In the context of Halloween, this route features various legends that are still told today. A beautiful route through and past beautiful places in the Twente region where these legends have their origins.

The route starts at the Kuiperberg campsite in Ootmarsum, where the first story can immediately be told.
As in other parts of Twente, stories about the Witte Wieve are told in Ootmarsum. White Wieve are females that live at the edge of a forest or on a heathland. They wear long, white clothes. They don't actually harm anyone, but you shouldn't tease them. They only emerge at dusk and preferably in foggy weather.

A farmhand who was at a party with a bunch of friends discovered that they can become angry. There was drinking there. But there was also food at that party. There was a pig hanging on a spit. A spit is a long, iron pin onto which a piece of meat can be skewered. The party was coming to an end. Only a few pig bones were left hanging on the spit. And there was a lot of drinking. Our farmhand started acting tough. When one of the men started talking about the Witte Wieve, he suddenly shouted: “I'm not afraid of the Witte Wieve!” The others were actually shocked by that. They told the servant not to shout so loudly. The White Lady might hear him. But the servant did not want to back down at all. He grabbed the spit on which the bones were hanging and shouted, "I'll bring the spit to that Wieve!" Now you should know that bringing spit was a serious insult, because who brings a batch of chewed bones to someone?

Before his friends could stop him, the servant jumped up and ran with the spit towards the heath, because that was where the Witte Wieve lived. Along the way he started to get a little scared. It all looked quite mysterious in the dark. He also had to go through a small forest, where the branches hung low over the path. Every now and then a branch would hit his head and the servant would be frightened. He regretted his tough behavior, but now he couldn't go back. His friends would always make fun of him.

He was near the heath when he saw a large wisp of mist floating. In his fear, the servant mistook that fog bank for a group of Witte Wieve. He grabbed the spit by the end, hurled it toward the fog bank and shouted, “Here's the spit, make sure you get the meat.”

He immediately turned around and started running. On the way he looked back and was shocked to see a few white figures chasing him. The White Lady were angry and wanted to punish the servant! He ran as fast as he could towards the farm where he worked as a servant. He jumped over ditches, ran through a meadow and arrived at the farm yard completely exhausted. The White Lady were already very close to him. The servant was just able to open the nien door (main entrance to a former farm. This nien door contained a 'stiepel', a removable center post) and run inside. He had barely closed the door when he heard a sharp tap on the pillar. But he was inside and safe!

The other morning the servant was the first to wake up. He opened the door and was shocked. The sharp spit was stuck in the tip. Of course that had been that sharp tap. The White Wieve had wanted to hit him with that spit, but he had gotten in just in time. The servant never teased the White Lady again.

After leaving Ootmarsum, the route takes you to Denekamp. You will pass the Cosmos Observatory. Visitors can look through telescopes, see live shows in the astro theater and planetarium and enjoy the silence in a dark Twente. Discover heaven up close for yourself. An unforgettable experience for young and old. Cosmos Observatory is one of the largest observatories in the Netherlands and has been around for more than 60 years. The employees are all born storytellers who take you on a journey through the universe without using difficult words. Astronomy made easy!

The Singraven estate has a long history. In 1381 it was used as an agricultural farm of the Bishop of Utrecht. In the centuries that followed, the estate changed hands several times. The stone of the first country house was laid in 1415. Around the year 1500, the Singraven estate functioned as a residence for Franciscan nuns for ten years. Then the trouble started...

Around 1500 something terrible happened to a nun on the Singraven estate. She was found guilty of lewdness and interacting with the villagers, something that was strictly forbidden. After a mock trial, the poor woman was bricked into a wall of the monastery. For days the other nuns heard her screams of fear and pain. Then it finally became quiet. For a moment then…

The gruesome fate of the nun fits in with the former custom of burying people alive under houses, shrines or buildings. In Japan these practices are called 'Hitobashira'. Human sacrifices were made to consecrate the ground or to banish demonic forces. But shortly after the nun's death, paranormal phenomena arose at Singraven...

