Pechölstein

If you wander through the woods, you may come across a stone with mysterious signs carved into its almost flat surface.

An easily accessible pitch oil stone can be found at the Hedwigsbründl in Bad Zell.

These strange-looking stones are pitch oil stones. Pitch oil has been burnt on such stones in the Mühlviertel since time immemorial. Resin-rich outgrowths of pine trees were used for this purpose. They were piled up in a pyramid shape like a charcoal pile. The pile was then carefully covered with spruce branches and sealed with pieces of turf and earth.

The piled wood could not burn due to a lack of oxygen, but instead slowly smouldered and the resin was "sweated out" as pitch oil due to the heat.

The dripping oil now flowed in the grooves to the lower end of the stone, where a collecting vessel was placed

The "Heilsam" was either used pure or made into an ointment with butter and bee honey and was mainly used in veterinary medicine. In human medicine, Heilsam is used as a traction ointment for wounds, especially to prevent suppuration and for bruises.

Bad Zell pitch oil is available from the Bad Zell Info Centre at a price of € 8!