Romance Wanderlust: Castle Frankenstein

Romance Wanderlust - a yellowed and burnt edge map with a compass in the corner, with Romance Wanderlust written across itThis month marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein. I’m a Mary Shelley fan, so you can imagine the delight with which I discovered that Frankenstein Castle is not only a real place but one that anyone can visit. Its history is so much more bizarre than anything in the novel.

The castle is located in Germany, overlooking the Rhine Valley. It was built around 1240 and is currently in ruins. The Frankenstein family owned it for about four hundred years. Over time, new parts (a tower) were added on and old parts (most of the castle) fell apart.

Today, you can explore the ruins of the castle and eat at a restaurant located on the grounds. You can also get married at the chapel in a civil ceremony. I have not been able to discover how many brides per year show up with the iconic Bride of Frankenstein hairdo but I can tell you that I most certainly would.

Our lady and savior, Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein in black and white with sharp eyebrows and an immense bouffant with a jagged white stripe
Our lady and savior, Elsa Lanchester in Bride of Frankenstein. Fun Fact – that’s her real hair, except for the stripe.

The castle’s most famous inhabitant was Johann Conrad Dippel, who was born in 1673. As an adult Dippel became an alchemist who claimed to have discovered an elixir of life called ‘Dippel’s Oil’. He tried to buy the castle in exchange for the formula, but the family refused. He was rumored to perform experiments on dead animals and exhumed human bodies.

Fun fact #1: Dippel’s Oil is an effective insect repellent but not so fun to ingest. In World War II during desert campaigns the British Army used it to poison wells.

Fun Fact #2: Dippel, along with Georg Ernst Stahl, created the pigment ‘Prussian Blue.’

woodcut portrait of Joseph Conrad Dippel giving some serious side eye
Joseph Conrad Dippel, who does not look shifty at all.

In case the historical existence of a scientist who may or may not have been “mad” isn’t enough to captivate you, the Castle is also home to a giant Halloween Fair, a fountain of youth, the site of a dragon battle, and a magnetic anomaly.

I will preface here to say that I read several articles about the castle, and the only article that mentioned the fountain, the dragon, and the anomaly was Wikipedia. The Wiki article also had this disclaimer:

Some of this section’s listed sources may not be reliable.

You don’t say.

According to the Wikipedia sources that may or may not be reliable, St George fought and killed a dragon at the castle. St. George was fatally wounded in the battle and is buried nearby.

The magnetic anomaly is located in the forest behind the castle. It’s a spot at which compasses stop working due to naturally occurring magnetic stone formations (gabbro, probably containing some percentage of magnetite).

The Castle
The Castle, courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The fountain of youth story is so blissfully bizarre that I’m just going to quote it verbatim:

Hidden behind the herb garden of the castle, there is a fountain of youth. Legend is that in the first full-moon night after Walpurgis Night, old women from the nearby villages had to undergo tests of courage. The one who succeeded became rejuvenated to the age she had been on the night of her wedding. It is not known if this tradition is still being practiced these days.

The Fountain of Youth, a tree on a rock outcropping
The Fountain of Youth

Of course the main fame of the castle comes neither from its stunning scenery nor from its women who may or may not undergo tests of courage under the full moon.

It comes from its association with Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. There are many versions of this story, but the simplest, and most plausible, is that when Mary was traveling through the Rhine Valley she saw the castle and heard its name. When she needed a name for her scientist, she used ‘Frankenstein.’ It’s possible, but completely unproven, that she heard stories about Dippel while she was in the area. The most complex theory is that her stepmother, Mary Jane Clairmont Godwin, translated stories for the Grimm brothers, who told her the story of Dippel, which she then related to Mary Shelley.

Mary Shelley as portrayed in Bride of Frankenstein, says "Why shouldn't I write of monsters?"
Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley in Bride of Frankenstein

Alas, all of these stories are purely speculative. We know from Mary’s journals that she was in the general area of the castle, but she doesn’t mention the castle itself. There’s no evidence that Mary Jane Clairmont did translations for the Grimm brothers. And ‘Frankenstein’ was a fairly common name at the time.

What we do know is that the castle is located in a beautiful forest, with hiking trails and a stunning view. I have not eaten at the restaurant but the menu looks amazing. By any measure, the castle and surrounding grounds look like a romantic place to spend some time. And, if you feel a need to climb the tower and yell, “IT’S ALIVE!” even though that actually never happens in the novel, I won’t judge you. You should always follow your dreams, unless your dreams involve reanimating the dead. That never ends well.

My sources were:

Wikipedia

Exploring Castles

 Atlas Obscura

Burg Frankenstein

Comments are Closed

  1. Jill Q. says:

    I did not realize this was a real place. How cool! Thanks for sharing.

  2. Emily C says:

    Whether or not Mary ever heard of him, the fact that Dippel, a “mad scientist” lived at Castle Frankenstein is pretty awesome. I’ve been fascinated by Mary Shelley since I watched Haunted Summer when I was in high school. It’s a movie about the summer she spent with Byron and Percy (and her sister and Dr Polidori), leading up to the writing of Frankenstein. I remember I loved it at the time but rarely see it mentioned anywhere so it seems to have fallen into obscurity even on DVD. It did star Laura Dern, Eric Stoltz and “Bill” from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (who clearly did not get the same career launch off of that movie as “Ted”!)
    Anyway, I clicked through the tags for this post and also made my way to your review of Outcasts by Sarah Stegall and I’m excited to read it next!

  3. Alex says:

    Wow, I’m a reader of SBTB for about 4 years and now I read this. I live near that castle! And near means about 6 miles (or 9 km) away. Friends of mine married and celebrated their wedding at Burg (castle) Frankenstein two years ago and it was really nice. Even if it was extremely hot and they were the last of six couples who married that day at the Frankenstein chapel. And no, no brides showed up with the Bride of Frankenstein hairdo.

    So if any of you guys are ever in Germany and near Frankfurt (which is also nearby castle Frankenstein) just let me know and I’m your personal tour guide.

  4. EC Spurlock says:

    Somebody needs to write a novel — or even a short story — about the grannies having a knock-down-drag-out to see who gets rejuvenated.

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