The land of swamps (Patreon)

Let me show you the place I've grown up in. I love to come back there to rest from all of the noise and rush of a big city.

This land is truly magical and scary at times. For a long time as a kid I was scared of going into this forest alone. Sometimes it's really scary even now. You can feel the history of this place. You can feel that you are not welcome in every part because it has a dark secret to keep. 

The forest is really old... hundreds of years old with a big palace located in the middle of it. The palace was a property of the founders of my city and played a big part during WWII. There's also one main road in this forest due to the whole place being covered in swamps and thick bushes. Because of that it's also really hard to explore it and therefore it's hard to specifically tell what animals are living there. Some say that there is also living a couple of white-tailed eagles - emblem of Poland.

I told you about the dark secrets of this forest, well... a year ago in this exact place was found a body of a teenage girl. She was murdered and buried alive on the swamps. This case was really big in my town for months and the murderers are yet to be convicted.

This case reminded me about the story I heard as a child. It was a local legend... a really gruesome one. There was an old chapel. Build probably around the same time as the palace. This chapel was not precisely for count's family but rather for their staff and their family that lived in a small village located on the egde of this forest. It was raining everyday for weeks. One Sunday everyone went for a morning prayers. When the doors where closed and everyone start singing. Unfortunately that day the ground could not withstand the pressure of the people and the whole chappel started sinking. It trapped people inside and the roof collapsed. Some died instantly but some where buried alive in the swamps. All of them died... man, women and children. Some say that today there's only visible the cross that was on the roof and the bodies are still laying there.

Supposedly after that incident, local residents built a new church, bigger and on a dry ground. That church is located near my house and you can see it on the last photo.

Who else what other secrets are hidden in these swamps...