fog covering the forest park ground
Ukategorisert

The Lady in White Haunting Ebersberg Forest

1 Comment
Advertisements

Said to haunt the area around The Hubertus Chapel in the vast Ebersberg Forest in Bavaria, Germany, the Lady in White is seeking revenge for those refusing her a ride. But is she truly the only thing haunting this old and mystic forest?

Between the trees stretching for miles and miles in Bavaria, Germany, an alleged apparition in the Ebersberg forest. The story says that if the white lady appears to lonely travelers in the forest, something bad is going to happen. Usually a fatal accident if you don’t stop for this vanishing hitchhiker. .

Read More: Check out all ghostly legends from Germany

The Hubertus Chapel in Ebersberg Forest is situated on a very sharp bend where there have been many traffic accidents in the past before they mended the bend on the road. Skeptics will say this is probably the background to this urban legend. However, others will defend the legend, claiming something strange was going on in the forest, long before the Lady in White appeared. 

Ebersberg: in Bavaria, southern Germany. The Ebersberger Forst  is one of Germany’s largest continuous areas of woodlands. Ebersberg’s history is closely tied with the nearby Benedictine monastery founded in 934 and since then, a lot of legends and mysteries have remained unsolved within the darkness between the trees.

The Lady in White of Ebersberg Forest

The bend around the chapel has been defused, and the road widened since the legend emerged. The whole B2R in the forest is still a place for common accidents and still people blame them on the Lady in White’s wrath. . 

The Hubertus Chapel: in the center of the Ebersberg Forest is a wayside chapel on State Road 2080 between Ebersberg and Schwaberwegen, at the junction with Scheibenweg. The chapel is dedicated to Saint Hubertus, the patron saint of hunters and marksmen. The oldest document of its existence is a map from 1783. The current building was erected in 1859. This is the place where the urban legend of the Lady in White is set. // Image: J. Patrick Fischer

According to the legend, the chapel is haunted by a woman who died in a car accident at this spot in the 1940s. Some say that she died in the forest after her car broke down. She tried to hitchhike out, but only one guy passed and left her, which is why she froze to death and now seeks revenge.

Some say that it was a hit and run. She died there in the roadside ditch close to the chapel, abandoned by her murderer, and has found no peace since. In another version, the woman’s two children also died in the accident.

The story of the woman in white goes that she will be hitchhiking on the side of the road, but she will only appear if you are a male driving alone on this road at around midnight. If you take her with you, she will sit in the back seat for a while and then vanish. 

Read More: The Vanishing Hitchhiker as well as The White Lady of Köhlholz Forest

If you don’t take her with you, she will appear on the passenger seat and grab onto your steering wheel to cause an accident. 

The Truth Behind the Urban Legend

But did such a death actually occur along these roads? It is most often said that the accident happened in the 1940s, but the documentation of it comes from the 1970s. 

There is no record of an accident like the one described in the origin story of the White Lady. Up until the 1980s, there were frequent accidents on the state highway near the chapel. In 1985, a car struck the chapel. After that, the road alignment was slightly altered and the curve was straightened, which reduced the number of accidents on the road.

Still, the legend lives on and people have claimed to have encountered the ghostly lady. Once, it is said that even the police tried to arrest the ghost at the chapel. What is also reported on is several people being arrested for dressing up and impersonating the ghost around the chapel. 

The legend of the White Lady at the Hubertus Chapel is also the basis of the Ebersberg horror film series, which consists of two seasons of four episodes each.

The Irrlichter Lights of Ebersberg Forest

But what about the other things said to lurk within the Ebersberg forest? There are the so called “irrlichter” of the ebersberg forest that have spun a lot of legends. 

Irrlichter: This is the German name for will-o’-the-wisp or the Ignis fatuus, the ghostly light sometimes seen at night over bogs and swamps. In folklore and superstition , will-o’-the-wisps are predominantly considered to have an ominous or malevolent nature, but it seems that the lights of the Ebersberg forest have kinder intentions.

The story goes that some guy got lost in the woods and couldn’t find out. After wandering for a while he saw a light shine for a second in the distance. It kept appearing and he decided to follow it, despite most stories like this, leading people out in bogs, or to darker parts of the forest where they never emerge from.  After following it, he found himself on the side of a road with the dark trees behind him. These lights can still be seen today, guiding lost people out of the woods.

