Munich Macabre

31/10/2022

I had a lovely lady and her daughter on tour last night. said they were both "sensitive". They agreed that I take them to a few spots around town - spots which are not marked and only found in fairly obscure history books and archaeological reports: a lost Jewish graveyard, a Bronze Age cremation cemetery, the site of a massacre... a back street where the torturer butchered innocents accused of devilry and witchcraft. None of these sites are marked with signs, and all are in central Munich.

They both "scored" in each location; sometimes it was really on the money.

The Jewish cemetery site was built over hundreds of years ago. It is a few minutes from the main square, Marienplatz. I just stopped us there and asked them to just see what they got. Within a few seconds, mum said "Lots of people...all together...piled together..somehow disorderly".

Soon after, we were at the spot where, during a Medieval pogrom, the Synagogue had been burnt, with perhaps 150 local Jews trapped inside: it only had one door; people took shelter figuring they were safe: actually they were trapped. The daughter specifically mentioned suffocation - not burning. A fire outside, against the door, would perhaps draw oxygen through the gaps around the door no?

Certainly food for thought....

28/10/2022

I had no real lighting rig when I shot this - so apologies:

Traditionally in the UK and Ireland, we never had pumpkin lanterns for Halloween or Samhain: we used swedes and turnips. In this short - and not particularly...

28/10/2022

Halloween Tours: a late notice....

It has been a rough few weeks in my non-tour guide life. For best part of two years I have been working a huge archaeological project in Augsburg. Augsburg was the capital of the Roman province of Raetia and as such, any construction work will frequently reveal Roman and later archaeology.

The job was to oversee the demolition of large parts of the WW2-era Messerschmitt factory at Haunstetter Str. Messerschmitt, if you don't know the name, was probably the largest manufacturer of - often very innovative - fighter aircraft during the N**i period. My job was to look for older remains as the WW2 period structures were removed; these structures and associated artefacts, had, in official eyes, no value or interest and so I was forbidden from studying or recording them.

I ran a sort of guerrilla campaign as best I could but it consisted of just taking video and photos and trying to get my hands on any artefacts which got uncovered. (I say try; I was officially warned not to this as it was not part of my remit and the demolition firm were not paying for someone to indulge their private research interests).

I went to work recently and out of the blue, with no exact warning, was told that I had done good work but that my services were no longer required. I have the opportunity to return next year, perhaps on a better hourly rate, but right now I am unemployed - unemployed with winter on the doorstep. Winter is not exactly high season for tourism: so I have been a bit distracted - hence this late notice:

I will be running the tour on Saturday through to Monday starting at 4pm on Marienplatz, just by the Fish Fountain. There will be less social history and more emphasis on the awful witch trials here and their wider impact across the late medieval - early modern Christian world.

Come in costume and win a prize (alcoholic for adults....sweet for the kids)

Best,

Taff / Hans von Spanker :-)

09/10/2022

After two years with no Oktoberfest, everyone in Munich had their fingers crossed. Back in April it was being discussed whether to cancel for a third time.

Thankfully it was realised that vaccination was a game changer. Small, local fests started back in July and were closely monitored; their success or failure as far as Covid went could have led to the plug being pulled. With no cause for alarm, it was full steam ahead.

When Covid hit, I found the tour guiding going under and so had to go back to archaeology. This year, things have gradually gained momentum as far as touring went but still not enough to drop a full time job with a regular paycheck.

I had been busy with Macabre tours on weekends in the run-up to the Fest and so asked my boss for two weeks off (I have accrued quite a bit of holiday) and planned to tour every evening.

I have been working on a construction site in Augsburg since December 2019. I'm the sole archaeologist, watching the demolition of the former WW2 era Messerschmitt HQ and factory; my job is to monitor the demolition and then investigate anything which is underneath; Augsburg has a long history, going back to pre-Roman times and so in theory, there was a good chance of my finding stuff.(I have had nothing until last week - when I had a load of probably prehistoric postholes turn up - but that is another story). The construction site took a late summer break and closed for two weeks. My boss insisted I take my holiday then. The fact that this was before the Fest and that he knew I had this tour gig made no difference.

I was - and am not happy at all about this. It meant getting up for work at 5am, getting back to Munich at 5.30pm and trying to be ready for a 6.30 start. It was not practical - I was exhausted - and finishing at around 9pm meant my guests would sometimes have trouble getting in somewhere for dinner.

None the less, I was able to run 11 tours over the period. This is my first weekend off in an age and it has just been nice, bumming around the house and not having to schlepp around swords, armour, medieval beers and torture devices...

Things will generally be a bit quieter now, most likely until December when we have our Christmas markets - but if you are here over Halloween weekend, look us up - we are touring...with prizes for those in costume :-)

Best,

Taff

09/10/2022

Think Mrs Macabre has been speaking to an Agony Aunt

26/07/2022

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