The story of Villa Volta is based on the legend of the buckriders, a fierce and merciless gang of robbers that was active in the Kempen in the Dutch provinces of North Brabant (where The Efteling is located) and Limburg and the bordering Belgian provinces of Brabant and Limburg.

Villa Volta is supposed to be the home of the leader of the goat riders, Hugo van den Loonsche Duynen, who inhabits the second waiting room as an animatronic.

The woman tells Hugo: “Nowhere in your house, nor in any other place in the world, will you find peace.

Only when a noble person with the clear conscience like that of a newborn child enters your house will you find peace in your home and in your heart.” Although Villa Volta is the first large-scale project of this concept, the technique has been known since early 20th century.

Other madhouses have since opened at Drayton Manor (The Haunting) and Parc Astérix (Le Défi de César).