Sterkenburg Castle
On the banks of the 'Langbroekerwetering,' a water-course that flows between the town of Driebergen and the village of Overlangbroek lies Sterkenburg Castle. The only thing that remains from the medieval castle, is a large, round tower. The rest of the house was build in the nineteenth century, made use with older brick-work and foundations. The castle counts more then forty rooms.
The fortified tower dominates Sterkenburg Castle.
One of the heirs of Sterkenburg was killed in the woods that belonged to the house. His body was found two days later. This murder case was never solved. At night, the ghost of the victim haunts the woods in search of his murderer. The house itself is haunted too. Every night a white lady comes down the stairs, walks through the hall and disappears again. The poet Gerrit Achterberg, who lived at the castle,gave her a place in his 'Game of the Wild Hunt,' a collection of poems in three acts, with a prologue and an epilogue:
At night a woman's shade descends the stairs, regards every part for a long time and then vanishes into thin airs. Under their covers furniture is giggling. I hear a hunting-horn behind a panel. It's a cock that crows; a Red Cock.*
Haunted houses stand beside still water-courses, their dead eyes turned inside; degraded to places of conference for national dances or improvements of the world.
Wished I sold mine betimes and found my blessings in America.
The nineteenth century buildings.
(*Red Cock = Fire)
