If you like macabre horror stories filled with curses and torture chambers,
if you like places that give you goosebumps,
if you like your hair standing on end,
then you and I are in exactly the right place.
Don't think you're in for tales that feature vampires, ghosts,
or ill omens.
The following are tales from history,
written in blood and in truth,
and more terrifying than any screenwriter's imagination.
The tales of Huniade Castle.
TALES FROM HISTORY
EPISODE: HARROWING TALES FROM HUNIADE CASTLE
Huniade Castle was built in the 15th century
by John Hunyadi
on a rock at the foot of which the Zlasti stream
still flows to this day.
It's had several owners throughout history
and every one of them made changes and additions to it.
The castle includes two bridges, two terraces,
42 rooms, and a built surface area of 7,000 square meters.
HUNIADE CASTLE
The Hunedoara demesne was a royal property.
The fortress, received by Voyk, John Hunyadi's father, in 1409,
was bestowed to him by the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxembourg.
NICOLAE CERISER, DIRECTOR, HUNIADE CASTLE MUSEUM
It was a joint ennobling,
with the Hunedoara demesne.
In fact, the donation act does not specifically mention
a fortified structure, a fort,
but rather outlines the landed elements, let's say,
that made up the Hunedoara demesne.
It's possible, in the event that there was a fort here in 1409,
that it wasn't a functional one
and it was one that Voyk, or certainly John Hunyadi,
transformed,
giving it, let's say, for the most part, the appearance it has today.
The Corvini or Hunyadi era lasted until 1508.
The last member of the family to own the castle
was Duke John Corvinus Hunyadi,
King Matthias Corvinus's illegitimate son,
after which, certainly after the death of Duke John Corvinus Hunyadi's children,
this family tree came to an end,
after, as it happened, providing
the royal Magyar dynasty with a member.
After 1508, the castle in Hunedoara, actually,
in accordance with feudal law,
passed to other noble Transylvanian families.
It's not just the castle's size or structure that are impressive,
but also the fact that there's a story to every single nook.
And all the stories here are hair-raising.
The castle's history as we learned it in school
fit on half a page.
The current one, however, this little-known one,
with its betrayals and executions,
bloody deaths in the lion pit or on the pillory,
with beautiful women and secret affairs,
with prelates conspiring against the nobles at court,
with trapdoors that opened beneath the unfortunates sentenced to death
and no end of things
will amaze and terrify you at the same time.
Many claim it's the bloodiest and most terrifying castle
in Romania
and that its stories make you understand
what life was like a few hundred years ago
in such a Transylvanian castle.
It's a fact, however, that a castle
typical of the 15th century
didn't make for too comfortable an abode.
Let's not have a romantic notion of the medieval castle.
We suppose that, I don't know,
only the rooms inhabited by the ladies were constantly heated,
that there were latrines outside
around the towers,
or, for those of higher rank,
there were chamber pots that
personal servants brought in or cleaned and emptied out.
Life in a 15th century castle
was pretty hard, in my opinion,
because it was cold, there was a lot of humidity,
men's average ages were quite low.
Certainly those destined for the military,
who spent more time on the battlefield.
They also ate a lot of game meat
and there was a condition, one still known today, called gout,
which was lethal to most men.
A whole lot of men of noble rank died extremely young
due to this affliction called gout.
Although he didn't live in the castle, Matthias Corvinus,
as King of Hungary,
spent a lot of money to have the castle embellished.
Actually, in his day, the castle was relieved of its military functions
and it mainly became a luxury residence.
Before stepping inside the castle, we see a well in the inner courtyard
and, even today, you can hear from its depths
the curses of those who dug it into the bedrock.
The story goes that this well in the castle's courtyard
was dug by three Turkish prisoners
who were promised their freedom
after they finished their undertaking and reached water.
However, the masters didn't keep that promise
and the three prisoners were not released.
One of them,
after 15 years' toil, wrote out an inscription
that everyone translated as, "You have water but no heart."
Experts, however, gave the inscription a totally different meaning,
namely, "This was written by Hasan,
"who's a slave to the giaour in the fort near the church."
The castle walls are sure to have witnessed
many passions and many tragedies.
One of the tales ending in tragedy
from inside this castle
is the tale of the Turk Hasan.
We must be referring to the inscription
on the chapel buttress.
The chatelain here,
the man who governed the castle for the master
and who also handled the prisoners,
not only didn't release them, but rather sentenced them to death.
Just a few meters from the well dug by the poor Turkish prisoners,
there's another horrifying spot:
the lion pit, where those sentenced to death were thrown.
Clearly, there were no lions,
only some starving bears,
but the end result was the same.
Its location is strange, however,
because it's right across from the princesses' apartment.
To my left stands the Mace Tower.
It's the tallest tower from the early stage of the structure
and it was called "Mace" due to the shape of the roof.
