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(This article was translated from German with Google Translate)

Holidays in the horror house

With a group of friends, I had the funniest trip: For several days we slept in a large, old rectory in the quiet corner of Usedom. What’s so special about it? The house could come one to one from a horror movie.

The fact that I landed there is due to a series of recommendations: A friend of a buddy has often gone to this house before and now my buddy drives every year with his people. There is no website, no advertising, just these oral recommendations. I can understand everyone who does not let this house go.

A rectory in the middle of nowhere

Imagine: An old house with at least 20 rooms, where the pastor used to live. Opposite an 800-year-old church (yes, really 800, not 80), next to it a fountain that could have come from The Ring. Behind the rectory is a small cemetery with old tombs, which I had right outside my window. At night we have explored it with mobile light and a large, rotting angel statue found which has moved quite sure when we have not looked.

In the house bible verses in old German script are engraved over the door arches. But not those positive ones about “love your neighbor”, but rather “fear the Lord”

The decor is ancient, but has this vintage grandma charm. There are CDs with classical music and a whole closet full of board games, none of which is complete and in each of them survived at least a large spider. But in the large living room you will find comfortable armchairs and a carmine, so it can be perfectly chill out there. The bedrooms have rather rickety metal racks brand youth hostel, which were namely only after the fact set up there. Because the house is so big and we were only seven people, I had one of the lower dormitories for myself. One of us, by the way, always dared to escort to the restroom after it was dark.

Here you’ll find some videos I took of the house.

The whole rectory is full of spiders – and as far as my room is concerned – also full of mice. None of us had reception or internet in the house (practically a prerequisite for any good horror movie house). At night I also discovered bats and owls. We found really strange, hidden rooms and chambers that go straight from the bedrooms. In front of a hidden room hangs a kind of carpet to cover the entrance. Actually, I missed the perfect chance to put a cell phone with alarm clock at 3 o’clock in the morning in one of them and set ice cream truck music as a ringtone.

In one room hung a painting of a crying kid we had to take off the wall because the people in the room were just too scary. Because I wanted to see everything from the rectory, I opened the classic creaking door to the cellar and explored the basement rooms. In the buckets we found down there was maybe just paint, but maybe also the fragmented remains of the last visitors. We did not open it, so Schrödinger can still do both.

Packing list:

• Laptop with the movie “Cabin in the Woods” on the disc
• Offline map for your phone
• Lots and lots of beer
• Ouija board

Actually a really peaceful place

The old rectory stands in the quiet corner of Usedom. The village next to it is tiny and the fields are already starting next door. From the farmer next door you can buy fresh chicken eggs, some rusty bikes are provided for free and the sea is not far away. Even shorter is the path to several canals with sandy beaches, to which we cycled in the sunshine (and back in the storm, haha). You can borrow paddle boats there, if you throw coins in a attached “box office”. Trust. Everything was so quiet, empty and infinitely far away from any Instagram feed, whatsapp news and fashion news. Life seemed so simple to me. In the morning you can have breakfast in front of the Horrorfilmhaus really good: The whole property is huge and right next to the tables in front of the house is a pretty flower and herb garden. In the back garden is a barbecue and a paddock with horses adjoins the property behind the trees. In addition, the area is full of pastures and we have learned that cows do not eat apples (to the video). The fact that my phone is practically useless only disturbed me for five minutes, then I enjoyed the spontaneous social media detox. And I have not slept so well, firmly and deeply any more. Holiday in the horror house – somehow quite relaxing.

Holiday in the horror house – how it works

Twenty-five years ago, the pastor still lived in the big house. Now the property belongs to the community and this is financed by the continuance by a kind of guest operation. There are several upstairs bedrooms and two larger dormitories downstairs. Everyone can rent a bed there and pay € 10 for the night. You never know how many beds are occupied, but usually the house is empty and you have it all to yourself. So if you’re lucky – and that’s the norm – you have the night for 10 € and the entire rectory for yourself and your friends per person. With us on the second day then but an old couple arrived, but we hardly got ourselves into the queer.

An old woman takes care of the administration, occasionally looks to the right and supplies you with firewood for the carmine. Before leaving you should clean yourself or pay your daughter, so that this takes care of the cleaning.

I do not post the contact directly here: If you are interested in a somewhat unusual holiday in the horror house, write me an email to sparkandbark.info@gmail.com and I’ll put the contact for you. Brave enough?