Danube River Cruise #33: Schonbrunn Palace Part 4: Ghost of Napoleon Room

In this 33rd blog about the Viking River Cruise on the Danube, we are still in Austria, and the Schonbrunn Palace where you will now meet the 4th ghosts we encountered. The Ghost of Napoleon Room !

Napolean Room

THE NAPOLEON ROOM - This room has quite a history. French Emperor Napoleon had visited the Schonbrunn Palace and stayed there. He later offered his daughter, Maria Louise's hand in marriage to one of the Habsburg men after he conquered the territory. So, in 1810, Maria Louise married into the Habsburg family.

ABOUT THE NAPOLEON ROOM - Today known as the Napoleon Room, this was previously the bedroom shared by Franz Stephan and Maria Theresa from 1746. During the nineteenth century it was refurbished several times, as revealed by restoration work carried out in 2007.

 FLASH FORWARD - Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1850.

THE GHOST - As I walked in the Napoleon Room, I experienced a very heavy feeling pressing down on my chest. There was also a dull pain in my chest, as if it were difficult to breathe.

Napoleon II, Portrait by Moritz Daffinger

WHO IS THE GHOST? I learned the Napoleon's son stayed in Vienna, and this was his room. He contracted tuberculosis and died in that very room at age 21. The bed he died on still remains in that room today and there is a marble sculpture of him . Napoleon's son continues to haunt the very room he stayed in during his visits, and the room in which he died.

ABOUT NAPOLEON II- Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte (20 March 1811 – 22 July 1832), Prince Imperial, King of Rome, known in the Austrian court as Franz from 1814 onward, Duke of Reichstadt from 1818, was the son of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and his second wife, Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. In 1832, he caught pneumonia and was bedridden for several months. His poor health eventually overtook him and on 22 July 1832 Franz died of tuberculosis at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.[8] He left no issue; thus the Napoleonic claim to the throne of France passed to his cousin, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who later successfully restored the empire as Napoleon III.

WEIRD FACT- Some of Napoleon II's organs REMAIN in the Schonbrunn Palace. The rest of his remains were transferred to Paris, but his heart and intestines remained in Schonbrunn, which is traditional for members of the Habsburg house. They are in Urn 42 in the "Heart Crypt" (Herzgruft) and his viscera are in Urn 76 of the Ducal Crypt.
**THAT'S why he's here. He wants all of his remains put in the same place next to his father's remains.""

NEXT: TO KREBS, AUSTRIA

Danube River Cruise #32: Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace Part 3: Stallions Room Ghost

Stallions Room

In today's blog, Danube River Cruise #32:, we're going to introduce you to two more ghosts we encountered in Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace. These ghosts were in the Stallion Room and the Napoleon Room and I was able to determine their identities!


THE STALLIONS ROOM
The Stallions Room was used as a dining room during the nineteenth century. Displayed here today is the so-called Marshal’s Table, a festively decorated table set for a dinner of the highest-ranking military officers and court officials, who dined without the emperor, as was customary in Franz Joseph’s time.

Franz Joseph

THE GHOST - It was when I walked into this room ,that I experienced a sharp pain in my heart, and realized that it was a male ghost who was telling me he died here of a heart attack. I also heard the ghost call out the name "Franz!" I didn't know who Franz was until later. Then I learned that he was rule Maria Theresa's husband! What's more, I also learned that Franz died of a heart attack... so he was sharing his pain of death with me to prove his identity and told me his name.  I'm unsure why he's in the Stallions room,but it was a room where he and his wife entertained a lot- and perhaps it was his favorite room.

WHO WAS FRANZ JOSEPH? - Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (ruled 1848–1916)
Born 18 August 1830 Vienna (Schönbrunn Palace)
Died 21 November 1916 Vienna (Schönbrunn Palace)
Franz Joseph ascended the throne of the Austrian Empire in 1848. His concept of rulership was informed by a great sense of duty and mission. After the upheavals of the 1848 revolution he endeavoured to re-establish the legitimacy of monarchical rule and to hold together the multinational state that was threatening to break apart. He was forced to make far-reaching concessions, notably in the creation of the dual monarchy through the Compromise with Hungary in 1867 and in consenting to a constitution.


NEXT: THE GHOST IN THE NAPOLEON ROOM

Danube River Cruise #31: Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace- Part 2: Two Ghosts

The Lantern Room - filled with residual anxiety

In today's blog about our Viking River Cruise, we're still in the Schonbrunn Palace in Austria. Since the palace prevents photography, I had to use photos from the Palace website to show you the rooms in which there was either a ghost or residual energy.
  For those who don't know, we both belong to a paranormal investigation group. I've been able to sense people and pets who have passed since I was a teenager, and there were definitely earth-bound ghosts in this palace.  In today's blog you'll visit the Lantern Room and the Carousel Room where I met one of those ghosts.  

Lantern Room- Residual Energy of Anxiety
ABOUT THE ROOM: Before electric lighting was installed in the palace the lantern-bearers used to wait in this room. Their task was to light the way of the imperial family or members of the court household after dark. The room is also remarkable for the marble door panelling dating from the time of Joseph I.

The Carousel Room

THE ENERGY: Upon entering the room, I (Rob) felt a lot of anxiety (the previous room had no energy). I learned that servants had to light candles in this room for residents. The anxiety those servants experienced was likely impressed upon the walls, and that's what I felt.

Carousel Room
ABOUT THE ROOM:  The Carousel Room served as the antechamber to the apartments of Maria Theresa and Franz Stephan of Lorraine in the East Wing of the palace.  This room has a mural of the 1720s with Spanish horses. 
WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS ROOM? - Maria Theresa's father died in this room in 1790. He had eaten mushrooms that
turned out to be poisonous.

Charlex VI

WHO WAS HER FATHER? Charles VI (1 October 1685 – 20 October 1740;) succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (as Charles II), King of Hungary and Croatia, Serbia and Archduke of Austria (as Charles III) in 1711.

THE GHOST IN THE ROOM - As I entered this large room, I suddenly got very, very dizzy to the point where I felt like I was going to fall over. They I experienced a pain in my heart. I realized that it was the pain that Maria Theresa's father experienced from the poisoning, and felt that he was still there.

NEXT: Ghosts in the Stallion and Napoleon Rooms