Its name later changed to "the painted tower,"
because it was covered in three-color lozenges.
In the 19th century,
in the artillery terrace area
abutting the northern palace,
bear skulls were discovered.
One of the archeologists hypothesized
that this castle might be situated
on the ruins of a former Roman camp,
although there were no true archeological digs
conducted to detect traces of Roman masonry.
An amphitheater supposedly existed in that area.
Like any Roman settlement, they had the requisite circus
where they'd have enjoyed such cruel shows
as gladiator fights for instance,
or fierce animals devouring prisoners, to the spectators' delight.
We're in the Diet Hall.
The great reception hall.
In my opinion, this is one of the nicest rooms in the castle.
It's separated in two by a series of octagonal columns
and its uses varied over time.
It was a dining hall on festive occasions,
a trial room,
or a conference room for nobles, based on the German model.
It's unknown how many times the Transylvanian Diet
met in Hunedoara.
With Hunedoara having a burg status,
it housed some 600 souls
and it's unknown whether Hunedoara could host the Transylvanian Diet.
The Diet members are sure to have numbered
about 70 people of noble rank,
who represented the clergy, the towns,
but who brought along their guards, families, servants, and so on.
This meant that Hunedoara needed to play host
to about 600 to 700 additional people.
But the Diet Hall was certainly
the place where secular festivities were celebrated.
This room bore witness to a horrific occurrence.
They say this cell's occupant,
the monk Capistrano,
was apprehended as he was spying on the goings-on nearby,
in the Diet Hall.
As a consequence, he was bricked in alive
in the tower walls
and, since then, the tower has been called Capistrano.
He had a nook in his tower,
in the hallway.
Within the nook, there was a skillfully crafted, constructed
funnel pointing at the Diet Hall
that captured the sounds and words
of those attending a banquet in that room.
When John Hunyadi was absent from such a banquet,
the chatelain was actually the one presiding
and the banquet master when the lord was absent.
And afterwards, clearly, he recorded everything
and updated whoever he needed to.
It's a tale,
a kernel of a spy tale here at the castle.
Right as you step into the castle courtyard,
on the ground floor, on the right,
you have the Knight Hall,
finished in the year 1452.
A place dedicated to knights' parties,
but also to life-and-death decisions regarding enemies.
The place was intended for nobles of a military vocation,
who would come to the Knight Hall after a battle,
would recount their exploits,
would tell of the difficulties encountered on the battlefield,
or boast about their military feats.
After which, a lavish feast is sure to have been held,
with abundant food and drinks
and they certainly didn't use up too much grey matter on manners.
This feast often ended in an all-out brawl.
It also had another use, that of a military tribunal.
It was the place where they tried POW's,
political enemies, traitors,
debtors.
And, undoubtedly, it was under the Knight Hall floors
that the castle's actual prison was situated.
What's still standing today is only part of the prison,
where they say that,
at the western edge,
the nook housing the second window,
there was a trap door
over which stood the chair of the one on trial.
After sentencing,
the trap door was opened by some mechanism
and the convict would fall
through a scythe tunnel.
They were actually sharp spikes that foretold his ultimate end.
Those who were not sentenced to death ended up next to the Knight Hall,
in the castle prison,
full of water, rats, and bats,
a place where you wouldn't like to stay, even for a visit.
They say that György Dózsa himself
was held hostage inside this prison
after his serf peasant army
was defeated by John Zápolya in 1514
and before being taken to Timisoara,
where he was crowned with a white-hot iron crown.
The walls of any medieval castle
bore witness to many tragedies,
many atrocities, many passions.
There was an active prison here
and, in the castle, there was an active torture chamber.
Public executions were held in the castle courtyard
to serve as an example to those who, I don't know,
would steal, would betray, would lie,
or would disobey the master.
There used to be a pillory.
There are tales of the beautiful Borbala Balassa,
the wife of a member of the Torok family,
who had a jealous husband.
The fate of noble women
was to stay at court,
to supervise labor in the fort,
cleaning,
while the husband was away on military campaigns
or for various political matters.
She supposedly fell in love with the captain of the hussars,
the Hungarian mercenaries who guarded the castle.
They had spies back in those days, as well.
The jealous husband found these things out.
He's said to have killed the Hussar captain in secret,
while Borbala Balassa was put in the pillory for several days
and then publicly executed.
One of the wings of the castle still bears
Matthias Corvinus's coat of arms, depicting
a raven with a ring in its beak, resting on an oak branch.
Legend also surrounds the coat of arms.
John Hunyadi is said to have been
the illegitimate son of Sigismund of Luxembourg,
the Hungarian king,
and the beautiful Elizabeth of Hatzak.
To protect her honor,
the king marries her off to one of his knights, Voyk,
at the same time giving her a ring as a gift for her unborn child,
to make sure he'd be recognized once grown up and headed for court.
