The Cursed Weilheim Plague Chapel

The Abandoned Pollingsried Village

Pollingsried once consisted of four or six farms clustered around the chapel. originated from the clearing of a wooded area near Polling Abbey, sometimes before the Hungarian invasions of 955 as an estate before being divided into the farmsteads.

In the Middle Ages, the first chapel, dedicated to Saint Sebastian, was built, serving the inhabitants of Pollingsried as a place of worship.

***Saint Sebastian:*** According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this did not kill him. Legend says he was rescued and healed by Irene of Rome, a popular subject in 17th-century painting. After his recovery he went to Diocletian to warn him about his sins, and as a result he was clubbed to death. Sebastian is a popular male saint, especially today among athletes. In medieval times, he was regarded as a saint with a special ability to intercede to protect from plague, and devotion to him greatly increased when plague was active.

In 1803, Polling Abbey was dissolved, and the forest, including Pollingsried, became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. The farmers then became tenants to the state and had to pay high sums for this. They sold off their farms, one by one, or lost it because of debt. The last farm in Pollingsried was demolished in 1864.

Today, only the chapel and its wells remain. The other farms disappeared in 1803 during secularization, when large areas once belonging to the clergy were transferred to state ownership. As a result, many hamlets were abandoned and their inhabitants resettled. Perhaps the chapel’s isolation fueled the imagination, turning into legends that the farms were abandoned because of a curse lingering in the area.

The Plague History of the Pollingsried Chapel

The small chapel is dedicated to Saint George and Saint Anne. Inside, the visitors are still able to see a fresco of Saint Roch, the plague victims’ protector, and inscriptions containing names of over 300 victims. The chapel’s simple interior features the original terracotta floor. A small window on the west side offers a glimpse inside as the church is only opened on special occasions today.

The chapel itself is often said to have originated in one of the darkest chapters in Bavaria’s history, a plague epidemic that swept through the lands in 1633-1634. This was during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) that brought the plague to the region with the Swedish invasions.

***The Thirty Years War and the Plague:*** Thought to have originated in Northern France in 1623, the plague was carried throughout Europe as a result of troop movements associated with the Thirty Years’ War. Initially perceived as safe from war, Bavaria became a battleground as Protestant forces, led by influential leaders such as Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden, invaded the territory. By the mid-1630s, the conflict had left Bavaria in a state of turmoil, and its population was estimated to have decreased by about 30 percent during the war.

Particularly in nearby Eberfing and the surrounding marshlands, was said to have been stricken hard. At that time, the people of Pollingsried vowed to have a mass celebrated annually in the chapel in honor of Saint Sebastian, the patron saint against the plague.

There have been mentions of some sort of chapel here since 1138/40. First, it was said a wooden chapel was built as a prayer site for the victims’ families as well as a plague cemetery. But in 1655, the chapel burned down and was rebuilt as a small Baroque church.

***Saint Sebastian’s Cranium:*** Sebastian’s cranium was brought to the town of Ebersberg (about 80 km from the chapel) in 934. A Benedictine abbey was founded there and became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in southern Germany. It is said the silver-encased cranium was used as a cup in which to present the consecrated wine of the Blessed Sacrament to the faithful during the feast of Saint Sebastian. Safe to say that they in this area, feared the plague. // Image:J. Patrick Fischer/Wiki

A votive, or holy tablet is said to have once hung on the north wall of the Pollingsried chapel, its depiction was said to show a vow the people of Eberfing made. When the plague raged through Germany from 1633 to 1634, the farmers of Eberfing, (In some versions it was Eichendorf), offered a mass to St. Sebastian, and pledged to hold mass there every year if the people in the region were spared from the plague, as far as the bells ringing could be heard.

From that time on, no one in the area where the church bells could be heard fell ill with the plague. Perhaps this is were the plague legends now surrounding the chapel come from. And throughout times, the protection the pledge gave has now turned into a story of it being cursed.

The Pentagram Wells

Perhaps some of the stories are connected to the five moss covered wells that are placed around the chapel. one is said to be located in or beneath the church itself. Together, they supposedly form a pentagram, can still be found today, and there are said to be recurring ghostly apparitions in the forest.

It is said that plague victims were once thrown into the wells there. Only when the wells were full did they supposedly begin burying them around the church.

