Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: The Fiery Spirits, The Burning Men
Category: Ghost
The Myth
The Fiery Men are terrifying supernatural beings encountered by ferrymen along the Rhine and Aare rivers in Switzerland. They appear as invisible passengers, mysterious voices, or blazing figures who demand to be ferried across the water. Those who help them may become entangled in ancient curses and supernatural obligations. Their fiery nature is revealed through burning heat that can sear fingerprints into wood or turn a metal tool white-hot. Two legends recount encounters with these beings, whose journeys across the rivers are connected to centuries of waiting, mysterious redemption, and ominous destinations in the wilderness.
In the first tale, an elderly ferryman from Hauenstein falls asleep in his fishing boat beside the Rhine. He is awakened by a voice calling for passage from the Swiss bank. Each time he rows across, however, he finds no passenger waiting. After three such fruitless journeys, he angrily declares that if the call comes from a being sent by God, it must reveal itself. Immediately, a sturdy stick rolls into his boat. The ferryman rows back to the German bank, where the stick rises by itself and speaks. The mysterious passenger explains that he has watched the land become overgrown three times. Had the ferryman not crossed the Rhine for him on all three occasions, he would have been forced to wait beside an oak until an acorn grew into a tree, whose wood could eventually be used to make a cradle for a child who might one day save him. The being then asks the ferryman to offer his hand, promising that he too will soon become a blessed child. Instead of touching the invisible passenger directly, the frightened old man extends the end of his rudder. Five fingers immediately burn themselves into the wood, and the encounter ends in silence. The ferryman dies soon afterward.
The second tale takes place on Christmas Eve near Klingnau, where two boatmen are sitting in their hut beside the Aare River. At around eight o’clock, someone knocks loudly at the door. Expecting an ordinary traveler, the men open it and find a fiery figure demanding to be carried across the river. Terrified, they cross themselves, but the apparition grows increasingly impatient, forcing them to take him aboard. The boat races across the water almost without rowing, reaching the opposite bank in an instant. Before disappearing into the Hardwald forest, the fiery man warns the boatmen that all three of them will be lost unless they return to the same place at exactly eight o’clock to carry him back.
The boatmen obey the warning and wait at the appointed place. The fiery man promptly reappears and orders them to sail. After the return crossing, he thanks them and offers his hand in farewell. One boatman refuses to touch it, but the other extends the double-handled shaft of his fireman’s scythe instead. The apparition grasps the metal, which becomes white-hot to its core. The startled ferryman plunges the burning tool into the river to cool it. Meanwhile, the fiery man steps ashore and flickers away toward the desolate Giritz marsh. Both encounters reveal the dangerous nature of these mysterious beings, whose supernatural journeys can expose ordinary people to forces far beyond their understanding.
Sources
“Die feurigen Männer.” SAGEN.at – Schweizer Sagen. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/allgemein/feurige_maenner.html