After the nun's gruesome death, peace never returned to Singraven. In the second half of the seventeenth century, the noble Sloet family had a stately and neoclassical house built. At night, residents heard strange and wailing noises that frightened them. They also regularly saw the nun appear above the water of the mill...

From Denekamp it is a short distance to De Lutte. The saga of the Hellhound has been told there for many years.
In and around De Lutte it used to be quite spooky. There were stories going around about a mysterious dog-like apparition. This fearsome dog was pitch black, had large pointed ears and was occasionally seen near Easter Mountain and Duivendal.
It also happened that the dog showed up at the Lutters cemetery. This turned out to be an ominous harbinger of an impending death. The dog symbolized disaster. The story goes that there was once a farmer who was attacked by the Hellhound. Fortunately he lived to tell the story, but a day later the unfortunate farmer became deathly ill and was covered in sores and boils.
After viewing the statue of the Hellhound, it is advisable to go for an ice cream across the street at the ice cream parlor 'La Venezia'. Not an ice cream lover? In addition to the ice cream parlor, you can go to Plexat for a cup of coffee. Just a moment of peace during all these ghost stories...

The Tankenberg is located between Oldenzaal and De Lutte, the highest point in Overijssel at 85 above NAP. The area around this moraine was a sacred place for the former inhabitants of the surrounding villages. Today you will find the dome of Tanfana on top of the Tankenberg. Tanfana was a Germanic Goddess and according to some stories she was also the leader of the Witte Wieven.
Rumors have it that there used to be a Roman Temple in honor of Tanfana near the Tankenberg, although there is no direct evidence for this. There was also a remarkable large boulder that would have served as a sacrificial stone. However, as the Roman Catholic Church at that time had no need for such pagan rituals, the stone was moved from the Tankenberg to the center of Oldenzaal, right next to the Plechelmus Basilica, in 1642 on the orders of the Mayor of Oldenzaal. The stone would still have magical force fields and those sensitive to these would be able to sense the energy of the stone if they touched it.
An important ritual that Tanfana performed together with her followers was drinking holy water from a golden cup. This water would come from a nearby spring. While many dismissed the story as a myth, people were surprised when a remarkable archaeological discovery was made in the German border town of Uelsen. In 1840, a farmer named Pamann was surprised to find an 11.5 cm large cup… made of pure gold! According to archaeologists, the cup dates from 750-600 BC, making it one of the most important archaeological finds in its category. Maybe Tanfana's story isn't as fantastic as it seems!
To visit the dome, which also offers you a great view, you must leave the route and park in the indicated parking lot. After a walk of 300m you reach the dome. In clear weather you can see as far as Germany!

After visiting the highest point in Overijssel, you set course for Borne via beautiful small roads that meander through the beautiful Twente landscape. The saga in Borne is about the Hondeborg.
The Hondeborg may be considered one of the oldest cultural monuments that the municipality of Borne still possesses.
For a long time, the lord of the Hondeborch lived on the Hondeborg, whose daughter one day fell in love with a Hungarian nobleman who traveled through Europe as a musician and in this way ended up on the Hondeborg.
They married in secret and fled to Bentheim, Germany, out of fear of the Lord of the Hondeborg, and only returned to the Hondeborg when the father had died. This Lord of the Hondeborg had died a violent death in a strange way. One morning he was found with a sword stabbed in the heart at the foot of the Hondeborg.
From that time on, groups of Hungarian gypsies regularly stayed on the Hondeborg who, when appropriate, stole like ravens, but were also skilled in the art of goldsmithing and could make the most beautiful gold jewelry.
The Hondeborg was located on the old road between Borne and Delden and the lords of the Hondeborg regularly lightened up honorable passers-by, such as merchants, and when necessary they also robbed the area.
Shortly after the Hungarian nobleman and his wife returned to live on Hondeborg, the Lord of Saasveld mysteriously disappeared near Zenderen. The Lord of Saasveld was someone who liked to enrich himself through robbery. Particularly in the Borne area, he extorted many farmers and robbed their cattle. He also often visited a fortune teller who lived in a hut on the Bekkingveld in Zenderen.

