#schnellerts

At the time I was a child of 8 to 10, we often spent the summer holidays in our vacation home in a small village somewhere within the Odenwald. Sometimes we took some of my schoolmates with us. 

I remember one evening, when my mother told us the tale about the "Rodensteiner".

He was the lord of Castle Rodenstein (built about 1250). Every time there was a war about to break out, many old people of the villages around claimed to have heard rattling of chains and horse's hoofs at night. 

It was told that he and his army (as ghosts) rode over the Odenwald to Castle Schnellerts. 

It is a somewhat scary story :) 

After my mother told it to us, we went on a night walk through the nearby forrest (which was really dark and silent). It somewhat scared us, but it was also a great experience. I haven't slept that well after it, but I remember the story and the feeling very well. 

When I was older, I asked many elder people about it and they insisted to have heard these rattlings at night just before WW2. 

Today I don't know what exactly they may have heard. In the late 30's many of the Odenwald farmers hadn't had cars or trucks but carriages and horses. Maybe one of them had to ride to a friend or something like that.