Lippold's Cave, better known by its German name Lippoldshöhle, is a cave located two kilometers south of the town of Brunkensen in Lower Saxony. According to local legend, Lippoldshöhle was the lair of a medieval bandit named Lippold who kidnapped a young woman and held her captive in the cave for several years.
Description[]
The Lippoldshöhle is a cave network that contains three chambers - the "kitchen", the "parlour", and the "prison". Each chamber is connected to the others by a series of passages and tunnels. There is also a natural crevice known as the "chimney", although it was probably an entrance and not a chimney. It is believed that Lippoldshöhle once contained wooden platforms due to the presence of man-made holes in the rock face that probably held wooden beams.
Legend[]
Lippold was an infamous bandit who terrorized the people of Lower Saxony some time prior to the seventeenth century. He resided in the cave that would become known as the Lippoldshöhle, or Lippold's Cave. Some versions of the story say that Lippold was the leader of a gang of brigands who resided with him at the cave. Although many suspected that the Lippoldshöhle was the lair of the bandit, he always escaped whenever the law tried to arrest him. This was because whenever Lippold departed the cave, he used horseshoes to create tracks that made it appear he was still in the cave. This practice led to locals concluding that the Lippoldshöhle was not the criminal's hideout.
Thus hidden, Lippold attacked a newlywed couple and murdered the husband before dragging the wife back to his cave, where he forced her to become his bride. The unfortunate woman was held captive for many years in the "prison" chamber and was forced to serve Lippold, cooking his meals and delousing him.
One day, Lippold fell ill and allowed his wife to leave the cave. She visited the nearby town of Alfeld and was overheard lamenting her situation, leading to Lippold's discovery. When the maiden returned to the cave she was followed by a group of citizens, who dangled a rope through the "chimney" crevice with a noose at the end. The captive bride lulled Lippold to sleep while delousing him before tying the noose around his neck, allowing the citizens (led by her father in some versions) to pull the rope up and hang Lippold.
According to another version of the legend, the girl never returned to Lippoldshöhle but instead directed the locals to the bandit's lair. The men then killed Lippold by pouring water through the "chimney", filling Lippoldshöhle with water and drowning the criminal as he slept.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Although the story of Lippold is probably untrue, Lippoldshöhle is a real cave and was once inhabited by humans during the Middle Ages.
- Similar legends exist about another cave in Germany, the Daneilshöhle in Saxony-Anhalt a few hundred kilometers to the east of this cave.