Corvin Castle

Corvin Castle, also known as Hunyadi Castle, is one of the most spectacular medieval castles in Transylvania. Built in the 15th century, Corvin Castle looms over the town Hunedoara built by Ioan of Hunedoara, one of Transylvania’s greatest rulers. Corvin Castle has quite a long history. In fact, its location was chosen because it was the site of an old Roman camp and while the building began in the 1400s, it would continue into the 17th century. A castle this old is bound to have some haunting stories surrounding it and is even said to have inspired Castle Dracula.

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The castle was built not only to be a beautiful and powerful reminder of Ioan and his family legacy but also s a strategic defense in case the religion was ever seriously attacked. The castle itself boosts an impressive 42 chambers and can be accessed by two bridges supported on four massive piers.

Being such a strong defense it is unsurprising that the castle hosted some f the most devious lawbreakers and criminals of Romania. One of these prisoners, allegedly, was Vlad the Impaler. It is said he was locked away in the dungeon for years and was completely isolated and driven insane. Today, the dungeon Vlad allegedly stayed in is open to visitors.

And what would a medieval castle with an impressive dungeon be without a torture chamber? Corvin’s torture chamber included several infamous, gruesome instruments used to completely destroy those who visited this horrible room against their will. There was also a bear pit, where prisoners would be thrown in alive to be devoured by the creatures.

One of the other infamous prisoner stories is that of the three Turkish men who dug an impressive well that remains to this day. Ioan had promised these prisoners that if they dug enough and found water they would be set free. They dug and dug for ten grueling years and finally hit water. Grateful that their sentence was served the men were eager to tell Ioan and secure their freedom. Tragically, Ioan essentially laughed in their faces and kept them as prisoners until their death. One of the prisoners wrote the message “You now have water, but you don’t have a soul” on the side of the wall and some say the castle, still new(ish) at this point, was cursed forever because of this injustice.

To this day the many ghosts throughout the centuries seem to inundate the castle. The castle is often plagued by ghostly silhouettes that appear in photographs. Additionally, the castle has been susceptible to bouts of poltergeist activity that is particularly violent. This is usually blamed on the tortured souls that perished within the castle walls.

There is also a story that a group of tourists bribed castle guards to remain in the castle overnight, which none had done for some time. However, when the guards went to open the castle the next day and secretly let out the overnight guests they appeared bruised, beaten, and clearly shaken. It was said they were hunted and haunted by an angry ghost that had tortured them with noises, beatings, and terrifying premonitions.

Another slightly less violent ghost is the ghost monk that haunts the Capistrano Tower. It was rumored this monk met his death and his eternal haunting place when he was spying on a nobleman in the Council Room. He was punished for spying and put to death. Rumor has it his final resting place was within the very walls of where he was spying, the Capistrano Tower, where he was bricked up and slowly died. Many claim to see this ghostly figure, listening and spying on them. It is also common for people to feel as if they are being watched in this part of the castle.

The image for this blog is by Giuseppe Milo and liscensed under CC by 3.0.