In a forest not far from Berlin, for decades, an eerie light has been spotted, whose origin nobody can explain. The phenomenon is known far beyond the country's borders and attracts more and more visitors and ghost hunters. What's up with the light of Brieselang?
A really brutal child murder
Trigger of the phenomenon could be the fate of twelve-year-old Elisabeth Wieja, who was murdered in 1945 in Brieselanger forest. The girl wanted to show some drunken Soviet soldiers the way through the forest to their accommodation in Brieselang and was brutally raped 100 yards from the inn 'Alter Krug' and then killed by a shot in the face. Her murderers are still unknown.
Since that time, people have been repeatedly reporting about inexplicable light phenomena, voices in the forest, and similar paranormal phenomena.
If you type in the term Brieslang on Youtube, you will find dozens, mostly blurred and shaky videos that are supposed to show the mysterious light. Here's one of the shots I think is among the best.
Bullshit or not?
After about 30 kilometers, I reached Brieselang, a small village with 10.000 inhabitants, three schools, as many churches and a train station. There is a pretty lake and a lot of forest around it. For many Berliners, the area, which is idyllically situated on a canal of the River Havel, is a place to escape from the noisy and narrow city. Many allotments were created here, later larger homes.
My first path leads me to Wilhelm Garn, the mayor of Brieselang. He considers the lights as pure fake. In his opinion, there is no evidence of the murder of the girl. The ghost hype does not bother him, however, there are reports of rampaging youngsters who have thrown bottles in front gardens and urinated on garden fences.
I try my luck with the forester Heike Schubert, who often stays in the forest of Brieslang. Ms. Schubert has never seen the mysterious lights and does not believe in their existence. "We only have trouble with it. There is no strange light out there, "she says with deepest conviction.
The last one I ask is the author and local historian Günter F. Janssen. Not only did he see the mysterious light himself, he also did extensive research and wrote a book about the phenomenon.
Mr. Janssen does not rule out that many of the reports and Youtube videos are fake and that the lights mentioned in them can be explained with some logical thinking and science. "The most common sightings are headlights of cars driving along the forest on the Nauener Chaussee or the Finkenkruger Straße and flashlights of the people searching for the light in the forest," he explains.
During his years of research in Brieselang, Janssen has identified another source of light that has to do with the nature of the soil in Brieselanger Wald. "It is a former wetland, under whose grounding it still comes to gas formations that escape and can ignite in combination with oxygen." This would give natural lights under certain seasonal and climatic conditions. "With a bit of luck, you might see these lights at nightfall in November."
But, Janssen adds, there are also other lights that can not be explained using artificial sources such as headlights or flashlights or the nature of the ground.