They are arranged in the shape of a pentagram, which served the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages as a protective symbol against demons. Four fountains are arranged around the chapel; the fifth, the so-called “Devil’s Fountain,” is said to be located directly beneath it.

Divers inspected the wells in the later years but have found no skeletons. Also, there are only four wells found. Historians, too, found no evidence in the annals to support the rumors. Besides, the wells were their drinking waters, and throwing plague victims into that would have been something completely odd thing to do.

However the empty wells remain in the stories, barred so that nothing can go in. Or out.

The Haunting of the Plague Chapel

So except for the legend about protection from the plague and the mysterious wells, what are people actually claiming that goes on around the chapel? Many residents were said to be afraid because of apparitions and the wailing of the dead, which seemed to come from the cemetery. Some say that’s why they left.

After the people left, witches, demons and ghosts remain, holding black masses and haunting the ground. There are tales of a woman hanging from a tree in the woods and when there are no lights, you can see a red figure with terrifying eyes in the window. Inside the chapel, candles were burning there at night and you can see an upside-down cross.

Instead of being protected from the plague, they say that the place is cursed within a 5 kilometre radius. About how far the bells can be heard perhaps?

The sound of screams and glinting eyes in the dark are said to follow you through the forest. And those who go looking for them often get lost in the forest.

The Black Dog and the Murdered Girl

Some claim that black Hellhounds are prowling the place. Huge, black dog with bloodshot, fiery eyes that are barking around the chapel at night. Some versions however, claim that it is a friendlier black dog that guides lost travelers.

Several bodies are said to have been sunk in the well. Legend has it that in 1625, a girl was murdered by the pastor near the chapel and thrown into one of the wells. Her black dog howled at the scene of the crime and kept watch beside the body. When the priest arrived at the church, the dog is said to have leaped at his throat, exposing him as the murderer and he confessed on his deathbed. Even today, the girl’s former companion, the jet-black dog with the fiery red eyes, is said to roam the woods at night, howling loudly.

Now, did a girl get murdered here? Who knows, but as there was no priest at this chapel, it was most likely not a priest murdering her.

The only tragic incident in Pollingsried, in which 13-year-old Elisabeth Promberger died, dates back to 1701. The young girl fell from the upper threshing floor of the farm and died from her injuries. A sad incident, but one that was “only” an unfortunate accident.

The truth of the Plague Chapel

But what is the truth behind these wild rumours? The chapel we see today is rebuilt after it burned down in the 17th century. Not much has changed since then.

***The Oberammergau Plague:*** There are many stories about Bavarian villagers protecting themselves from the plague with pledges. The most famous one is perhaps the legend about Bad Kohlgrub was so depopulated that only two married couples remained alive. The village of Oberammergau remained plague-free until 25 September 1633, when a man named Kaspar Schisler returned home after working in the nearby village of Eschenlohe. Over the next 33 days, 81 villagers would die, half of Oberammergau’s population. On 28 October 1633, the villagers vowed that if God spared them from the plague, they would perform a play every 10 years depicting the life and death of Jesus. Nobody died of plague in Oberammergau after that vow, and the villagers kept their word to God by performing the passion play for the first time in 1634. This pledge and tradition is still going strong.

The caretakers of the chapel have worked hard to refute the haunted rumours and stop people drawn to the place to vandalize it further. The chapel is more protected than ever though with surveillance cameras. In the 1980s it was vandalised and set on fire. Its bells were thrown into the pond.

That is also why they are rather hesitant to share direction to it when discussing the legends that have haunted the chapel for decades now.

Was there even a plague going on at this time and place? Because of the famous Oberammergau Plague and the passion play that followed, the years 1633-1634 have traditionally been thought of as plague years. But was it really? It seems like there was an outbreak of plague in villages like Oberammergau, but it took place from September 1632 to March 1633, when there were a total of 84 deaths from all causes. And in the case with Pollingsried, there certainly weren’t enough people to fill wells or cemeteries.

The Haunted Chapel in the Forest

To get to the chapel today, you have to make it through the dense forest. Contrary to the legends, there are signs to the chapel, but they are few and far between, and it’s easy to get lost. It does have its own parking lot at Tradfranz farm though, so there is that. Perhaps not at hidden away as the legends would have it

Only once a year does this place come alive: The Annafest takes place in the summer, with a mass held in the small church. Who knows, perhaps the chapel is the victim of legends out of control. Or perhaps under the church, a fifth well lays in waiting.

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