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HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
Please Share Your Experiences
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History
This tuberculosis sanatorium was founded in 1903 by doctors Hugo Kraus and Arthur Baer. They were 2 of the leading doctors for lung disease research at the time.
The sanatorium quickly became well known due to the level of the care. It was considered equal to the sanatoriums in Switzerland which were, in turn, considered the best in the world. Patients included both important politicians and military officers from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
In 1938 the Nazi Germany annexed Austria and the SS and Gestapo came looking for the doctors running the sanatorium. Dr Kraus committed suicide rather than deal with the epitome of evil but Dr Baer was forced to sign ownership over to the Third Reich.
The Nazis “aryanized” the sanatorium basically removing anything that made it unique. They turned it into a Lebensborn; A home for pregnant unwed mothers to give birth with the babies who were given to Aryan parents in Germany to be brought up as perfect little Nazis.
Something as small as a cleft pallet put a baby out of the running and all “imperfect” babies were disappeared. Without question they were all murdered – this is the Nazis after all – but most believe they were almost buried on the property.
The medical care was so good at the home even the wives of SS officers came here to give birth.
The pregnant women were judged as unforgivingly as their babies; for instance, screaming while giving birth was considered un-Aryan.
Of the 1,200 to 1,700 children born here before the Nazis were removed from power at least 100 were born undesirable and murdered.
The home is still under investigation by the war consequences research.
From 1945 to 1948 the Austrian government used the location to house post-war orphans.
There were plans to convert the site back into a tuberculosis sanatorium but in the end, it was independently bought and renovated into a youth hostel.
From 1990 to 2002 the property was used and a rest and rehabilitation centre for patients under the care of Vienna Regional Health. About 22,000 patients were admitted during this time.
Since 2002 the site has not been used – attempts were made to convert it into a private rehab facility in 2007/08 but fell through – and it owned by a German holding company.
Reports on the internet indicate this site has suffered badly from neglect.
Paranormal Activity
Reported activity: apparitions of former staff, guests and patients; phantom sounds of babies crying; time and dimension slips; electrical disturbances; shadow figures; shadow people; empathic sensations of fear, sadness and loss; phantom sounds of laboured breathing and coughing; objects moving on their own including doors and windowing opening on their own; touches, tugs and pulls from unseen entities; unexplained physical symptoms including problems breathing, migraines and nausea; light anomalies and feelings of being watched, not being alone and being followed.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
Please Share Your Experiences
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license.
Attribution: Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.com
History
It is unclear exactly when this castle was built but it is thought to have been built on the site of a Roman fort. The first time this castle appears in historical record is in a 1191 deed.
The castle was seized by the Prince-Archbishops of Saltzburg and served as a residence for the Church beginning in the 14th century. In the final years of the 15th century the castle was renovated and increased in size.
Between 1675 and 1690 the castle served as the administrative for the Zaubererjackl Witch Trials. These trials resulted in the execution of 139 people; the majority of which were male. 39 of the victims were children and 53 were teenagers; all were poor and homeless. 109 of were executed in only one year; 1681.
The trials – which included various horrific methods of torture – sentencing and executions all took place in this castle. As with other witch trials elsewhere The Church preferred slow, painful and public punishments before the mercy of death was given. Several people were burned and not all of them were dead when it happened. The children were treated the worst usually being branded on the chest and having their hands cut off before being executed.
After the witch trails the castle went back to a peaceful existence until 1790 when The Church stopped footing the bill for its upkeep. The castle fell into disrepair with no one looking after it but it had one more part to play in dark history. Some time early in the 19th century a bunch of cattle and deer were found mutilated; the logical conclusion, of course, was that the people squatting in the castle were werewolves.
The typical solution of the Church; the Devil made them do it.
So, the occupants of the castle were rounded up and murdered – problem solved.
Moonsham Castle was left abandoned until 1886 when Austrian Polar Explorer Count Johann Wilczek bought the castle and began to restore it. The castle remains in his family and the public are admitted to some of the rooms in the castle that feature art work collected by the Count.
It is rumoured that there are times when the public can access the castle’s dungeon but we were unable to confirm that.
Paranormal Activity
The current owner of the castle says the “Room of Toni” is where the man in charge of the witchcraft trials lived. People have reported a dark presence in the room and numerous voices have been recorded via EVP.
As well, people report a feeling of being breathed on by a menacing invisible entity here.
In the former torture room people report feeling hands running over them as well as a powerful sense of an unseen entity.
Other Activity: Shadow figures; phantom footsteps; unexplained bangs and clatters and doors opening and closing very suddenly on their own.