The Hotel Waldlust in Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg is almost a century old. The hotelier Ernst Luz had it built around 1902 at the beginning of the 20th century and thus brought a real boom in stars and celebrities to the small town: After the grand hotel opened, King Gustav V of Sweden lived in the Hotel Waldlust in 1926, and later Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford also stayed in the magnificent building.
Hotel Waldlust: The owner’s murder created myths about the Lost Place in the Black Forest
The splendid hotel underwent its first change from pomp and glamor to today’s Lost Place in the 1940s. Initially, hotel owner Adele B. brought a lot of business into the large villa with its 140 rooms and 100 balconies and a hall that has since been added. In 1949 Adele B. was found murdered in her own room and the house was then converted into a hospital. As with so many Lost Places, the murder of the owner in the Hotel Waldlust causes wild rumors and inexplicable phenomena. Allegedly a white figure should have been seen, there should have been cold showers and a musty smell in the air, writes the “Südkurier”.
In the meantime, the Grand Hotel Waldlust has largely fallen into disrepair and is one of the most famous lost places in Baden-Württemberg. Several changes of ownership and vacancies have ensured this. Today the Hotel Waldlust is used by filmmakers and photographers, including a “Tatort” shoot and a ZDF crime thriller. A live stream event with Jens “Knossi” Knossalla, Sido, Manny Marc, Sascha Hellinger and other guests, which took place in Waldlust in 2020, broke the Twitch audience record in German-speaking countries at the time.
Sources:“Südkurier”, DPA, Picture Alliance