Totengrund

After another nice German breakfast, we hiked back into the heath. Today's first objective: the Totengrund, the dead ground. There are a couple theories of how this name came about. A few involve geography/geology: the formation of a dry valley over a thawing and refreezing block of ice that had been left behind when the glaciers receded and so on, a big hole made by a meteorite, the composition of the soil is such that nothing besides juniper and heather can grow here, hence it being viewed as dead soil by early agrarian people.

A more interesting theory: since back in olden times they didn't transport the dead over the roads, they were taken through here. Nothing really involving spirits of the restless dead or Barrow Wights or anything like that, at least not that I found. (And thanks to the official Lüneburger Heide tourist website for the above).

Also, no connection with the secret first grave of Heinrich Himmler. It's just a very moody, atmospheric place. It would look even better with more fog.Læs mere