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FLAKTURMS, VIENNA, AUSTRIA 33 DEGREE |
They stand in the neighborhoods od Vienna like giant gray ghosts of the past that no one knows how to get rid of. The massive, windowless, concrete "Flakturms" scattered throughout the city are much taller than any of the of the surrounding buildings for a reason. The towering monoliths were constructed as gigantic ammunition bunkers and anti-aircraft turrents during World War Two, and they were built to survive direct bombing hits. On top of each,, resting on protruding "ears" at the corners, were 8.8-calibers AA guns, the heaviest anti-aircraft weapon used by the Germans during the war. The bunkers themselves are so massive that is impossible to demolish them. Any attempt to dynamite or implode them would destroy most of the neighboring buildings.
So they still stand, ghostly reminders of the death and destruction of war, the only part of the "Thousand Year Reich" that might just last a thousand years. To make matters worse for Viennese authorities, several are "haunted". Austrian Army soldiers and even a few World War Two era vehicles have been seen on top of the towers, and unexplained footsteps, loud, banging sounds, and shouted orders are heard coming from the tightly secured and deserted structures. Paranormal events have been reported at the Radetzky Flakturm, the Apollo Flakturm, the twin Neulig Flakturms, and the two different Augustiner Flakturms. International Directory of Haunted Places,pp.100-101. |
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