Old Mill in Eastern Bavaria, Germany. (Photo by Kilian Schönberger)

For generations, people believed the European countryside was populated by elves and fairies, goblins, witches and wizards. While those characters might be no more than myth and legend today, the eerie forests and foggy fields they populated continue to enchant modern dreamers.

Kilian Schönberger is a German photographer and geographer who said he someday hopes to shoot a cover story for National Geographic. For now, he brings his viewers into the mysterious wilderness of Central Europe with his photos. He said his aim is for viewers to create their own stories.

“There is a deep longing for tranquil naturalness among people in our technology-driven environment,”Schönberger told weather.com in an email interview.“Possibly this is the real benefit of my work: resting places for the eyes in an overstimulated everyday world.”

Schönberger currently has two residences, one in Cologne and one near Ratisbona in Bavaria, and travels around the countryside to create his evocative photos. He researches the region in advance to learn about the culture and history and says that fables and local fairy tales are a source of inspiration for new photo locations.

“Especially in mountainous regions you’ll find many fairy tales about strange rock formations, castle ruins and so on. Our ancestors were fascinated by those‘unnatural’-looking objects,”Schönberger said.

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Apart from long hikes and inclement weather, Schönberger also has to make plans in case he gets lost, since locals sometimes can’t give him directions to where he wants to go.

“The problem is that nowadays countrymen are often hardly interested in nature and history of the places where they live,”Schönberger said.“Most of them rather don’t like old buildings and wild nature. Everything has to be organized and without any sign of unconventional thinking.”

But sometimes he also meets with friendly hikers or foresters, Schönberger added.

To capture these surreal scenes, Schönberger focuses on reading the landscape and trying to understand how three-dimensional spaces will appear in a two-dimensional photo.

“There is no ultimate recipe for which lens or filter to use — the setup changes from motif to motif,”Schönberger said.

Explore Schönberger’s eerie photos of Europe in the slideshow above. To see more of his work visit his Facebook page.