Vienna, Austria


Vienna. The most haunted place in Austria. 


Where do I even begin?


I will say that it is kind of hard to feel anything in the face of so many people. I mean, there were a lot of people in Vienna. We had spent time visiting different churches including the famous St. Stephen's. Which by the way was the most haunted place to be in Vienna, or so they say. Going into the church, there were already so many people, that it was hard to get a good grip on any spiritual feeling. The church itself was very pretty and you could see the deep depths of history in the church. 


Below this magnificent church lie the catacombs, as well as some of the hearts of the royals. Yes, you read that right, I guess it was common practice to put your organs in a jar and place it elsewhere, your heart in a jar and your body near your heart... When I say elsewhere, I mean like a totally different church. Why did they do this? No clue. 


We decided to take a tour a tour of the catacombs, because again I was interested to see what I felt. There was way too many people, and I attempted to stay towards the back of the group. I didn't really care about the stories or the history, I had already done my own research. 


As you go into the first room, it looks quite modern there are casket on either side holding the recent bodies of the priests that had served in the church. Not much was going on there. Down the little hallway on the right hand side sat the room with the royals. Along the walls where you walk through were jars filled with lords knows what, I didn't want to even think about that. As we went a little further into the catacombs, there was a room that you could peer into which was home to many, many bones. The bodies were just discarded in that room, and all that was left was the bones. You don't really think it is going to be that gruesome going into a place like that, but there just seemed to be this sadness and my heart broke for all these people who I'm sure never had a family come visit them. Especially since there were no name tags, you had no idea who was who. 


We walked into another part of the catacombs and there was this one dark room that I could feel something hiding in. Maybe, hiding isn't the right word, but it seemed like it was waiting. While I didn't really see the appeal of St. Stephens, I can at least say that I went. (I do still suggest going, I don't regret it, however, there are other beautiful churches to visit.)


We took a ghost tour later that night to some of the most haunted places in Vienna, including the Blood Countess's apartment, and the Blood Alley. Again, I think when you have a large group of people you don't really feel anything, at least I didn't. But the history lesson was interesting to say the least. We had also accidently walked pass the Blood Countess's apartment without realising, completely oblivious to the fact of it's bloody history.


Elizabeth Bathory, also known as the Blood Countess spent some time at this the residences while her husband was studying in Vienna. She is rumored to have tortured and murdered hundreds of young women in order to drink and bathe in their blood. Only so that she could remain young looking. The majority of these crimes occurred at the Cachtice Castle in Slovakia. Her accomplices lured young women from the nearby marketplace, with the promise of rooms, and job, and warm meal, only to be tortured and murdered. She was named the most prolific female serial killer of all time, and was accused of slaying more than 600 young women.


The one place I am certainly excited to share with you, dear reader, is the many encounters with St. Michael's Cathedral. The Church of St. Michael is one of the oldest churches in Vienna. More than 4000 corpses were kept below the church, one of the most famous among them is Pietro Metastasio, who was a famous writer of opera librettos of the baroque era. The church altar room was believed to be built between 1327 and 1340. The church has been rebuilt and added several tim and it stood in it's present form since 1792.


On Saturday, October 28th, we took a walk around the church. I absolutely love the architecture of these old buildings. While, I certainly didn't know the history about this I was going to quickly find out. I could feel my legs quivering as we walked, almost as if I had run a marathon, (For the record, I have not and do not plan on running a marathon. If you see me run something is probably chasing me.) That part was a little strange, but I pushed it aside and didn't think too much of it. However, that night the guide was explaining the inner workings of St. Michael's. A family member could buy a plot beneath the church for 10 years, once the time was up, people would pull out the bones and drop them on the floor in order to save space. They would then stomp on the bones in order to conserve even more space. There was a total of 1 meter of broken bones beneath the floors of St. Michael's church. That would explain the reaction with my legs. My friend also had her feet tingling as if they had fallen asleep. Neither of us knew the history until we heard it from the tour guide that night. 


The next day, we decided to go on a crypt tour in St. Michael's, this is the interesting part. The tour was in German, but that was okay with me because I could focus on my surroundings, rather than the history of the stories. And was that ever rewarding. My friend did translate a few of the important things but there was so much going on around us, it was hard to remember what she said. This crypt had a few caskets that had a glass top on them so you could see inside. Some of the bodies had decomposed properly which was freaky enough. 


As we walked into this one I could my gaze being shifted to the far side of the room, there was a little off shoot of a room there, something really seemed to want my attention, I kept an eye area, but I still had no idea what was watching us. As we walked into the middle of this dark room, I noticed there was activity where we were all just standing. A Lady was pacing back and forth, she was very pretty and wore a nice dress. She seemed to be very important, and that was also the way she held herself, as if she was the most important person in the world. I wasn't sure what her name was, although Mary and Marie seemed to be the common name around women in that time era, it might be safe to assume it was one of those two names. She seemed to be annoyed that she had to be down there, like she had better places to be, heck maybe she did have better places to be.


Regardless, I didn't feel threatened with these spirits, but I did still say Lord's pray and made sure that I was protected. 


It was a good thing I did that as the next room held something sinister. We stepped into the room briefly to look at another practically decomposed body, while I glanced at it a little my gaze watched the far left corner of the room. It seemed to be the darkest part of the room and I could feel a dark, cold energy there. It wasn't human. The thing knew I feel it, but it didn't try to move or to do anything really. I had this overwhelming feeling that the other spirits were forcing it into the corner. Not allowing it to move. Protecting their city. All the bodies below this church were a matter of importance., Empors, Empresses, Knights, Priests, Princes and Princesses, all sorts of important people. 


As we left the main room, to go into the hall, I realized the first spirit in the far room was a small boy. He was shy, but he also wanted to play. I had a feeling he was from the 1950's, it was hard to say. He kept peaking out and sneaking up behind us only to turn back and run when I turned to watch him. The young girl in our group knew it too because she would watch the same direction I did. Whether she heard him, or felt him, or even saw him, I'm not sure. But it was confirmation for me. 


There was one that was meant for the most important people, and while the spirits seemed happy to be considered highly important, they were also lonely. The guide brought us to a room which branched off into a dark hallway (I'll come back to this one), and into a room where the door was very small. It had previously been sealed off, as I peered through the doorway, I noticed the word EVIL written on the far wall. I couldn't feel many spirits in there, or maybe there was too many and it was conflicting with me. In such a small room, I had to stand by that little door way, and I sudden got the urge to move my feet away so that nothing could be tempted to grab it. 


That brings us to the dark hallway, it was roped off and pitch black, I mean it was pretty dark down there, but this hallway seemed extra dark, and while I didn't think anything was standing at that moment, I had the feeling that if I followed the hallway it would bring me some place even darker and more sinister. Perhaps that is where is where the evil lies. 


The little boy continued to peak around the corners, trying to get my attention, and the woman continued to pace back and forth as I started to leave. I gave a silent thank you to the spirits as it was a cool experience, and I gave a silent pray to God for Protection. I am an empath, which mean that feel the energies of people and the energies from the afterlife.