But the ring is stolen by a raven, then retrieved by John Hunyadi,
who hit the raven with an arrow.
And this gave rise to the Corvinus coat of arms.
Matthias Corvinus didn't hail
either from within the kingdom's original borders,
or from a family that was deeply rooted in the past
in the beginnings of the Magyar kingdom.
For that reason,
undoubtedly to justify their ascent to the Hungarian throne,
they concocted this story.
The castle itself has its own personality
and a very strong individuality.
Experts categorize it
as one of the foremost
monuments of medieval civilian and military architecture
in the eastern part of Europe.
Being one of a kind in this area,
Hunyadi Castle
enjoys, let's say, one of the meanings
historically attached to this land.
These collateral stories do exist.
It's true that,
as it's been promoted,
this storytelling side of it hasn't really been leveraged.
If you don't think that's enough,
let's keep going with another harrowing tale,
one that still hasn't ended to this day.
And for that, let's head a few kilometers outside Hunedoara,
to Pesteana.
THE TALE OF THE NEFARIOUS LAKE AND THE KILLER FLOWER
THE BOTTOMLESS LAKE
We've left Hunedoara and have reached Pesteana.
More specifically, we're at the edge of the bottomless lake.
It's a place that only tourists or those in the know reach,
because locals don't venture
out to this place.
The bottomless lake has now become a swamp.
But it is so named because, throughout time,
it swallowed up many people and beasts.
As though its thirst for victims is unquenched.
Right now, the edges of the lake
are covered in dense peat.
But right at its center, it's said to be between 30 and 40 meters deep.
And, if that wasn't enough,
the lakeshore is home
to a very rare and protected plant.
It has a very beautiful name.
The round-leaved sundew, or Drosera rotundifolia.
We have a picture of it
and we'll set off, picture in hand, to look for it on the lakeshore.
This is actually a carnivorous plant.
The way it moves!
Do we have a shot? Where are they? - Here.
There? - Yeah, yeah.
Oh, and does it look like our picture?
Yeah. - Let's see it.
So, this is sundew.
Yes. Drosera rotundifolia.
Carnivorous. - Yes.
And what happens if I touch it?
After it catches a bug, it takes about a day
to squeeze it.
To start digesting it.
So, there's no danger.
So, the bugs are caught here
because there's a substance, right? - Yes.
Sticky. - Yes.
The sticky substance is produced by the glandular hairs
and, when an insect lands on the lamina,
this flat side, - Yes.
it's caught thanks to a very special process.
The opposite side of the lamina
begins a very rapid cell growth process.
In one day. - It swallows it.
Yes. Growing on the opposite side of the lamina,
the glandular hairs all tend towards one center
and trap the insect.
It sticks and gets swallowed. - Yes.
It sticks to the finger, like it doesn't want to let go.
And it likes this habitat.
Yes, very acidic peat.
It's the typical habitat of carnivorous plants
that are very poor in nutrients.
This is why they developed a trapping mechanism.
They get the nitrogen they need for growth
from insects rather than from the soil.
But what's the water of the bottomless lake like?
The water is very high in tannins.
They give it a brick-colored look.
Dark brown.
And also turn it very acidic.
This means that organic matter is very well preserved.
Minerals, on the other hand, wash off very easily.
Like calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate from bones.
For example, if you bury a store-bought chicken in the swamp,
in one year or a thousand, you'll find it just as well preserved,
minus the bones.
There, you'll only find the collagen scaffolds
with the calcium sulfate all dissolved.
So, in essence, we're now
on the bottomless lake.
Right? Beneath us, there's water.
Now, near the edge, it's maybe one or two meters deep.
But in the middle, it's 30 to 40 meters deep.
And the peat layer we're standing on
is very supple. - Yes.
Look.
And essentially no creature lives here.
With the exception of insects, no.
Mainly plants.
And the insects that are pretty common throughout the area.
But, in terms of vertebrates, nothing else.
Birds or fish, no.
Well, that now brings to my mind that,
if someone were to dredge
the bottom of the lake, this means they'd find
the animals that drowned here through time?
There's a local legend saying that
an oxen cart got lost in the middle of the lake.
GEOLOGICAL ENGINEER HATZAK NATURAL PARK
If it's true, they're still there.
With the oxen in great condition.
We might be better off leaving. It's solid ground, yeah?
Yes, for now.
For now, yes, but we'd better retreat.
Today, we traveled the world of medieval tales.
True, rather than made up tales.
A fascinating time filled with symbols and rituals.
As far as I'm concerned, the most amazing time in human history.
Other things about it may be dark,
but the stories it gave rise to make it unparalleled.
A bloody castle,
a nefarious lake and a killer flower.
There's no more provocative an association, right?
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be