It was a dark and foggy night….

It was foggy on our drive through the German countryside today, which made for some wonderful Fall colors. After a dinner with the project team it seemed like the fog was coming back in again.  Honestly, it seemed like it was not going to be any problems taking a eventing stroll with the camera and tripod.  So I headed towards the old (Alt) part of Marburg, a city located in the Northern section of Germany.  I just wish someone would have warned me.

So the fog was rolling in and my wandering around town was visually very interesting. The old buildings, some dated back to the 1500’s, and the winding streets were neat.  And everywhere I looked there a sea of stairs.  I was a happy camper, but I did not know that I was wondering off in the wrong direction.  So I just kept setting up the tripod and making a session of long exposures.  And I kept climbing up these really interesting staircases with the old style lamps, etc. I did not notice that the lamps were getting farther apart.  And there were less people getting into my images (yeah, I am not a “people” photographer).  It did not dawn on me that it might be an issue wandering up dark staircases with the fog getting progressively thicker.  And the night seemed darker as more of the adjacent house lights dimmed out.  And by the time I had realized where I was it was already too late.

I was now at the base of the Marburg castle.  And it was getting really dark and really foggy. And there was absolutely no one around.  I was still ‘focused’ on making my images when I then heard a different sound. I guess that is when I noticed the hair on the back of my neck kinda standing on end.  And the air started to really get chilly. Huh? I now started to remember some stories about this castle. And it was too late, cuz I was where I should not have been.

The sounds were slowly coming down the dimmly lit path in front of me.  A slow shuffling sound, very soft but very distinct. And slowly out of the fog the forms started to materialize. Yikes! What ever it was, it was heading right towards for me! My camera was set up on the tripod and I had located it somewhere in the dark on the side of the path. I could not just run off and leave that gear there. So I froze with my right hand still on the cable release.  And now what ever they were was almost upon me so I instinctually fired off one last long exposure.  Maybe this would provide enough evidence for who ever found me. And they still kept coming right at me.

And then they journed right through me!!!  The chill that came over me was clammy and cold!

WTF!! I had just experienced the ghosts of the Marburg castle!

And I was still alive.  And I had made an exposure.  So I did a quick check of my captured image and sure enough I had actually photographed them. I had just made a photograph of the ghosts of Marburg Castle!

But after I was hot-footing it back down to the old town and everyone I showed my image to just told me that I had made a long exposure of some of the kids fooling around.

Didn’t I know it was Halloween night???

Well, perhaps it is back in the America, but I know what I saw up there on that dark foggy path at the base of Marburg Castle. And here’s the photograph to prove it. That’s my story and I am going to stick to it ;- D

Best regards, Doug

Featured photograph, above: Marburg, Germany, Copyright 2007 Douglas Stockdale