In 1626, during the thirty years' civil war troops involved in the Battle of Lutter and the seizure of Wolfenbüttel destroyed the castle and village with fire . In 1661 the Duke of Brunswick (Braunschweiger Herzog Anton Ulrich) acquired the ruins of Langeleben believing them to be an ancient seat of power that he dearly wanted. These rights (on which he insisted), allowed him the right to hunt over great parts of the Elm. The castle and village had only a few ruinous walls remaining and a barn or two, which he was not interested in, and he did not want to live there but just use the hunting rights that came with his title to the land. He even had trees planted to hide the remnants of the destroyed village and castle. After he died his son, the arch-prince August Wilhelm of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and Langeleben, being a passionate hunter, ordered the construction of a hunting lodge and Folly on the same site as the old one in 1689. It was a two story timbered building with overhanging balconies between the towers.