Belarusian castles with ghosts

Black ladies and monks, girls immured in the walls and ghostly queens – you can still find ghosts in Belarusian castles that remind you of the tragedies that occurred here hundreds of years ago. Smartpress together with the portal vetliva.ru he tells about where and when you can see the ghosts of Belarusian history.

Kossovsky Castle: The Black Lady, the maid eaten by a lion and the Wild Hunt

The Palace of the Counts of Puslovsky in Kossovo (also known as the Kossovsky Castle) is one of the” youngest " castles in Belarus. But, at the same time, there are a huge number of legends about it and its modern “inhabitants”.

At least two ghosts "live" in the castle itself. The first is the Black Lady, the ghost of Countess Jadwiga Puslowska. According to one version, the Countess loved sledding so much that she did it even in the summer – for this the yard and garden were covered with salt. The countess was cursed by the grooms who were tired of treating horses that had salt in their eyes and lungs, and the gardeners who were pretty tired of saving the garden after salt procedures. As a result, the curse worked. According to another version, the countess was simply beside herself when one of her descendants, Leonid Puslovsky, sold the palace for debts and therefore, after her death, she began to appear as a ghost.

The second ghost is a young maid who rejected the courtship of the count (according to another version-one of his guests). As a result, she was kicked out into the corridor. And a lion was walking through the corridors of the palace: he was released there at night to protect him from thieves. No one else saw this maid alive-but she began to appear in the form of a ghost…

But this is not all – the legend of the Wild Hunt of King Stakh, on the basis of which the famous novel of the same name by Vladimir Korotkevich and the film based on it also came from here. According to it, at the beginning of the XVI century, the old Belarusian gentry rebelled against the authorities, and Stakh was one of the military leaders. The peasants called him the king. He died as a result of the betrayal of one of the local magnates of Roman – he drugged Stakh and his entourage during a hunt with a sleeping potion, and then stabbed him. In the local swamps on foggy nights, even today, you can see the ghost hunt of King Stach, who is looking for the descendants of the traitor and his henchmen.

The chapel near the Puslovsky Palace, at the entrance to Kossovo, deserves a special mention. It was built in 1859 from ancient tombstones. And around the chapel, the graves of the participants of the Kastus Kalinovsky uprising have been preserved. If you listen closely, you can hear incomprehensible whispers in Polish and Lithuanian in the chapel. And at night, next to the chapel, you can see a flickering light, as if several candles were lit in the cemetery. But it is not worth checking: according to legend, those who come to the chapel at night may not live until the morning.

The Black Lady is one of the most aristocratic ghosts of Belarus: she is someone whose behavior does not correspond to the norms of decency. And they also say that in winter there are traces of a sledge near the castle, on which the countess rides. The ghost of the maid is almost impossible to see. But you can hear her crying and moaning. But if you respond – they immediately subside. The wild hunt of King Stach and the ghosts of the chapel appear only on foggy nights. But it is better not to meet them – according to beliefs, it is dangerous for life.

The Black Monk of the Golshansky Castle

Despite the fact that only ruins remain of the ancient Golshansky castle, the ghosts are in no hurry to leave it. Moreover, local residents claim that at night screams and groans can be heard on the ruins of the castle. And then there is the Black Monk. They say that this is the soul of a young guy who fell in love with Princess Anna Golshanskaya and appointed a date for her, to which he came in the clothes of a monk. When the princess's father found out about this, he was enraged – and the young man was immured in one of the walls of the castle. Since then, he appears in the form of a sullen monk at the walls of the castle.

The monastery, which is located next to the castle, has its own ghost-a White Lady. According to legend, the builders had problems during the construction of the walls of the monastery. As a result, it was decided to make a sacrifice – and the wife of one of the builders was immured in the wall of the monastery. After that, the construction was completed. Perhaps this is not a legend: during the reconstruction, a female skeleton was actually discovered in the wall of the monastery…

The black monk appears exclusively at night, and the White Lady, they say, bypasses the monastery on moonlit nights. But it is very difficult to see it. Panna does not like men who turn gray from her appearance.

By the way, the Kreva Castle has its own ghost-a Lady with a dog. According to legend, this is a young princess, because of which one nobleman killed another in a duel. And when the beauty refused the winner, he walled her up together with the dog in the castle wall. This is one of the most ancient ghosts of Belarus – it is about 700 years old! Recently, instead of the young princess, an old woman appears, accompanied by a skeleton of a dog…

The Black Lady of the Nesvizh Castle

Ghost Barbara Radziwill is the most famous ghost of the country. After her husband died, the young widow liked King Zhigimont I Iavgust. They secretly got married and moved to Vilna. But the young queen began to wither and soon died – it is possible that the queen mother of Bona Sforza, who did not like her daughter-in-law, had a hand in this. And the inconsolable king tried to summon the spirit of Barbara at a seance. When he saw his beloved, he, contrary to warnings, rushed to her. There was an explosion and the spirit disappeared. But the ghost of Barbara Radziwill is now wandering around the Nesvizh Castle…

The black Lady of the Nesvizh Castle appears, as a rule, after midnight. And every appearance of it promises misfortune…

Sonechka: The White Lady of the Mir Castle

The most famous castle in Belarus – Mirsky-is also haunted. The legend about the first one says that Prince Nikolai Svyatopolk-Mirsky ordered to dig a pond, and for this to cut down a blooming apple orchard. As a result, mermaids settled in the pond and people began to drown in it every year. And the first to die was Nikolai's daughter, 12-year-old Sonechka... it is she who now wanders around the castle under the name of Belaya Pani. In addition, there is also a gloomy ghost of Prince Radziwill. They say that he guards the treasures of the castle and will tell about them to anyone who dares to talk to a ghost.

The sad ghost of Sonechka, absolutely harmless, appears in the castle or in his yard, as well as in the park. But the ghost of the prince is found only in the castle. This is an evil ghost – according to legends, few can survive a meeting with him.

630 years of battles of the ghost warriors of the Lida Castle

The ancient Lida Castle has survived many wars and sieges. One of the first was the siege of the Crusaders in 1392. And although the local prince Dmitry Koribut had enough troops, he preferred to escape from the castle by an underground passage, leaving part of the squad “to cover the retreat". The remaining " suicide bombers”, in fact, betrayed by their prince, fought courageously and died all to one… Since then, at night in the Lida castle, you can hear the ringing of weapons and the steps of ghostly vigilantes who protect the stronghold even after death.

Ghost warriors can only be heard – at night. And they also manifest themselves during rehearsals and staged battles within the walls of the castle.

In fact, there are much more haunted castles in Belarus.

The ghost of the magnate Kishka lives in the Lubchansky castle, the restless souls of young men and girls who were sacrificed by builders roam in Bykhovsky, the ghost of Queen Bona Sforza roams in Smolyansky. And even in the Brest fortress there is a White nun who appears on the site of the former Bernardine monastery of the XVII century.