Teufelsstein, Medieval rock castle in Pfarrweisach, Germany

Teufelsstein is a medieval rock castle featuring a horseshoe-shaped rock formation at 400 meters (1,300 feet) above sea level below the Pfarrweisach district. The site sits in the Franconian Hassberge region, positioned about 500 meters south of the larger Burg Lichtenstein.

The castle was abandoned in the High Middle Ages, leaving no documentary record of its history. Some historians place here the ancestral seat of the von Stein family, which split around 1200 into the lines of Stein zu Lichtenstein and Stein zu Altenstein; the Lichtenstein branch then built nearby Lichtenstein Castle, while the Altenstein line founded Altenstein Castle about six kilometres north on the same ridge. The Teufelsstein may also have been the seat of an under-vassal of the von Stein, who were themselves ministeriales of the Bishops of Würzburg. In the 19th century the site was incorporated into the romantic landscape park below Lichtenstein Castle and made accessible.

The name Teufelsstein comes from a mill board (Mühlebrett) carved into the entrance rock, which castle researchers date to the Middle Ages. According to the castle legend, a knight of Lichtenstein defeated the devil at this board by a trick. The original name of the castle is unknown; whether it was the seat of the family von Stein can only be guessed.

The site is accessible through multiple hiking trails within Naturpark Hassberge, including the Burgruine Lichtenstein loop and the Eyrichshof Castle circuit. Sturdy footwear is recommended as the paths to the rock formations can be steep and uneven.

The castle entrance features a narrow, angled stair corridor with carved traces of two original wooden doors cut into the rock face. These construction details reveal how the defensive structure controlled and protected those passing through.