The Münsterland is haunted: the ‘Castle Ghost and Moat Ghost’ project gets underway

Since time immemorial, myths and legends have captured people’s imaginations and often contain a grain of truth. In the Middle Ages, minstrels travelled from castle to castle to recite their stories – as was also the case in the Münsterland region, where numerous tales have developed around castles and fortresses over the centuries. With the project ‘Schlossgespenst und Gräftengeist’, Münsterland e.V., in collaboration with a number of selected castles and the four districts, aims to explore these legends and myths and bring them to life in a new way.

The region’s myths and legends were previously collected and categorised following a public call for submissions; with the help of a panel of experts, 30 stories have now been selected for the first sub-project, the ‘book’. The 30 illustrators and two authors from Münster and the Münsterland region, who will be bringing the book to life, met on Tuesday with the steering group at Vischering Castle to mark the launch of the project.

“Staged storytelling remains an effective way of imparting knowledge and culture. We want to build on this long-standing tradition,” explained Michael Kösters, Head of Tourism at Münsterland e.V. The book is due to be published in spring 2027 and will be complemented by humorous radio plays. The project will culminate in a major theatre festival in late summer 2027, featuring a live stage programme performed at the very locations where the stories were once set: directly at the distinctive castles and fortresses of the Münsterland region, which will thus be kept alive. The planned performance venues, which are also project partners, are Vischering Castle, Hülshoff Castle, DA, the Kunsthaus Kloster Gravenhorst, the Liesborn Abbey Museum and Raesfeld Moated Castle.

“Our aim is to convey the region’s intangible cultural heritage to an intergenerational audience in a sustainable way,” said Christine Konken, project manager at Münsterland e.V.

The project, coordinated by Münsterland e.V., is funded by the RKP – Regional Cultural Programme NRW, with further support provided by the LWL Cultural Foundation.