Reblogged from The Magical World of G. Michael Vasey:

I’d read a rumor about a fire breathing dragon that flew around the Castle of Drahotuš near Olomouc. I’m sorry but I can’t resist investigating such rumors. So today, I and a friend set off to the Hell valley looking for the ruins of an old Castle and to see if we could find the dragon.

We drove the 1 hour 20 minute trip from Brno in beautiful weather eventually arriving at Podhoři around noon. Then began the search for the Castle as it didn’t appear to be signposted at all. In the end, we asked a villager who gave us a circular route to get there and back. Hrad Drahotuš isn’t very well know to tell you the truth. It hasn’t been well preserved unlike its nearby rival Helfštejn so it’s a bit off the beaten track. Even better!

The Castle was founded by one Bohuš of Drahotuš sometime before 1269. The Lords of Drahotuš belonged to the families of the Lords of Čeblovice and they held the castle until 1371, then moved to the Opava region. Margrave Jan Jindřich and then his son Jošt, received the castle from them. It then passed through several hands before ending up desolate in 1543. There are a number of interesting stories about ghosts, secret tunnels, owners being forced to destroy part of the castle and so on but the one that intrigued me was about the fire breathing dragon. Today, the castle is little more than a few ruins overgrown by the forest at the top of an escarpment with amazing views. However, once in the past, it must have been quite a sight.

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