Wawel Royal Castle
Wawel Royal Castle is located in Krakow, Poland, and has been home to human beings for nearly 50,000 years. Archaeologists that have dug at the site have found evidence of settlements from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze ages. This area was most likely used as a farming community and a place of trading. King Sigismund I the Old had the Polish Royal Palace built between 1506 and 1548 C.E. Wawel Hill is the heart of Poland, a place where the kings were crowned, ruled, and laid to rest inside the cathedral. The ghost of these kings are believed to haunt the castle to this day.
Dragons are also believed to walk around the castle as well. The western slope of Wawel Hill is called Smocza Jama, and this is where the dragon’s den is believed to be, within the 200 foot-long cave. Some people believe that the dragon was a serpent goddess. The dragon was a great threat to the people as he would eat them, their livestock, and virgins. The man who slayed the dragon was named Prince Krak. Today, the cave holds a statue of a dragon and millennia of human record. According to legend, every deceased king of Poland gather together every year on December 24th in an underground chamber in the hill.
King Kazimir claims that when he was a child, he went into one of the tunnels and found a glowing stone that contained magical energy that protects Krakow from invasion and harm. King Sigismund I the Old’s jester was named Stancysk, and he is believed to haunt the castle as well. Whenever Poland is in danger, Stancyzk’s spirit is seen along the battlements of Wawel Castle.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
