Said to be the location of a hidden treasure, the old nobles from the Devil’s Castle in the Bavarian hills are said to roam the forest, still searching for it.
The Aubinger Lohe is a green and wooden area on the western edge of the city limits of Munich, bordering to the north by the Lochhausen district. Lohe means forest or wetland, and is a part of Munich’s green belt.
Read More: Check out all ghostly legends from Germany
The Aubinger Lohe with the Teufelsberg is the only natural elevation in the Munich gravel plain. With its summit height of 541 meters, it rises about 25 meters above its surroundings and is Munich’s highest hill.. It is called Teufelsberg” (Devil’s Mountain), after the now vanished Teufelsburg” (Devil’s Castle).
The Ruins of Aubinger Lohe Castle
In the south and southeast of the Aubinger Lohe, traces of settlements from Bronze Age, Celtic and Roman times have been found, as well as two Celtic hillforts. A lot of old legends linger under the trees, but perhaps the most told one is the curse of the old Aubinger Lohe Castle and the treasure that was lost.
Read also: The Lost Castle of Hollerwiese
Deep into the woods a three-meter-deep ditch around a tree-covered hill at the northeast side. Aubinger Burgstall castle stood here in the Middle Ages. A trained eye can recognize the motte and the moat at Teufelsberg, but nothing else remains.
The castle, now dubbed Teufelburg, or the Devil’s Castle, was founded in 1158 by Henry the Lion, Duke of Munich, to guard the road to Augsburg. The Lords of Aubinger were likely in the service of the Welf dukes. Aubing was first mentioned in 1010.
The popular name Teufelsburg (Devil’s Castle) is post-medieval and refers to various legends of treasures hidden in the castle hill that could only be retrieved with the help of the devil. Besides the obvious possibility of ” Teufel ” (devil), a derivation from “Tuifel” (depression, pool) is also conceivable, referring to the damp area of the Dachau Moor below.
In 1422, the castle was destroyed during a campaign by Duke Ludwig the Bearded shortly before the Battle of Alling and abandoned to decay and disappear. Apparently, it was a wooden structure, which is why no ruins remain.
The Ghost of Aubinger Lohe and the Cursed Treasure
There are a couple of different versions of the legend of the castle that vanished into thin air, or the treasure that is supposedly hidden away somewhere inside of the forest.
One version claims that when the lord of the manor was slain while hunting in the Loh forests, his widow cursed both the woods and the castle as revenge. The stately castle then collapsed in on itself, along with all its treasures, and sank into the Teufelsberg. According to legend, the lady of the castle has since wandered restlessly as a white figure through the woods of the Aubinger Lohe.
Wayward Cross Haunting: On the way to the so-called Aubinger Burgstall, known locally as Teufelsberg, stands a wayside cross. It has only been in this location for 13 years, but it commemorates a cross that stood elsewhere and was destroyed during the construction of the motorway tunnel. According to superstition, fiery men used to lie in wait at the former Lochhausen wayside cross after the evening prayer bells rang, ambushing anyone leaving the village’s boundaries. Only a fervent prayer, the story goes, could put an end to this hellish haunting.
Another version, it was the lord of the castle who cursed it with his dying breath as well as his wife, who is suspected was involved in his death. The castle then collapsed and sank into the Teufelsberg, along with everything inside. Legend has it that the castle contained fabulous treasures, which his wife apparently coveted.
In both cases, a lady in white is roaming the forest, and the treasure of the cursed castle is buried somewhere under the green trees.
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