Top 4 Caves around Mellrichstadter Forst

A beautiful piece of nature. Highly recommended.

Mary's Grotto, with altar niche and standing stone figure of Mary, 20th century, in front of the Gangolf Chapel

Transcript of the information board. The Women's Cave When the old Hildenburg Castle was devastated and set on fire, the Lord of Hildenburg and all his servants and men perished in a cruel manner. The young lady and her maids, however, fled with great treasures into a walled underground passage. The end of the passage is the women's cave in the ice ditch, which was also called Klefalls or Klefallsloch. However, the lady from Hillenberg and her ladies did not reach this exit. They all died in the underground passage. To this day they guard their treasures. Every seven years they are allowed to emerge from their underground kingdom and show themselves to people. They sit on a pile of wood or on a heap of brushwood and sing such beautiful tunes that the hearts of those who hear them tremble. Many people have already tried to get through the Klefallsloch into the underground passage and to the great treasures. But no one has managed it so far. After just a few steps you come to an iron door or plate. It is also said to be very dangerous to look for the treasure down there. The women's cave, one of the rare natural caves in the basalt. It is also protected by law as a natural monument. Its name is partly explained by the fact that women used this cave to hide from the cruelty of the Mercenaries were hiding there. Others said that the Women's Cave was the end of the underground passage that leads from Hildenburg. The legend, which has often been laughed at by "enlightened" contemporaries and dismissed with a pitying shrug, was confirmed when Hermann Happel from Mühlbach discovered a new entrance in 1965 next to the previously known eight-meter-deep cave that ended in a six-cubic-meter-large room. The cave, also called "Klefallsloch", was examined and measured by speleologists from Düsseldorf in 1972. They discovered a cave system 50 cm long and 20 m deep. The cave consists of narrow crevices, collapsed passages and two small rooms. In the lower part there is a canyon about 5 m long and 1.5 m deep. No traces of human hands were discovered. The entrance to the Women's Cave is walled up. It is strongly advised to exercise caution in the area, as deep crevices in the rocks are dangerous and there is a risk of collapse in some places. Bavarian Rhön Nature Park Association

www.biosphaere-rhoen.de Information from panel no. 2 Eisgraben - cold wind, natural forests The water of the Aschelbach, which flows over and between the basalt blocks of the Eisgraben, comes from the Black Moor on top of the Hohe Rhön - one of the last intact raised bogs in Germany. Cold air also flows from there down the valley channel. The Eisgraben owes its name to this, because it ensures that the frost lasts here well into spring. Large areas of the Eisgraben are designated as a natural forest reserve and enjoy special protection as a core zone of the UNESCO Rhön Biosphere Reserve. Leaving the moor, the Aschelbach initially meanders quietly through the landscape and finally plunges down a 4-meter-high waterfall. When it enters the forest, the stream is then called Eisgraben. It meanders between the trees and in places drops steeply by up to 10 meters on the side. Every spring, the floods of melting snow transform the narrow summer stream into a raging torrent that cuts ever deeper into the ground. An extreme storm on July 26, 1834 gave the Eisgraben its current appearance. Torrential rain caused a massive landslide that buried the town of Hausen. The catastrophe washed out brown coal in some places, which was then mined. A considerable system of tunnels was created. However, the brown coal was still quite young and therefore of poor quality, so mining was soon stopped. The women's cave is located in the lower part of the Eisgraben. At this point, the water has dug a 50-meter-long and 20-meter-deep cave into the rock. According to legend, this cave was a refuge for the women from the hamlet of Hillenberg in times of trouble. Today, the cave is no longer accessible. Also nearby are a hunter's hut and the ruins of Hildenburg.

One of the few known caves in the Rhön

The women's cave or the entrance, which is closed by a grille, is quite inconspicuous. But caves are rare in basalt rock and in this respect it is something special. It was probably created by shifting earth and was scientifically examined and measured in detail in 1972.

The Aschelbach, which comes from the Rhön high plateau, has created the deep valley of the Eisgraben here. There is a reason for the name Eisgraben: the cool stream water and the accompanying cold air currents ensure that the temperature along the stream is a few degrees lower than in the surrounding area.

A mighty rock. Legend of the Devil's Cellar: When the Rhön was still pagan, the devil still felt like the master of the area. But then Saint Kilian came to the country, preached Christianity, and many were baptized. This made the devil terribly angry. When work began on building a church in the valley, the devil became so angry that he dragged all the stones that had been brought to build the church up to the Gangolfsberg and joined them together to form a grotto so tightly that no one could separate them. When people noticed this, they drew a cross on every building stone. The devil had to leave it alone. But the stones that he had brought up previously formed the Devil's Church. The devil lived hidden in this Devil's Church, which was actually just a dark cave, and continued to cause mischief on earth. Unsuspecting farmers, berry pickers, and hard-working forest workers had to make his acquaintance. He offered the good people money to win them over to his schemes and to lead them astray. One day, however, someone confided in a priest because he had a bad conscience. That same day, some brave men set out with the priest to drive the devil out of his hiding place with prayers and holy water. And so it happened. The cave smelled of sulphur and when the priest sprayed the holy water, the devil came out of the cave cursing loudly and has not been seen since. That is why the place is still called the Devil's Cellar today and sometimes it is said that it still smells of sulphur today.