Legends

The Royal Castle of Olsztyn reportedly has the underground connection with the monastery of Jasna Gora. And golden ducks can be seen floating along the underground rivers.

One of the legends of The Castle tells about a ghost wandering around the castle during dark nights. It is the ghost of  Maciek from Borkowice – the governor of Poznan, political opponent of King Casimir the Great, who called a confederacy against the king. Therefore he was expelled from the country but returned four years later and still conspired against the king. Finally he was captured in Kalisz and sentenced to death by starvation in the dungeons of the main tower in The Olsztyn Castle. As an inmate he received only a jar of water a day and a bundle of hay. Reportedly he withstood forty days and his groans and curses were heard throughout the castle. Some also argue that once, mad with hunger, he began to bite and devour his flesh. According to the rumor, yet not confirmed, such a harsh punishment was the king\’s personal revenge for Maciek’s secret trysts with the queen.

Another legend refers to a historical fact and tells about the crying child who can be heard near the castle on windy nights. During the siege of the castle in 1587 Maximilian von Habsburg caught the son of the Olsztyn burgrave – Kacper Karliński. When the Poles resisted fiercely, Maximilian ordered to put a kidnapped child on the first line of the battle. Burgrave Karliński had promised to the Polish king to defend the castle till death so when the Austrians were close, he was the first to set fire in the cannon. The castle was defended and among the dead bodies of the enemies his child\’s body was found. After this tragedy the burgrave decamped to the penitential cell. Seeking solace in prayer, he died at Jasna Gora.

Another story applies to the later times when the castle was already in ruins. In its vicinity, a poor shepherd boy pastured a cow. Once a group of his fellows ran up to him and threw his hat into the castle dungeon. He went down to the basement and saw a black dog which, according to the legend, guarded the hidden treasures. It spoke to him with a human voice and filled his hat with valuables. When he came out of the dungeon his colleagues saw the treasures and also wanted to be gifted. One of them threw his own cap to the hole and he went after it. He has never returned and since then his ghost can sometimes be seen near the dungeon.