Trail of Terror

Tragedy, pain, anguish and terror are some of the words used to describe the horrific events surrounding the history of the old asylum, now Bldg. 2078 on Vogelweh.

The most horrific event was the violent escape of the mentally and criminally insane inmates housed there.

Folklore has it the spirits of the inmates still wander the woods surrounding the old asylum.

Are spirits the personalities of people who died and refused to cross over to the other side? If so, why are they here? Do they have unfinished business?

The most violent of the committed was Sven the Buzz-Saw, a lumberjack who lived in the German countryside and was known to be obsessed with the chainsaw, using it as a tool in his many violent crimes. Notoriously well known were a pair of brothers, Dieter and Schmitz, who spent their entire lives together in the hills and were known to have a fondness for the consumption of live human flesh and brains. Many other inmates were just as demented, perverse, and socially challenged, and the locals believed these men deserved to be locked up.

But things went horribly wrong one foggy night in late October. The prisoners organized and escaped the asylum, killing nearly every guard in their path. Breaking through the barbed wire fencing surrounding the Asylum, the inmates fled into the nearby woods where they were chased by guards on horseback. Neither the inmates nor the guards were ever seen again. Almost immediately, the institution was shut down and the true story covered up in the local newspapers.

The building is now being used for a much different purpose, but the bars on the windows and the barbed wire on the fence remain – a haunting reminder of the building’s sinister past. Every October, strange things happen in the woods surrounding the old asylum. The escape happened exactly 50 years ago and while there have been many reports of strange occurrences over the years, this October has the most dreadful reports. One worker reported the sound of horses galloping and the flickering of tiny fires in the woods. Another reported the distant sound of a chainsaw and blood curling screams. School children have reported seeing strange people moving in the woods, quickly disappearing from view into the heavy underbrush.

It is said the woods are cursed and haunted. Are the spirits of the old asylum prisoners still out there looking for their next victim? What of the asylum guards who chased after them? Do they still wander the woods as well? Many believe they are all cursed and will remain in those woods until the end of time. Recently, explorers have come to the woods to solve the mystery behind the madness and travel the Trail of Terror reported to be there. Do you have what it takes to be one of them? Will you enter the Trail of Terror?

Those who dare, can enter the haunted woods from 6 to 11 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and from 7 p.m. to midnight Oct. 30 and 31. The cost is $5 per person and children 14 years and younger must be accompanied by an adult. Part of the proceeds from the Trail of Terror go toward the Combined Federal Campaign. If you dare … visit www.fearthe426.com for more information.

(Courtesy of 426th Network Warfare Squadron)