The secrets of Ogrodzieniec Castle Legends The legend

The secrets of: Ogrodzieniec Castle

Legends:

The legend of the Black Dog

Elderly people say that the Castle in Podzamcze is haunted by huge black dog at night. The dog is has got a three-metre long chain on its neck. This mysterious animal was aleady seen before I World War by the pople who lived then. They used to say that at night none of the horses wanted to go through the castle gate despite the nice smell of grass outside…

The black dog was seen by so many people that it can’t be just a fantasy. The strange creature has been appearing in the same form for at least seventy years. If we want to explain the mystery of the black dog which was seen by many inhabitants of Podzamcze, we must look for the explanation in the history of Ogrodzieniec Castle…

In 1669 Mikołaj Firlej sold Ogrodzieniec to Stanisław Warszycki. He was a very wealthy man, but he was very cruel at the same time. He was not a good master. He even tortured the people who worked for him, and he ordered to whip his wife and listened to her screams with joy.

The legend has it that he didn’t die in a natural way, but he was taken to Hell by a devil when he was still alive. Then, he was changed into a black dog and he has been scaring people in the castle since then.

The Black Dog

The legend of beautiful Olimpia

Stanisław Boner had a beautiful daughter. A young knight Stanisław Kmita fell in love with her. Althought Olimpia loved him very much and wanted to marry him, her father didn’t want their love to flourish and he was strong opponent of their marriage because Kmita was a Cathoilc and Boner was a Protestant.

The war broke out and Kmita went to the war but he promised to send lettes to her. Boner found out about the letters and he ordered the maid to give the lettes to him. Olimpia and Kmita couldn’t understand why they didn’t get any letters from each other.

When Kmita retuned from the war he sent another letter to Olimpia and waited for her on a high rock. Unfortunately, Boner took this letter, too and he told the maid to write the answer from Olimpia that she was going to marry another man. When Kmita received the letter and read it, he jumped off the rock and died.

When Olimpia found out about his lover’s death she jumped off then castle tower and died. Now she often appears there in a white dress.

The beautiful Olimpia

The legend about the castle well

A long time ago a soldier called Anzelm served his duty in the Ogrodzieniec Castle. He had to leave his young beautiful wife home. After some time he wanted to come back home so he asked Seweryn Boner to let him finish his duty…

Boner told him that he could only come back home when he dug a well in the solid rock. He was happy because he thought that it would be an easy job to do. However, it took him many years to finish digging the well so when his work was completed he was an old man. Boner let him go home but he was so exhausted that he died.

Then the water in the well disappeared and it has never appeared again. The legend says that Anzelm took it to the grave with him.

Anzelm

The legend of twin brothers

A long time ago two brothers lived in the Ogrodzieniec Castle. The people who lived in Ogrodzieniec called them misers. The legend has it that before their death, they told their people to bury them in a very deep grave together with all their valuables.

After the funeral they were guarded by four knights who scared away evil ghosts with their swords. The brothers were so gready that evil ghosts wanted to take them to Hell.

Thank you for your attention! Choice of music and presentation by: Iza Lendor