The Cursed Mansion
.jpg)
Near the Ruhr river, between Schwerte and Wandhofen where the Wandhofer Heide (“Wandhofen Heath”) is located now, there used to be a large, splendid mansion of whose earlier history nothing is known these days. The only thing that people still know is that its last owner loved splendor and vices so much that he made a pact with the Evil One so that he could pursue his cravings and desires with no restraints. After the Devil had served the knight for a long time, they eventually had a disagreement, and thus the Devil wanted to fetch the knight. But since the knight’s time had not yet come, the Devil lost his power over the mansion at the moment when he made it invisible in order to push it to Hell along with its inhabitants, and thus he was unable to get it there. Instead, it remained at its old location and simply failed to become visible again.
But every hundred years it reappears during the night of the full moon. Most recently, a respected man from Westhofen had seen it. Several years ago, when he wanted to return from Schwerte to Westhofen, his path led over the Wandhofen Heath, on which he arrived around midnight during a night when the Moon became full. Suddenly, the path on which he was walking vanished, and he saw that he had been whisked away into a strange area which he had never seen before. Before him, he beheld a large, beautiful, brightly lit mansion, from which loud cheers and the most beautiful music emerged. He remained still in amazement for some time, but when he remembered the tale of the cursed mansion, he hurriedly left in fright. But he could not find the path again, and he ran around in fear and confusion for perhaps two hours, until he finally heard the sound of threshing in the distance. He headed towards it, and was happy to finally reach the village of Wandhofen. The next morning, he headed back to the heath with many other people, but they did not spot anything. Only at one slightly hilly spot did they notice a strong smell of sulfur blowing into their direction.
Source: Temme - Westphälische Sagen und Geschichten, p. 111f