On one of these visits to the fortune teller, he had an overflowing money bag with him. A few of the fortune teller's accomplices noticed this and murdered the Lord of Saasveld. They buried his body in the wilderness and sold his horse far away in Germany.
Although the Hungarian nobleman on Hondeborg had nothing to do with this incident, he was blamed for the disappearance of the Lord of Saasveld. The result was an enmity between him and the lords of Saasveld, which eventually degenerated into a blood feud.

From Borne the route runs towards Fleringen, where one of the oldest trees in the Netherlands can be found, the Kroezeboom, which actually means Cross Tree. This name was used for oak trees in several places in the Netherlands. Such trees could have various functions: as a court, sacred place or boundary marker. On the communal ash trees in the eastern Netherlands, stones or trees were often used as a marking point from which the fields could be divided. The Kroeze tree would have been planted for that purpose on the ash tree of the Marke near Fleringen, probably between 1500 and 1600, as a 'loak tree' or marke tree.
It is striking that these renowned 'thousand-year' trees are on the east side of the ash trees. It is still said today that in the distant past, offerings were placed under these trees, intended for the earth spirits of the fields - 'pannekook'n' and 'spekhasens' -, for white women and gnomes.
To view the tree you can park along the service road and walk about 200 meters, follow the directions.

From Fleringen the route runs past Tubbergen, where there is also a legend about Witte Wieven. The white women of Tubbergen resemble the white women of Zwiep/Lochem, they are vicious with sharp nails and they love to hunt. They walk in steady, gliding steps and are present in dense droves.
A woman collects water and is taken by twenty white women to dance on the mountains. Her husband stays behind with their child and he thinks that the neighbors are taking care of the child. After a while this turns out not to be the case and he pretends to go to work, but waits next to the house. He hears his wife's voice, but does not see her. He consults with the neighbors and they decide to free the woman. They set off in a cart and when the white women come, the hidden men surprise them. They shoot at them and the white women flee away.

They find the woman in a ditch and they take her home. The mists follow them and threaten that the woman will be trapped in the veil forever if she does not go along willingly now. If someone says "away, you pig...", the woman will go back to the white wives. The woman stays at home, but is silent and lethargic. She does not take care of her child, the neighbors do this. She asks her husband to warn everyone about the forbidden words. They live in fear and every now and then a white lady passes by the house, the woman usually stares blankly into space.

The woman begins to long for the end of the wait and after a few days the servant accidentally swears at a pig. He quickly walks to the farmer and tells him that he said the words. There is no trace of the woman anymore, the curse has taken place and she is dancing with the white women on the hills. The woman cries a lot and has gold earrings and pearls around her neck.

After Tubbergen you drive towards the end point near Ootmarsum. You pass through the beautiful Spingendal. 'The garden of the Netherlands' is the nickname of this part of Twente near Ootmarsum. Picturesque seepage ponds, waterfalls and narrow streams in the middle of the forest. Hills, meadows, lakes, hay fields, heathland and historic farms complete the picture. Around 1920, Springendal was purchased by the Enschede textile baron Jannink. He gave the centuries-old agricultural area the appearance of an estate with many English characteristics. The medieval ash trees (bola trees that grew taller through fertilization) are pleasantly bordered by trees and integrated into the whole. There are also a number of fantastic Twente farms. Springendal has a structure of avenues and water. In addition to the monumental Mosbeeklaan to which a number of side lanes lead, the character of the estate is determined by sources and streams. Bubbling water forms three ponds, which in turn feed the Springendalsebeek.
If you still have time, take the time to take a walk here! Parking is possible in one of the indicated places.

After the Springendal you return to the De Kuiperberg campsite where you started the route.

Have fun driving this route!