The Haunting in Karlsruhe

I generally consider myself to be a relatively skeptical person. Although I don't spend every waking moment in a state of profound Cartesian doubt, I am generally fairly quick to dismiss claims of the supernatural, unless they are backed up by a peer-reviewed scientific journal....but since that kind of thing doesn't happen, allow me to paraphrase a truly great film: I do not believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster or the theory of Atlantis. But sometimes there are things in this world that just seem to have a certain preternatural darkness about them.

Today I went running (okay, jogging....okay, fine, it was the Couch to 5k plan) and decided to make things a bit more interesting by taking an unknown route in the Schlossgarten (the big park around the palace). After hitting a few dead ends and almost getting run over by an absent-minded bicyclist, I began to notice an unfamiliar Gothic spire poking out of the trees ahead. I finished my allotted running time before reaching it, but decided to keep walking to get a better look.

What I saw was something almost out of an HP Lovecraft story: a crumbling, neo-Gothic structure seemingly alone amidst the trees, with a kind of quiet aura surrounding it that almost made me forget that I wasn't far from a major street. The gargoyles adorning the eves were positively grotesque (which is to say, totally awesome and really fucking metal \m/) and some of the windows had been broken out. The first word that came to mind was "cathedral" because we Americans are really quite easily impressed when it comes to things that are old and Gothic-looking, but upon further inspection the building seemed to be much too small to be described as such. The sign out front cheerfully suggested another word: "Grabkapelle." That is, a "sepulchral chapel."

Reading further I discovered that it had been built after the Grand Duke's youngest son died unexpectedly at a young age and had been built away from town so he could rest "in the solitude of the deep forest." A paper taped to the building itself offered a € 500 reward to anyone who had information regarding a man who had been savagely beaten by two unidentified people in the vicinity of the chapel. At this point I was expecting to hear a clap of thunder, see a murder of crows take off whilst cackling mercilessly and then catch a faint glimpse of an ethereal little boy in a blood-stained white tunic only to have him disappear into thin air in the blink of an eye. Seriously, it's hard for a situation to get any more haunted house than this.

I decided to have a look around and walked around the whole structure. At certain angles the various ornamental flourishes seemed to clump together in an almost menacing fashion. Upon reaching the front door of the chapel again, I realized I was not alone. Some one was sitting on the bench. He was...completely unmenacing in every way and that's about where my haunted house story ends.

After leaving, I couldn't decide whether or not I really, really wanted to stay away from it or really, really come back to it. I have decided the latter since the picture on its Wikipedia page is not appropriately menacing. As tomorrow is Saturday, I think I will probably go out and try to take some scary pictures. I'd like to avoid any demonic possession or savage beatings, so I will probably go during the day. Anyhow, that is all for now, hopefully I will get some cool pictures.