The Ghostly Boar of the Forest: Another strange legend is about the Satanic Boar haunting the forest. Count Sieghart von Sempt hunted a huge boar here in the 9th century. When he finally got it within range of his lance, it suddenly vanished as if by magic. A hermit told the count: “The boar is Satan. Build a church and a castle to protect it, and the spell will be broken. After gifting it to the monks, the first provost received the skull of Saint Sebastian, the plague saint, from Pope Stephen VIII during a journey to Rome, and it was placed in the church. The ritual of the flourishing pilgrimage consisted of pilgrims drinking consecrated wine from the skull. This bizarre ritual continued until 1923.

For ages, even before the legend of the Lady in White emerged, it was a test of courage for the local children to go into the forest at night and look for the will-o’-the-wisps. Was it the honey fungus mushroom that gave off a glow of fluorescently light at night, or is it actually something else inside of the Ebersberg Forest? 

Newest Posts

  • Connolly Station: The Soldier Who Waits for a Train That Never Comes
    Could the Connolly Station in Dublin be haunted? Some claim that the ghosts of the victims from the Dublin Bombing in world war two could still be lingering near the tracks.
  • The Headless Undead in the Ruffinihaus Courtyard
    Once a place for executions, the place the Ruffinihaus in Munich, Germany is built upon is said to be haunted. It is said that in the dead of night, the undead rises from their graves, still carrying their heads the executioners took.
  • The Ghost of Könizwald, Bern: The Ghost of General Robert Scipio von Lentulus
    Where the former country estate Campagne Mon Repos in Bern once was, the ghostly council of the military leader from General Robert Scipio von Lentulus was given in times of unrest. Is he still haunting the Könizwald woods, even after his estate is gone?
  • The Alter Südfriedhof Cemetery and the Ghost of the Munich Eskimo Tragedy
    One of the old cemeteries in Munich said to be haunted is the Alter Südfriedhof, or the old south cemetery. According to lore, the ghostly voices of the so-called Eskimo Tragedy are still heard at night.
  • The Uhaml Forest Spirit of Without a Face
    In the darkness of night and under the foliage cover of the forest, the demonic spirit of Uhaml is said to roam. The only way to escape it is getting out of the forest faster.
  • Gwrach y Rhibyn – The Hag of the Mist Haunting the Welsh Waters
    In the shadows between ghost, creature and witch, the Welsh Gwarch y Rhibyn has been given many names. Like a Banshee she has been said to be a deadly omen, often called The Hag of the Mist because of her presence in wet areas, or the Hag of the Dribble because of the versions where her mouth is dripping with blood.
  • The Hofbräuhaus and the Ghost of A Munich Man in Heaven
    Unhappy with the lack of beer in heaven, the Bavarian angel never returned when sent on a mission back on earth. To this day, he sits at The Hofbräuhaus bar in Munich, enjoying his brew.
  • The Demonic Omen of Disaster at Mödling Castle Hill
    Sometimes called the Devil’s Stone, the ruins of the former Mödling Castle is said to be haunted by a demonic bird-like entity, screeching at night as an omen of death and disaster.
  • The Brewer Haunting Nockherberg and the Beer Garden in Munich
    Could a beer festival be haunted? Many have spoken about the ghost of an old brewer at Nockherberg haunting the beer festival, creating havoc to retaliate to what his descendants did to his brew.
  • The Girl in the Tower of the Munich Frauenkirche
    After her public death in the tower of the Munich Frauenkirche, many have claimed to have seen the ghost of Fanny appearing at her death anniversary wearing white.
  • The Cursed Weilheim Plague Chapel
    What really happened around the Pollingsried Chapel, and its supposed plague cemetery? Is there really a curse around the area? As far as the ringing of the bells can be heard?
  • The Restless Spirit of The Utburd Child Ghost in Norway
    Searching for its name, the utburd ghost from Norwegian folklore haunts the forests, waters and houses its parents left them to die. For the most part, they remained in folk tales, but sometimes, the stories about the dead children got real life consequences.

References:

Ebersberg – Wikipedia

Hubertuskapelle (Ebersberger Forst) – Wikipedia

Spuk am Gotteshaus – Ebersberg – SZ.de

Die weiße Frau vom Ebersberger Forst: Heimatforscher lüftet das Geheimnis

Gruselalarm im Ebersberger Forst: Weiße Frau schleicht durch den Wald – FOCUS online 

One thought on “The Lady in White Haunting Ebersberg Forest”

  1. Pingback: The Cursed Weilheim Plague Chapel - Moon Mausoleum

Leave a Reply

Turn on JavaScript to leave a comment.