundry went up in flames and he took off to work for the Swedish king. It was very possible that the fire was arson.
It is here the dark rumors of the island starts as it is said that Johann Kunckel played with black magic as well as chemistry in his laboratory before he set it aflame, making the island an inhospitable place to be after dark.
It is said that the spirit of him is still wandering restless around as a black ghost with red glowing eyes.
The Exotic Animals
After this the island was abandoned until the Prussian king Fredrick William II got the island and built the Pfaueninsel castle for his mistress.
From then on they started putting excotic animals like alligators, buffalos, kangaroos, monkeys, lions and peacocks on the island. At its peak there were over 900 animals there of over 100 species. They stayed on the island until 1842 when they were transferred to the Berlin Zoo.
Today the remains are a mixture of exotic birds, great architecture and legends about the black soul of a sorcery after witchcraft tainted the very earth.
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