Julie Andrews once visited the real ‘Sound of Music’ house. The actress felt the evil spirit inside; the house is connected with a darker past

For generations, The Sound of Music has been remembered for beautiful songs, green hills and the warm bond between Maria and the von Trapp children. But the real house linked to the family has a much darker past. When Julie Andrews later visited the property, she said the place gave her an unsettling feeling. Andrews played Maria in the 1965 film and helped turn the von Trapp family's story into one of Hollywood's most loved musicals. But when she later visited the real villa where the von Trapp family had lived in Salzburg, the actress saw a very different side of the story.

Julie Andrews had a different experience at the house

According to Upworthy, Andrews recalled feeling the dark history of the house during her visit. She said she could “feel the evil that once permeated those walls.” Her comment referred to what happened to the property after the von Trapp family left Austria. The von Trapp family moved into a villa in Salzburg's Aigen district in 1923. Maria Augusta Kutschera joined the family in 1926 and later married Georg von Trapp. The family became known for singing together and eventually built a successful career as the Trapp Family Singers. Salzburg's official tourism website says their story later became the inspiration for the musical and the famous 1965 film starring Andrews. However, their peaceful life in Austria changed after the Nazis came to power.

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Heinrich Himmler later used the house

The family left Austria in 1938 as pressure from the Nazi regime increased. According to HISTORY, the von Trapps did not escape by walking across the Alps as shown in the film. Instead, they left through the back of their villa, crossed the railway tracks and boarded a train. After they left, the house gained a disturbing connection to Nazi Germany. Heinrich Himmler, one of the most senior Nazi leaders, later used the von Trapp villa as a summer residence during World War II. That history gives a very different meaning to Andrews' reaction when she eventually visited the property.

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The movie changed many details

The real story was also quite different from what audiences saw on screen. In the film, the family makes a dramatic escape through the mountains to Switzerland. In reality, they travelled by train and went to Italy before eventually reaching the United States. Even the family shown in the movie was not completely accurate.

HISTORY notes that the names and ages of the children were changed, while the real Georg von Trapp was reportedly much warmer than the strict father shown in the film. The real family also already had a strong connection with music before Maria joined them. According to Salzburg's tourism authority, music eventually became an important part of their life and helped them build a new career after their financial problems.

The house is now remembered differently

Today, Salzburg celebrates both the real von Trapp family and the Hollywood film. More than 350,000 fans visit Sound of Music locations in Salzburg each year, according to the city's tourism authority. A new Sound of Music Salzburg museum is also scheduled to open on September 20, 2026, exploring the real family history alongside the making of the film.


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To movie fans, The Sound of Music is a story filled with music, family and beautiful scenery. But the real house connected to the von Trapp family carries memories of a much darker period in history. Julie Andrews' reaction is a reminder that behind some of Hollywood's happiest stories are real places with histories that are far more complicated than what appears on screen.