Moon Mausoleum
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Before their deaths, members of the royal Wittelsbach family claimed to have seen the mystical Lady in Black appearing to them. Although the woman behind the black clothing is a mystery, her message has been clear: in the soon future, you will die.
Before their deaths, members of the royal Wittelsbach family claimed to have seen the mystical Lady in Black appearing to them. Although the woman behind the black clothing is a mystery, her message has been clear: in the soon future, you will die.
A black-clad and veiled ghost is said to glide through the walls of the Munich Residenz, the former city palace of the Wittelsbach dynasty between Odeonsplatz and the English Garden. Like a curse, she haunts the Bavarian noble family and whenever she is seen, a family member dies shortly afterward. This curse has remained unbroken for centuries.
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From 1508 to 1918, Munich Residenz was the residence of the Dukes, Electors and Kings of Bavaria from the House of Wittelsbach. The complex was destroyed in World War II and subsequently rebuilt and this is her haunting ground.
It’s unsure how long the legend of the Lady in Black has existed. Electress Maria Anna (* 1728; † 1797), wife of Elector Max III Joseph, wrote: “In our family it is said that she haunts the residence as the ‘Black Lady’ and announces deaths in the House of Wittelsbach.”
On Shrove Tuesday 1864, at a costume ball celebrating the centenary of the Residenztheater in the Munich Residenz, an unknown woman in a black gown and mourning veil was seen floating through a door at the edge of the party. Shortly afterward, King Maximilian II pricked himself with a tie pin, contracting blood poisoning from which he died soon after.
The king suffered from headaches throughout his life; a bout of typhoid fever in 1835 had severely weakened him. As late as the autumn of 1863, he traveled again to Italy and southern France [ 17 ] to seek relief before the crisis in Schleswig-Holstein called him back. Maximilian died in March 1864 after a severe illness lasting only three days. Physicians explained it as a rapidly spreading erysipelas infection of the chest
Ludwig I is therefore considered the last sovereign monarch to rule Bavaria. During the revolutions of 1848, he faced increasing protests and demonstrations by students and the middle classes, following his affair with the dancer Lola Montez. He abdicated his throne to his son that year.
Ludwig lived as a private citizen for 20 years after his abdication and continued to support the arts with his own funds. His relationship with his successor was not without tension, especially since Ludwig did not completely abandon his building program.
In 1868, his father, King Ludwig I, also encountered a ghostly woman dressed in black and grey in the royal private apartments.
Ludwig I died on February 29, 1868, at the age of 81 in Nice, in a villa he had rented for the winter. He had been struggling with physical ailments, though he hadn’t altered his daily routine. His feet and lower legs were swollen, causing him difficulty breathing and restless nights. Two leg operations brought him some relief, but his condition was becoming increasingly serious. His two surviving sons, Luitpold and Adalbert, were summoned by telegram to Nice, where he received the Last Rites and died shortly afterward.
The mysterious death of King Ludwig II in 1886 in Lake Starnberg is also linked to the Black Lady’s appearance. On the night of June 12th to 13th, 1886, the day on which King Ludwig II died under unexplained circumstances in Lake Starnberg, the Black Woman allegedly appeared to some chambermaids.
The unexpected death of his father left Ludwig, who was just beginning his university studies, completely unprepared for his new role. Ludwig spent all his own private royal revenues (although not state funds as is commonly thought) on building projects, borrowed extensively, and defied all attempts by his ministers to restrain him. This extravagance was used against him to declare him insane, a determination that is now questioned. Ludwig was taken into custody and effectively deposed on 12 June 1886; he and his doctor were found dead the following day. His death was ruled to be a suicide, a conclusion that is also now questioned.
Between 1958 and the early 1960s, Detlef Willand, a woodcarver and restorer, worked on the reconstruction of the Munich Residenz and stayed there with several other craftsmen during the construction period. He, too, had seen the Black Woman walking through the Residenz at night and swears up and down that she vanished like a ghost when he went looking for her as he documented in his book: “The Black Woman in the Munich Residenz.“
Other restorers confirmed similar encounters, and a guard at the Residenz reported that at 12:30 a.m., during his rounds on the Stone Staircase, he had seen a woman dressed in black and spoken to her. The woman, in a strange black gown, did not respond and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.
