Trapdoor in the kitchen

Janina Szczepańska occupies the apartment that once belonged to Karl Denke.

She and her husband bought half of a small house in Ziębice in 1968, when the local authorities decided to sell this social building to particulars. The new owners came from a neighboring village and weren't familiar with the story of the Muensterberg (Ziębice) cannibal.

However some peculiarities of the house attracted their attention from the beginning: meat hooks in the pantry's ceiling and a trapdoor in the kitchen's floor in particular. The meat hooks weren't as unusual for a house in a small village, they told themselves. Maybe a former occupant used to butcher pigs. However the function of the trapdoor (linking directly the kitchen at first floor to the pantry at ground floor) seemed much more mysterious.

The couple renovated the house, bricked up the trapdoor and removed the hooks. Only afterwords they have learned about the infamous previous occupant of their house. Obviously they guessed Denke used to kill his victims in the living room (picture above), then drag them to the kitchen and drop them through the trapdoor. Once in the pantry, the corpses were slaughtered and made into Pökelfleisch.

Today there are no traces of trapdoor in the room once occupied by the Denke's kitchen:

When listening to Mrs. Szczepańska talking about Karl Denke I was surprised to hear how accurately she knew the facts. I would rather expect an amalgam of facts and legends, but there was no legend, just pure, accurate facts, as if taken directly from Dr. Pietrusky's report.

Historian Marek Czapliński, who researched on the region, told me, most of the old legends were lost after 1945 (when nearly all the former German inhabitants of the region were forced to move away). Those Germans who remained in Ziębice and assimilated with the new Polish community weren't eager to tell stories about a German cannibal killer from their village.

The Denke's case reemerged only in the 1950's when a local journalist came across it and wrote about in Tygodnik Ziębicki.

I asked Mrs. Szczepańska if she was comfortable living in the house previously occupied by a cannibal killer. She answered she's OK now but she would sell the house with pleasure. Armin Ruetters, the German researcher once offered to buy the property but never came back afterwords.

Blood turns (healing) water

Two things led me to a small forest about 2 km north of

Karl Denke's house.

First of all I was searching for the "Municipal Forest" mentioned by the forensic expert Friedrich Pietrusky in his report as the place of disposal of Denke's victims' bones. However there is no trace of such forest in the vicinity of the killer's house (this was also true in the 1920's as proves this old map). The closest one is located 2 km north. Probably too far for a killer to carry skeletal pieces, but still it intrigued me.

There was yet another reason to head towards this little forest. Friedrich Pietrusky mentioned in his report that the river Ohle (Oława) was about 150 m from Denke's house and suggested the killer might have poured the blood of his victims into its waters.

Denke's house is hidden just behind the trees at the left of the next picture.

And here's the same river photographed from the same spot but in opposite direction (towards the north):

One can notice in the background the municipal forest, mentioned in the beginning of this post.

By pure curiosity I followed the path of the river and entered the forest. Once there I made several pictures (e.g. the black & white above). Within minutes other people began to come to the forest. They carried empty jerry cans.

I followed one of them and discovered a water spring.

It is called Cyril's Spring and its water is believed to have special healing properties (although scientists didn't find anything to confirm that belief). Some come from as far as Wrocław (60 km) to stock up on that water.

It is unclear how the legend of the healing properties of Cyril's Spring started. The fountain was built in 1896 and soon became a sunday walk destination for the locals, as depicts this postcard:

source

Nevertheless the popularity of the spring before WWII was rather due to a nearby beer stall:

source

Jurassic Park

In search for Ziębice's Municipal Forest mentioned by Friedrich Pietrusky in his report.

The question remained unanswered: where did Karl Denke burry the bones of his victims? Pietrusky speaks of a "municipal forest" but there is no forest close to Denke's house. However if you take a look at Ziębice's satellite picture, you'll probably spot a grove at the south-east end of town. It is labelled "municipal park" on the map.

It is highly improbable that Denke would go so far to dump the human remains he was left with, as his house was located at the almost opposite part of town (top of the picture).

Nevertheless this little municipal park hides bones and carcasses as well... but all of them are fake. The local authorities decided to create a "Jurassic Park" here and placed half a dozen plaster dinosaurs. For some reason, most of them are painted green.

Two specimens are aquatic. Their red glowing eyes are made of LED lamps.

All this looks like a pathetic attempt to deviate the tourists' attraction from Karl Denke's.

However tourists remain unmoved and keep on photographing the cell in which the cannibal committed suicide in 1924. 

I did the same: