The White Lady.
The Blankenburg family ghost is called the White Lady. A portrait bearing this name hangs in the castle, said to be a likeness of a Countess of Orlamünde. The legend is as follows:
The Earl Otto von Orlamünde died in 1340—several dates are given—and left a young and beautiful widow, Agnes by name, a duchess by birth, and the mother of two little children, a son of three, and a daughter of two years.
The widow lived alone in the Plassenburg, and thought often it were better to marry again.
One day a remark of the Earl, Albert the Handsome von Nurnberg was repeated to her: "I would willingly espouse the fair Countess Agnes, but for the four eyes."
The Countess fancied he meant her two children. Seeing they stood in the way of her marriage, she resolved to free herself of them, and engaged a man named Hager, with promises of rich gifts, to murder them.
The murderer is said to have confessed his crime on the rack. According to another tale, the Countess murdered them herself by sticking pins in their skulls.
Her guilty spirit cannot rest, but wanders in Orlamunde and Blankenburg. Her appearance always betokens death in the family.
Frau Berta is also called the White Lady. She haunts the imperial royal palaces, and also Darmstadt and Carlsruhe.
As family ghost she harms no one, greets every one she meets, never speaks, and always wears a white veil and carries a bunch of keys in her girdle.