Are There Ghosts Here?A Spooky Night-Time Tour of Ludwigsburg Palace

Your footsteps creak with every step on the parquet floor of the ancestral gallery. It's dark here at dusk when the chandeliers are off tonight. 'Eerily beautiful' is the name of our guided tour of Ludwigsburg Residential Palace. Spooky moments included. Are you joining us? Just imagine: You are holding an LED lantern in your hand. Its light flickers. The faces of faded princesses and dukes keep appearing on the walls of the palace. You pass many oil paintings. Sometimes you can almost physically feel the darkness on the back of your neck. The tour gives you goose bumps. You keep hearing strange noises: has there been a creaking noise at the back of the large room? Is someone whispering behind you? And: Why is your lantern suddenly flickering more strongly?

The only thing that's reassuring is that you're not alone here. In the safety of a small group of like-minded people, you are listening to castle guide Kerstin Frisch's spooky stories. And you realize that this woman is not afraid. On the contrary, she has a lot of fun in the nocturnal residential palace. She is whispering about how Duke Karl Alexander of Württemberg met the devil in the old cemetery nearby. He accidentally invited him to his party. Do you know how the story ends? The duke did not survive the night. Of course, Kerstin also mentions the inexplicable sounds of footsteps in the empty castle theater. And the shy ghost in the wine cellar? Ghost hunters claim to have already made contact with him. They say his name is Paul. Would you like to meet Paul?

During the guided tour, you keep getting a queasy feeling in your stomach. But this isn't just about ghost stories. Funeral rites and beauty rituals of the past are also covered. Did you know that when a person died, they used to open the window to let the soul escape? And that it was considered beautiful for noble ladies to have large pupils? So they dripped belladonna - deadly nightshade - into their eyes. This dilated the pupils - it was considered beautiful at that time. Look at the portrait of Princess Sophia of Thurn and Taxis in the Ancestral Gallery. You can see the result: In the portrait, she has dark, huge-looking eyes. You should never try belladonna drops, however, because they can blind you. Other beauty rituals sound even more bizarre to today's visitors: for example, the blood of young animals was used to make skin creams richer.

Does guide Kerstin Frisch ever get scared? "Rarely," she says, adding:



"Here" in this case is a stately four-wing castle with 452 rooms. The small hunting lodge that once stood here was converted into a residential palace by the Dukes of Württemberg at the beginning of the 18th century. The result was a mixture of baroque, rococo and classicist styles.

Today, the glamorous parts of the building house museums: In the fashion museum, a fashion show with original clothing from the 18th to 20th centuries is on display. The ceramics museum showcases Ludwigsburg porcelain. And younger guests can have fun in the interactive 'Kinderreich' Museum.

However, the 'Eerily Beautiful' tour does not go through the exhibitions. Stops on your tour include the grotto, the wine cellar, the ancestral gallery, the palace theater and the palace church. Many dukes and duchesses lie in the crypt there. They were buried there from 1730. Kerstin Frisch says this almost casually. A bit creepy, isn't it?

Guide Kerstin Frisch tells the old anecdotes with a twinkle in her eye. So the horror doesn't get the upper hand on this evening. On the contrary, it's fun to be alone with a small group in this huge castle.

Why? Your mind starts to wander: What was it like in the past? Was it cold in winter? And as quiet as it is now? Or were there many servants? How did the young dukes and duchesses fare? Were they also afraid of the dark? I'm sure they were.

Meanwhile, dark clouds have gathered over the palace courtyard. And then it thunders! Lightning illuminates the castle. You'd think Kerstin Frisch had ordered it. But she shakes her head. No matter. It fits perfectly into the eerie atmosphere.