After visiting the the Falkenstein Berg ruins, we drove about 10 minutes to the last of our 3 destinations today: the Schloss Konigstein ruins. As we parked we noticed lots of families with kids dressed in Halloween costumes in the streets all going somewhere. There were ghosts and spooks and skeletons and little masked boys with scary faces. Moms had witch hats on and some had painted faces. It looked like they were all going to a party. We wanted to follow them, but soon realized they were going up the hill to the same place we were going.
These old castle ruins are turned into a Halloween destination every October (starting 2024, this will be held in a different location). We paid 3 Euro to enter into the castle grounds with the other little goblins.
This castle was built around 1200 and is one of the largest and most interesting castle ruins in the country. Many of the large cisterns and cellars and tunnels were filled with spookhouse-like decorations.
There were gruesome decorations all around the massive castle ruins and we spent the next hour or two enjoying the ruins and the Halloween celebration going on around us. There were dark tunnels and nooks and crannies filled with lights and cobwebs and hanging skeletons and goblins, sort of like a spook alley in places.
The grassy courtyard of the castle felt like a Quidditch field from Harry Potter. There were stick brooms and kids were playing with them. There was also place to buy brats and beer.
This particular Halloween display made me laugh–these little children weren’t quite sure what to think about these macabre dolls–creative in an unsettling way.
The decor included a Friedhof (cemetery) with some gruesome decor–one was a manikin of a woman in a blood-smeared dress pushing a lawnmower. Look what was under the lawnmower:
Here you can see how the castle was originally built on a large outcropping of stone:
Many of the old cisterns, cellars and tunnels were put to good use by the decoration committee.
This was a really fun way to end our day and celebrate some Halloween fun. The little kids in their costumes were adorable and the parents were having fun too. I wonder where they’ll move the party to next year.
Our Frankfurt Germany Mission 