Update: rumor has it that the tree that contained the
cache has fallen down, so the cache is now at 50 cms above ground
level instead of 1.5 metres. As we are abroad, I can neither
confirm nor disprove it, but I guess this only makes the search a
little bit more interesting
There are a few abandoned old barges anchored near
Boszorkánysziget (Witches' Island) over the sand unloading area for
years. They used to bring sand, gravel and stones decades before.
Now they rest here. The cache (which is a simple 10 x 20 cm
container) is hidden near the stern of one of the barges, in the
hollow trunk of a willow-tree. It can not be approached when the
Tisza is flooding.
Getting there
It's a 1.2 km long walk from the flood memorial statue (lat:
N 46° 14.7290', lon: E 20° 9.0260') on the embankment. By car,
get on Bem street heading straight away from the railway station,
take a left turn at the crossing at lat: N 46° 14.020', lon: E
20° 08,197', across the underpass under the railway, head up to
the embankment, and then only a few hundred metres of walk from
there.
After having reached the embankment, DON'T go straight
towards the cache, for you'll have to pass through private property
if you do it this way. Get off the embankment at the first place
where there is a footpath to the left, and the path across the
forest leads straight to the cache. However, the owner of the
private site has permitted trespassing across the northern
border of the site. CROSSING THE SITE FROM
NORTH TO SOUTH ACROSS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! Please only
visit the cache and leave the private area afterwards. The owner
also requested that cachers should only visit the area during the
day. Should you meet the security guards of the site, your GPS
gadget or the printed cache description (this page) should be
enough to gain entry to the site.
About Witches' Island
The Witches' Island of Szeged is a flood-forest that lies
between the railway station and the river Tisza. Before the
regulation of the water level of the river, this area was a real
island and the place where many people have been executed for
witchcraft in the years 1728 and 1729. 13 death sentences have been
delivered in these lawsuits. The reason was most probably the
famine and plague brought upon the city by a draught which incited
mass hysteria. People of the city thought that the "witches" of
Szeged sold the rain to the Turkish witches, therefore they started
lawsuits upon about a hundred suspected "witches", 13 of whom has
been executed - 12 burnt on bonfires, and the last one
decapitulated - but this last body has also been burnt after that.
It is noteworthy that those pleaded guilty were not among the
outlaws and tramps of the city - sometimes they were noble,
well-off and elderly people, including the head judge as well. The
record of the case was sealed and no one was allowed to see it
until 1849. Even now they are stored in the secret section of the
Archives. If you visit the Witches' Island, feel the presence of
the souls of the deceased and the strain that's amplified by the
labyrinthe of the willow-trees and bushes of the flood-forest.
If you keep on walking to lat: N 46° 13.902', lon: E 20°
08,716', you can take a look at the queens of the river Tisza
as well.
Have a nice walk, but keep on watching behind your back ;-)