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[Music]

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in the 13th century husker castle was

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built

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likely by the ruler ottakar ii of

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bohemia

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located around 50 kilometers from the

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capital city of prague the

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formidable-looking castle is situated

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noticeably out of the way of convenient

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trade has no nearby water source and was

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built with no kitchens

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the castle's long ruined fortifications

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are built facing into the castle

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an inversion that is exceedingly rare in

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european castles

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the castle doesn't even have usable

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windows

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behind the window panes are nothing but

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walls

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this grand castle atop the limestone

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cliff seems unsuitable for the living

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the castle changed hands multiple times

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throughout the centuries and functioned

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as a prosaic administrative building

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until it fell into disuse and disrepair

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in the 18th century

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beginning even before the time of the

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castle's construction

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folk wisdom and lore has maintained that

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the limestone cliff is the site of a

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chasm

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a bottomless pit leading straight to

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hell

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a 9th century legend recounted by the

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1541 czech chronicle describes an

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unfathomably deep crack in the ground

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and what came out of it to kill the

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villagers livestock and strike fear into

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the villagers

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visitors from the chasm include chimeras

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such as a frog crossed with a human

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winged monsters and ghosts have all been

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said to have emerged from the depths and

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entered the mortal realm

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villagers desperate attempts to seal off

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the chasm with enough stones or other

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debris were in vain

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after all how do you fill a bottomless

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pit

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the panic obviously caught the attention

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of area authorities who took it

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seriously when huska castle was built it

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was said that the castle's chapel was

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built directly over the pit in order to

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once and for all seal away the visitors

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from hell

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nevertheless curiosity persisted about

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the nature of the pit

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during the 13th century construction of

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husker castle legend has it that local

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prisoners sentenced to death were

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offered full pardons

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if they agreed to be lowered down into

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the pit take a look around and report

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back on what if anything they saw in the

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dark

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the first volunteer was lowered by rope

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into the dark

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no sooner had he disappeared then he

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began screaming in terror

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lifted out of the portal his dark hair

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had gone completely white

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and his face had aged decades

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whatever it was he encountered had

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completely maddened him

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accounts here differ on whether he was

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locked away in an asylum or if attempts

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were made to nurse him back to

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coherency regardless the variations on

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the tale agree that within a matter of

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days

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he was dead

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with the construction of the castle

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hurried to completion it would seem from

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the dearth of records that the many

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terrors stalking out of the pit were

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indeed sealed off from the world

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in the 14th century an artist added

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frescoes to the walls of huska that

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depicted nightmarish sites such as

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demons and monsters plaguing mortal

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souls

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some say these are records of what

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happened at the site of the castle and

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offer a reason for why the castle exists

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a couple of hundred years later in 1836

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czech poet karel heineck matra spent a

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night at huska and supposedly in his

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dreams was visited by a terrible vision

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which he later recounted in a letter to

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his friend edward hindell

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macho described his soul descending into

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the pit and then being transported into

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a hellish mechanized future proc

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2006 to be exact where he wandered in

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horror and despair

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among other unnerving experiences in

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this vision macho wrote that he met a

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girl who showed him moving pictures in a

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small casket and that in darkness he

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walked among high sandstone cliffs

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riddled with holes that projected an

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eerie yellow light uncannily similar to

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the enormous blocks of flats which in

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the present day loom about the outskirts

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of prague

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so how did these visions of the future

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emerge from his subconscious was it

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really only a dream

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or is it possible that he was actually

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transported ahead in time

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there are those who believe this to be

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true

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this isn't to say that the story ends

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here

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the worst of the pit to hell humans

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throughout history have introduced their

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own unique horrors into the castle

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ensuring that huska's dark reputation

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only increased with time

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throughout the centuries husqva's

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notoriety drew in those attracted to

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harnessing its power through occult

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practices in black magic

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during the 30 years war legend has it

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that a mercenary of the occupying

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swedish force a brutal tyrant known as

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aronto or trond took up residence at the

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castle

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as well as being a violent force in the

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area local history tells of aranto's

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interest in alchemy and black magic

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attracted by the terrifying history of

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the castle he performed animal

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sacrifices within its walls regularly

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seeking to draw out and control whatever

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malevolent power dwelled there

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when he was finally killed at huska by a

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local hunter it was said that this evil

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remained at home on the grounds

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this brutal and power-hungry soldier

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remains one of the malicious spirits

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said to haunt the castle even up until

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today

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while oronto's legend is apocryphal

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modern history proves that indeed the

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castle's undeniable mystery drew in

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occult-minded groups hungry to gain

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power for evil ends

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from 1938 onward the nazis began their

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brutal campaign of annexing sudentaland

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and ultimately occupying czechoslovakia

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among adolf hitler's top leaders was

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reichser fuhrer ss reich leader enric

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himmler

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been coined esoteric hitlerism had a

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penchant for the occult and sought to

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integrate it into nazi ideology and

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practice

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with czechoslovakia now under nazi

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control himmler took an interest in the

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notorious castle

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from 1939 until the end of the war nazis

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occupied husker castle for an oddly

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specific purpose

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himmler's obsessively dedicated library

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of esoteric and occult manuscripts some

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five hundred thousand of them were

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transferred to husker castle for safe

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keeping through the war

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under the auspices of the nazis

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ideological research and evaluation

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office which was for all intents and

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purposes a nazi think tank that oversaw

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the proliferation of nazi ideology and

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anti-semitic propaganda the special

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interest library was kept handy

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for what purpose is still unknown

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official record of what the nazis got up

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to at huska castle remained shrouded in

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mystery throughout world war ii

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there is some speculation that the

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castle was also used as a site for

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lebensborn a maternity program that the

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nazis ran to encourage racially pure

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women by nazi standards to birth perfect

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aryan babies

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at the lebensborn the children would be

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raised and indoctrinated in nazi

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ideology

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some children from other european

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countries who were deemed aryan enough

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were even kidnapped from their families

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and brought to such centers

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to be germanized and handed off to

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german parents

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husker castle might have served as a

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site for this shocking program

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there remain theories that the occult

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obsessed ss with their wealth of

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knowledge and books about the occult on

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hand might have done as errato the

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swedish mercenary did hundreds of years

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before used the castle's uniquely

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terrifying environment to feed their

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power through shocking experiments and

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prisoners and conducting rituals and

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sacrifices within the chapel

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their defeat was all but certain the

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nazis set fire to many of their records

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some of those records being about the

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goings-on at huska

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regardless of what the nazis might have

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gotten up to the evil they brought to

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huskah castle sealed its reputation as a

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fearful place beyond faded legends

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so what is of husqva castle today

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in 1999 husker castle opened to the

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public as a tourist attraction after

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years of disuse

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it sees thousands of tourists every year

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striking a dramatic clifftop image

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it's considered a remarkably well

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preserved building

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but the location's dark valances

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continue to influence the area to this

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day

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locals say cars often won't start near

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husker castle

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some have reported sightings of strange

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creatures flying in the area after dark

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and dark silhouettes haunt the castle

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including one in the shape of a monk

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and if you stand in the castle's chapel

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and listen very closely

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many agree that you can hear a

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scratching sound from a gateway just

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beneath the floors