A century after the count died, Radbot and his brother, Archabbot Werner, inherited the watchtower. They built additions to it.. The ravens protested this desecration of their sanctuary, becoming so violent that the Hapsburgs began to kill them. Two centuries later, the extermination was complete.
During the ensuing years, the birds' descendents or, as some whispered, "ghosts," foretold impending tragedy for the family.
The origin of the White Lady, another omen of impending doom, is unknown..
When Maria Theresa, wife of Emperor Francis was a girl, a fortuneteller predicted she would marry a widower and die at age thirty-four. When the first part of the prophecy happened, the family dreaded her thirty-fourth year.
In March, Francis began his campaign in Hungary, leaving Maria, pregnant with their eleventh child, at Schonbrunn Palace.
April 5, 1807, Empress Maria Theresa, her daughter, Marie-Louise and others saw the White Lady. The next day, Maria Theresa became ill, then died three days after the birth. Marie-Louise had seen the White Lady several times. She was five years old when she first saw the wraith. It looked like a lady of the court gliding by majestically, dressed in white robes and veil.
Emperor Francis saw her twice. She appeared before the death of his first wife, Elizabeth and prior to the death of his father, Josef, who died the day after Elizabeth did.
On April 24, 1854, Emperor Franz married sixteen year old Elizabeth, nicknamed Sisi, of Bavarian royalty. Her older sister, Helene, had been his mother's, Sophia's, chosen one to marry him, but when he saw Sisi, he fell in love with her and insisted on marrying her, highly displeasing his mother.
Sophia made life miserable for Sisi whose children were taken away from her at birth so they could be raised in a "suitable manner." Sophia introduced Franz to beautiful women hoping he would be unfaithful. He was.
