Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Rahloch washerwomen
Category: Ghost
The Myth
Between Sandweiler and Itzig lies a pond known as the Rahloch, a place once regarded as eerie and feared.
One night, a lone wanderer passed by the pond and heard the sharp echo of washerwomen’s whips sounding through the still air. As he approached, he saw several old women standing at the water’s edge, silently beating laundry before them.
Seeing nothing strange in their work, he called out, “You are washing very late!” But the women gave no answer. Thinking to jest, he spoke again: “Ah, you wretched women, won’t you wash my clothes too?”
Hardly had he spoken when the women rushed upon him and beat him so severely that he fell senseless to the ground. When he later came to, he found his clothes completely soaked, and realized that the washerwomen had stripped him and washed them while he lay unconscious.
Filled with terror, he fled home as fast as he could. Only the next day did he notice that his hair had turned gray from the fright.
Gallery
Sources
sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Die Wäscherinnen am Weiher „Rahloch“. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Waescherinnen_Rahloch.html
Interpretive Lenses
Religious Readings
- Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
- Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
- Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
- Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
- Marxist Deep Dive