Fjallkonan #29 | 26 July 1900

WHEN I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW, I SAW THAT I must have made countless detours on the way here to finally arrive at the building’s north side. The window was small, so I couldn’t see far to the right or left, but again I saw that we were near the ravine, with a misting waterfall below. I had often heard the rushing water in the silence of the night, but I didn’t think it was so close. From the main gate the bridge led over the cataract, but now it had been drawn up, so that the castle could not be entered this way. I now understood the function of the chains I had seen by the windows: they were used to pull up the bridge. I also realized that even if I were able to exit the entrance hall, I still would not be able to escape. Quickly, I went back down the steps and took a good look around the room. I saw that the tools for pulling up and lowering the bridge had recently been repaired and that fresh footprints had disturbed the dust on the floor. I surmised that the drawbridge was moved gradually, and that the people who operated it had to move about this room to do so. It was hard to believe that they had to go through all the corridors and suites I had passed through in order to access this room, so there had to be another exit nearby. Then I spotted another door opposite the one I had entered, but it was much smaller—barely head-high—and had no lock, only a simple handle, like the ones seen on old farms in England. The handle could be pressed down easily, but the door itself was rigid and heavy. When I pushed it open my face was met with a waft of foul odor, and I found four or five steps of a winding staircase leading down into murky darkness. Had I been less wrought-up, I no doubt would have hesitated to go down there, but all I could think of was forging ahead. I propped the door wide open with a log lying in a corner. Then I slowly went down the stairs …

At first I could see by the little light from the doorway, but soon stygian gloom took over, so that I had to reach ahead of me to find my way. It was a great distance between each step, which were so narrow that only one person could walk them at a time; it was as if I were descending into a deep well. Running my hand along the damp wall, I cautiously moved ahead. I must have gone down at least fifty steps and was beginning to think of turning back, but curiosity drove me forward; I wanted to find what must be hidden in this castle—as the Count’s words had implied—although I suspected that whatever it was, it must be something no honest man should go near! If this is the case, I must warn Mr. Hawkins, my employer, of the Count, who would undoubtedly be best kept exactly where he is.

Suddenly, it seemed something was behind me on the stairs! I heard nothing, nor did I see anything, but I felt that someone was right on my heels. My hair stood on end, and I felt shivers running down my spine. I couldn’t bear it, and so I turned to the side, backing up against the wall and placing one foot onto the lower step.

And just then I was attacked! Something—man or animal, I do not know—grabbed me. Not from behind, for then I would have been a dead man, but from the front and side, so that it was easier for me¹⁷⁶ to defend myself.

Something enormously heavy weighed down on my left shoulder and started strangling me. I could feel a gaping snout touch my ear, cheek and mouth with its thick lips, releasing its rank breath. Then a leg—or something like it—was wrapping itself around my right foot, but luckily I had both hands free and could brace myself against the stair. I couldn’t get to my revolver, but I grabbed the arms that were coiling around my neck and found that, although very hairy, they were definitely human! I yanked at them with all my strength, but they wouldn’t give way. I felt something scratching at my neck, and it seemed as if my attacker was trying to get his lips to my throat. I had just grabbed his head with both hands when he suddenly released his grip and pushed me away, and I fell a great distance – – –

I don’t know how much time passed before I came to life again, but it took me awhile to get my head straight. I was lying on the ground in front of a narrow doorway, and behind me, in the darkness, I could see the staircase. Ahead of me was a long tunnel with some light coming from windows high up by the ceiling. Luckily I had landed on a soft dirt floor, so I was not badly hurt.

I considered the possibility that I might simply have panicked¹⁷⁷—became dizzy and fell down the stairs, hitting the door I now lay in front of and smashing it open—and that everything else had just been my imagination … But why would my shirt and its collar be torn and my necktie be gone, while the rosary with the iron cross—which I carried in memory of the landlady I had stayed with—had pressed itself so tightly into my neck that it left bruises? There was also this burning sensation in my throat.

Suddenly it occurred to me that I would have to go back up the same way I had come, and the mere thought of it nearly killed me. It felt like I was stuck in a trap, so without thinking I continued my journey, half limping.¹⁷⁸

When I came to the end of the corridor, it opened up into a windowless vault. Exiting the other side of it, I reached a round space with a dirt floor and three or four windows up high on the wall. The walls were constructed out of very large stones, and I guessed that I’d reached one of the deepest rooms of the castle. I could hear the waterfall better here than from anywhere else. The floor slanted downwards by the wall, like a trench.

I stood for a moment, finding my bearings. The windows were open and a breeze was blowing through the spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling. Even so, the air in the room was rancid. It didn’t take me long to discover where this stench was coming from.

At first I thought I was standing in a food cellar—it seemed as if heaps of produce were stockpiled along the walls. It also occurred to me that an exit should be nearby, to make it easier for the residents to access the room. I then noticed a kind of shutter or hatch on the wall right next to me. I managed to open it. When I saw I might get some air and light in the room, I looked deeper into the opening, but just as I leaned against the wall to peek through the hole in the stonework, two skulls rolled down—one pale and shiny, but the other one with hair and skin still sticking to it!

I was aghast by what I was seeing, even more so when I found that the trench by the wall was largely filled with human bones, moldy and half decomposed. I could see a ribcage still connected to a spine, arms and legs with their tendons still intact, and skulls with hollow eye sockets, all tangled together. The stench coming from this pile of horror—magnified by the increased airflow—was so putrid that I nearly flung myself out through the opening in the wall. Fortunately, I managed to remain composed enough not to do so; otherwise it would have been my very last step. Below the window was the abyss with its sharp cliffs and the sweeping waterfall!

I looked again to make sure: This was no exit for any living human. It was meant for the dead!

Panic struck me when I envisioned the trip back to my room. In my frustration I ran right across the heap of bones, rattling beneath my feet, while I hastened to the other end of the room. There was another door and I managed to open it.

What on earth would emerge from behind this door?

Hesitantly, I opened it—and slipped through.

I had come to some kind of church or temple, though there were barely any of the icons found in Christian churches.

The room was gloomy inside, with high-set bow windows. There were repulsive, half-primitive pictures on the walls, and I also detected strange symbols on the floor.¹⁷⁹ I saw stone coffins, and towards the end of the room was an oversized sarcophagus made of yellow and multi-colored marble.

Suddenly I came across a doorway with a staircase behind it, leading upwards.

I hesitated before ascending, vividly recalling what had happened to me on the other staircase, but still I decided to proceed.

When I reached the top of the stairs I was standing on some kind of balcony; from there I could see down into an old, decrepit chapel. I realized that the room I’d just come up from functioned as an underground crypt and must be connected to this sanctuary, but I could find no way down from this platform to the chapel.¹⁸⁰ What I did find, however, were stairs leading up from the balcony, and I decided to climb them. I could tell by the condition of the steps that they were used often. As I ascended the staircase, I saw sunbeams dancing on the wall above me, which greatly lifted my spirits: There was a window! I was so relieved that for a moment I forgot that it was still uncertain whether I would ever get back to my room. I leaned out of the window and looked around.

I saw that I was in the southwest corner of the castle, and from there I could see its east side, where my room was. And then I saw the windows I’d left open. If only I had wings, I would have flown there!