Even long after the Bavarian kings had stepped down from their thrones, the Lady in Black has been said to have made her appearances before imminent death in the family. In 1969, it is said she appeared to Prince Adalbert of Bavaria in a dream; shortly afterward, his son died in a plane crash.
Konstantin Prinz von Bayern died on 30 July 1969 in a plane crash near Hechingen, Baden-Württemberg. The private plane crashed into Mount Raichberg when they encountered deteriorating weather that included low visibility and clouds enveloping the terrain.
The Residenz ghost was sighted again on April 23, 2014. This time, however, it didn’t appear to the king, ladies-in-waiting, or craftsmen, but crossed paths with Margot Ilgner, a new museum employee assigned to supervise the three northernmost of the six stone rooms. Ms. Ilgner reported that, about seven to eight meters away from her, when no visitors were present, a figure in a black, floor-length robe looked to be floating in the Room of the World. In her eyes though, the figure looked to be the size of an 11 year old girl. Her immediate search for the strange visitor proved fruitless. Other employees have also told a variant of a ghost roaming the castle accompanied by a pudel.
Although the ghost of the woman is said to be clad in black, her presence and pattern of haunting is much reticent of the legend of the Woman in White, or the Weiße Frau from European mythology, said to haunt different noble families. These legends and ghosts are especially common around German noble families.
The oldest accounts of the apparition date back to the 15th century, while belief in the spirit reached its peak in the 17th century. Although similarities exist to other female spirits in European folklore, the White Lady is a phenomenon that originated in and was typical of the aristocratic culture of the Early Modern period.
Most often, her presence acts like an omen of death. Sometimes it is said to have been a woman who cursed the family, but not always.
But who is the woman behind the ghost? There has been speculation that it might be Electress Maria Anna (1728–1797), the wife of Elector Max III Joseph. She was said to have loved her husband deeply and passionately, though it is said that he was more inclined toward the company of men. This is the woman often put forth, but as she already is credited with writing of a ghostly woman haunting the family, could it be someone from even earlier?
Alternatively, it could be Electress Henriette Adelaide of Savoy (1636–1676). Henriette Adelaide, a French woman was cultured and made significant contributions to the arts. But her whole life changed when the Wittelsbach seat burned down in 1674. It remains uncertain who caused the fire through carelessness—whether it was the Electress herself or one of her ladies-in-waiting. Henriette Adelaide reportedly managed to save her children while clad only in her nightgown. She never recovered from the aftermath of the fire and died in 1676.
Or what about another Maria Anna of Bavaria? Maria Anna of Austria 1610- 1665 was an Archduchess of Austria and by marriage Electress of Bavaria. Maria Anna, who had a particular fondness for hunting, was raised strictly Catholic by Jesuits and was considered a great beauty, and was credited with qualities such as intelligence, orderly conduct, and temperance. Maria Anna, at the age of 25, married her much older uncle, Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria (1573–1651), who was 62. Maximilian’s marriage to Maria Anna was not only linked to the hope of the birth of an heir apparent, but also a political demonstration of his alliance with the imperial house against France. Despite the significant age difference, the marriage was very happy, and Maximilian lovingly cared for his wife. Her whole life she engaged in politics and the state of affairs.
She died in Munich aged 55 and was buried at St. Michael’s Church, while her heart was deposited in the Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting.
The nature of the lady in black and her purpose for showing herself, is a little bit unclear. Is it a family curse, much like the lady plaguing the Hoenzollern family? Or is she perhaps more like a death omen, guarding over her family, like an Angel of Death?
https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/27294/1/W816_5641.pdf
Münchner Stadtlegenden * Die Schwarze Frau der Residenz * Munichkindl
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