- ABANDONED CASTLE COURTYARD DESCRIPTION FULL
- ABANDONED CASTLE COURTYARD DESCRIPTION LICENSE
- ABANDONED CASTLE COURTYARD DESCRIPTION CRACK
While Houska Castle now welcomes countless tourists from around the world, the limestone cliff on which it sits has drawn people in since antiquity. Today, Houska Castle remains one of the most haunted places on Earth. Some say the Wehrmacht occupied this castle precisely to investigate whether the gateway to Hell was real, as feverish occultism had consumed its higher ranks. Nazi experiments took place within its walls during World War II. The castle's eerie history doesn't stop there, though. When he was pulled from the chasm, his hair had turned white. Within seconds, however, he cried to be raised up. The first man to do so was young and healthy, and he happily accepted.
ABANDONED CASTLE COURTYARD DESCRIPTION FULL
Legend has it that prisoners who were facing the gallows were offered full pardons, but only if they agreed to be lowered into the bottomless hole and report on what they saw. Locals believed this was a gateway to Hell from which demonic beings emerged to feed on villagers and drag them back into the abyss, never to be seen again.
ABANDONED CASTLE COURTYARD DESCRIPTION CRACK
Some say it wasn't built to keep evil from entering - but to prevent it from spilling out.Īccording to the castle's official website, it was built in the 13th century as an administrative hub for the king, but Czech folklore maintains that the true purpose of its construction was to seal a gaping crack in the limestone. It had no source of water or fortification. It was built atop a cliff in Prague's countryside, mysteriously isolated from all trade routes. The Keiths were forfeited after their involvement in the 1715 Jacobite rising, so it is possible the castle was abandoned at that time.Hidden by thick forestry, Houska Castle in Czechia is shrouded in nightmarish myth and occultist legend. The castle remained in the hands of the Keith family thereafter, but its latter history is unknown.
ABANDONED CASTLE COURTYARD DESCRIPTION LICENSE
The license to build the castle was perhaps issued to Gilbert Keith or his son William Keith of Inverugie (d1521) but a younger brother John was known as Keith of Ravenscraig, so is also a possibility. The lands in about 1368 passed by marriage to John, a younger son Edward Keith, Lord Marischal it is possible that a castle of some description existed at the Craig of Inverugie prior to 1491 but of limited strength, perhaps a hall house and courtyard of some description. The Cheynes were closely linked to the Comyns, so it is likely that castle ended its life in the Harrying of Buchan by Robert and Edward Bruce. The lands had previously been held by the Cheynes, who presumably had their castle at the Castle Hill. The tower was originally four floors tall, with the upper storeys supported on wooden joists, but are almost completely inaccessible.Ī license was granted to build a castle at the Craig of Inverugie in 1491 by King James IV. The first floor also contained a doorway in the south wall.
![abandoned castle courtyard description abandoned castle courtyard description](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/old-courtyard-medieval-manor-granja-mallorca-spain-154026349.jpg)
The walls are substantial, between 3 and 3.5 metres thick, and are provided with numerous crosslet-style loops. Internally in the re-entrant angle was a narrow winding stair which served all floors apart from the basement. Neither of the other two vaults have doors, indicating they must have been reached from above. The ruin is fenced off and surrounded by woodlands, but accessible via a rough footpath.Īlthough categorised easily as L-plan, the castle does not follow the usual layout of the 16th century with a stair in the wing, but instead consists of three vaulted basement rooms, one of which is supplied with a narrow stair rising to the first floor on the north (river) side of the largest vault, which is also the one room provided with a doorway, which is arched and opens out onto the courtyard. The site is a few miles upstream of Peterhead, and close by are the Castle Hill and Inverugie Castle, both of which are the other side of the river.
![abandoned castle courtyard description abandoned castle courtyard description](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/30/e3/ef/30e3efdf53bccadd263c036e569d25cc.jpg)
Ravenscraig Castle is a ruined L-plan tower house with an irregularly shaped courtyard sat on a craggy rock above the River Ugie, all surrounded by an artificial ditch.