Tour Report: The Tiny House on the Hill

It was the beginning of our vacation week in May 2021. We were visiting our dear friend Biggi, who had moved onto a property on the northern slopes of the Kyffhäuser Mountains with her sled dogs just a short while earlier. To celebrate her birthday, she had invited a few friends over for a lovely day of good company and barbecue.

As we were sitting together, Biggi mentioned that there was a small abandoned cabin hidden somewhere further up the wooded hillside, above her property.

Naturally, we had to take a look, so at some point we set off to find it.

The slope was quite steep, and the vegetation was dense, garnished with thorny bushes. There was no path leading up to the property where the little house stood - and it certainly didn't look as though there had ever been one. Then again, perhaps a path had simply become overgrown over the years and was no longer visible.

In any case, the walk was short, but not exactly easy. Eventually, we reached a tiny clearing on the hillside, where the cabin came into view: a very small, narrow, elongated building, complete with a firewood shelter and an outhouse.

White curtains hung in the windows, and at first glance, the cabin didn't even look particularly abandoned - if it hadn't been for the vegetation slowly swallowing it up and the visible cobwebs inside.

The front door was locked, but one of the windows at the rear of the building was slightly open. It could be pushed further, allowing me to climb inside.

I found myself in the bedroom. There was a small bedside table, a stove and two beds. And then there was a newspaper dating back to 1993 - perhaps the last time anyone had used the cabin.

Through a narrow doorway, I could make my way from the bedroom into the combined kitchen and living area. Only slightly larger than the bedroom, it was furnished in a similarly cosy manner. There was another stove, a small cooker and a table with three chairs. The highlight, however, was a charming little mid-century minibar cabinet from the 1950s or 1960s.

And that was pretty much all there was to see inside the little house. It really was tiny.

Nevertheless, this turned out to be a particularly charming little adventure for several reasons. It was entirely unplanned, we didn't have to travel far to get there, and the place appeared to be completely untouched.

And I like to think that we might have been the first - and perhaps even the only - urban explorers to ever set foot inside this little place and photograph it.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Maison "Flower Power"

Only a week after our visits to an abandoned prison and a small house in the woods, I was back in the area again.

A friend and I had made up our minds to explore the so-called Maison "Flower Power" - an abandoned residential house built around 1800 that had a very special charm in the photos we had seen online. Much of that appeal came from its lavish furnishings and the many colorful, floral-patterned wallpapers.

The house was right in the middle of town, so we had to be careful if we wanted to avoid being spotted.

An urban location also has its advantages. One of them was the availability of plenty of inconspicuous public parking spots nearby.

All we needed now was to find a way inside. The front of the house was out of the question. First, it was clearly visible from the street. Second, a pedestrian walkway ran right past it. And third, we could already tell that the chances of finding an entrance there were pretty slim.

So we had to try the back of the house instead. The property bordered a school campus, and parts of the grounds had once belonged to the house. After the former owner's death, however, they had been bequeathed to the school.

Fortunately, it was the weekend, and the school grounds were deserted. We were able to make our way into the garden without being seen.

And there it was: a possible entrance. Sort of, anyway.

There was a steel door with a narrow gap left open above it. Wide enough to squeeze through - provided you could actually reach it. That was no problem for my friend, who was considerably taller than me. For me, getting into the house that way was out of the question.

But hey, one person getting inside is all you need. My buddy then opened a window for me, allowing me to climb in without having to rely on wings or a rocket pack.

What we saw next left us speechless.

Bright colors, floral wallpapers, flower-patterned armchairs - practically everything in the house was bursting with color. In German, we have a rather tongue-in-cheek expression for places like this: Augenkrebs, literally “eye cancer,” referring to something so visually overwhelming that it practically hurts to look at.

And yet, the interior had style and was tastefully put together - provided, of course, that you appreciate this kind of colorful decor.

We explored every room and discovered an incredible number of little remnants of the former owner's life: clothing, dishes, documents, and books, some of the latter packed away in boxes. It looked as though someone had planned to move out or clear the house. At any rate, the book boxes had been neatly labeled.

My personal favorite read: “War Literature - Bizarre Understanding of History.”

There was plenty more to discover in the attic, too. We found old Persian rugs and additional wardrobes filled with clothes, many of them featuring equally colorful patterns.

Down in the basement, we came across heaps of home-canned fruit dating back to the mid-1990s, unopened bottles of wine from the 1970s, and charcoal and watercolor drawings that appeared to date from around the middle of the 20th century.

Visiting this house was a special experience - not just from a photographic perspective, but also because it offered a glimpse of just how much life, love, and dedication had gone into making it a home.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: The House in the Woods

After our unexpectedly successful visit to the former correctional facility, we still had some time for another exploration before heading home. We didn't really have anything else planned when I came across a tip about a small, old house hidden deep in the woods. Even better, it was right along our route home. That's how it should be!

We had no idea what to expect, and we weren't anticipating anything particularly spectacular. As a result, the chances of being disappointed were relatively low.

After about an hour of driving and 50 kilometers on rural roads, we arrived.

The destination was indeed well hidden in a patch of woodland, and there were no designated parking areas nearby. We managed to find a spot to pull off the road and park our car on a relatively dry patch of ground.

Then we set off through the woods. The walk turned out to be shorter than expected, and within just a few minutes, we could make out the house between the trees.

At first glance, it appeared to be a self-built structure. An inscription above the entrance confirmed this impression:

Built in 1957 – Destroyed by Force in 1963 – Rebuilt in 1966

Inside the house, we found some remaining furniture, dishes, pictures, and other items. There were plenty of traces of its former occupants, but unfortunately, nothing that revealed who had lived here or for how long.

A small shed next to the house contained a few tools and old bicycles. A little farther into the woods, we came across several old agricultural plows and a few other items, including an old scythe.

One possible explanation is that the house was originally built without official permission. Perhaps its owner or occupant repaired or collected old equipment and bicycles? We simply don't know, and ultimately, any such explanation would be pure speculation.

Whatever the story behind this place may be, the little house had escaped vandalism. That alone made the visit something special. We also thoroughly enjoyed the walk through the woods!

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.