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:

Mysterious pictures found at a dump in Wrocław

The neat picture of a saw, a pickaxe and some knives are part of a series of mysterious photographs found dumped at the Medical Academy of Wrocław in the mid 1980's.

A total of 1200 pictures (medium format glass negatives and positives) were dumped during a renovation at the medical college of Wrocław. They belonged most probably to the German Institute of Forensic Medicine in Breslau until 1945, when the city became Polish Wrocław.

Tadeusz Dobosz, the man who found them - then scientific employee, now professor of Molecular Techniques at the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Medical Academy of Wrocław - was able to interpret most of them, but a dozen frames remained quite a puzzle.

Four of them depicted human bones, one showed a table full of meat, human bones and a pair of suspenders (made of human skin, as we know today), then on another photograph one could see more suspenders with some rags and old shoes.

Two pictures showed jars and pots in some interiors.

With these came 3 single pictures: a house from the outside, a wooden shed and a portrait of a deadman (this particular glass negative was shattered and could not be scanned by prof. Dobosz but it is the same picture as we know as the only portrait of Karl Denke).

Prof. Dobosz suspected a cannibal story behind these pictures but couldn't find any trace of such a story. (Here is an article in Polish about the findings).

...

Only last spring - after meeting Marcin Tosz, a local journalist familiar with the Denke case - could prof. Dobosz link the pictures he had to a specific story - that of Karl Denke.

The wooden shed in Denke's garden was destroyed after World War II by the new Polish owners of the house. They soon unearthed a few skulls and some human bones. Thus the gory legend of the cannibal from Muensterberg soon became common knowledge in the village of Ziębice (as Muensterberg is called today).