Heidelberg's Hexenturm and Thingstätte — witches and Nazis haunt the old city

Heidelberg, the romantic university city on the Neckar River in Baden-Württemberg, harbors two distinctly different haunted sites. The Hexenturm (Witches' Tower), part of the old city fortifications, was used to imprison women accused of witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries. Many were tortured and executed, and their screams are said to echo from the tower on certain nights. Visitors have reported cold spots, the sound of chains, and the smell of burning near the tower. The second haunted location is the Thingstätte, an open-air amphitheater built by the Nazis in 1934-35 on the Heiligenberg hill above the city, using forced labor from local concentration camps. The amphitheater, designed for Nazi propaganda events, sits on a site that was sacred to the Celts and later hosted a medieval monastery. Visitors to the overgrown Thingstätte report hearing chanting, feeling an oppressive atmosphere, and seeing shadowy figures in the amphitheater's tiers. The layering of Celtic, medieval, and Nazi-era history on the same hilltop creates a location where multiple periods of spiritual activity seem to coexist. Heidelberg's cobblestoned old town, its ruined castle, and its misty river valley setting make the city itself feel suspended between centuries.