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Rhine Falls Fisherman

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Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: The Ghostly Boatman of the Rhine Falls
Category: Ghost

The Myth

A young fisherman once lived near Schaffhausen, the beautiful city beside the Rhine Falls. One evening, after a successful day of fishing, he rowed out into the middle of the river with his fishbox full. As twilight settled over the water, mist maidens drifted among the willows and alders along the banks. The fisherman lay down in his boat, allowing the gentle current to carry him home toward his hut above the great waterfall. Before long, he fell asleep.

His dreams began pleasantly, filled with thoughts of his beloved, but soon changed into a nightmare of roaring thunder, violent winds, and torrential rain. Suddenly, he awoke in terror and realized that his boat had been seized by the mighty current of the Rhine Falls. He cried out to God for help as the raging water dragged him toward the depths. The boat tossed wildly amid the spray and thunder, and he eventually lost consciousness. When he awoke, he found himself on the riverbank, his boat miraculously thrown ashore by the waves. Shaken but alive, he hurried home. The next day, he told the other fishermen about his terrifying journey. At first, they refused to believe him, but when he drunkenly boasted that he could survive the falls a second time, a sinister stranger sitting nearby offered him one hundred guilders if he dared to try.

The young fisherman accepted the challenge, dismissing an old man’s warning that he should thank God for his miraculous escape. He believed that what he had survived in his sleep would be easy to accomplish while awake, when he could control the boat himself. The fishermen followed him to the riverbank, where he climbed into his little boat and rowed toward the roaring falls. At first, he tried to propel the boat faster, but soon the current seized it and carried it forward with uncontrollable speed. He rushed to the steering oar, struggling desperately to turn the boat away from the waterfall, but the steering failed him. The raging water swept away his oars, and the great Rhine Rock rose before him in the middle of the river. With a terrible cry, the boat plunged into the swirling waters and disappeared over the falls.

The fishermen searched the foaming river, but neither the young man nor his boat ever emerged. When they turned to confront the sinister stranger who had encouraged the reckless voyage, he had vanished. They searched the surrounding land, but nobody else claimed ever to have seen him. Crossing themselves, the fishermen suspected that the stranger had been no ordinary man, but an evil supernatural being who had lured the young fisherman to his death. Since that time, on moonlit nights, people have sometimes seen a misty little boat carrying a phantom boatman glide between the two rocky reefs of the Rhine Falls before vanishing into the milky-white torrents below.

Sources

“Der Fischer am Rheinfall.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus der Schweiz. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/allgemein/fischer_rheinfall.html

Schwyz Ghost

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Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: The Liberation of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden
Category: Ghost

The Myth

When the bailiffs of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden learned that William Tell had killed Governor Gessler, they feared the people they had long oppressed. Rather than ruling more justly, they tightened their grip on the land, believing the rebellious shepherds could only be subdued through greater cruelty. But the time of the tyrants was coming to an end.

On New Year’s Day in 1308, the people of Schwyz rose beneath their blood-red banner, led by Werner Stauffacher and other leaders. Crossing the frozen waters of Lake Lauerz, they attacked Schwanau Castle. Its bailiff, a relative of Gessler, tried to resist but was overcome. The people seized him and threw him from the same window through which Gemma von Arth had once plunged. The ice broke beneath him, and he disappeared into the green waters. Afterwards, his ghost was said to haunt the castle walls, pursued by a white-clad maiden carrying a burning torch. Other strongholds also fell, including the castles at Küssnacht and Brunnen, which were destroyed. At Perfiden, a faithful servant managed to rescue his master from a burning castle by hiding him in a carrying basket.

The people of Uri also rose against their oppressors. William Tell, long hunted by the bailiffs, suddenly appeared in the main square of Altdorf with his crossbow. Beside him stood the bearer of Uri’s horn, who sounded the call to arms. The people gathered, and the unfinished fortress of Zwing-Uri was soon captured and razed to the ground.

In Unterwalden, however, the people faced a more difficult challenge. Bailiff Landenberg ruled from Sarnen Castle and was too powerful to defeat through a direct assault. The peasants of Obwalden therefore devised a plan. Each New Year’s Day, they were required to bring gifts to the bailiff. Twenty men approached the castle carrying calves, goats, sheep, game, and cheeses, concealing spears beneath their clothing. Landenberg, pleased with the offerings, allowed them to enter the castle and wait for him while he attended Mass. Once inside, the men secured the gate, attached spearheads to their walking sticks, and sounded the horn known as the Cow of Unterwalden. Thirty more men armed with halberds and clubs emerged from a nearby alder grove and joined the attack. The guards and servants were quickly overcome.

When Landenberg left the church in Sarnen, he saw flames rising from his castle. He hurried back but was captured by the villagers. Although they initially wanted to kill him, he begged for his life and swore never to return to the land. The peasants spared him, and he fled on his raven-black horse so hastily that the women later claimed he had ridden through the air on a four-legged devil. His castle burned to the ground.

The people of Unterwalden also captured Rotzberg Castle through cunning. A beautiful maidservant living there was in love with a young man who had sworn allegiance to the confederates at the Rütli meadow. They had arranged a secret signal: whenever the evening star appeared above the mountains, she would lower a rope ladder from her high window so that he could climb up to visit her. On the night of the uprising, he arrived with twenty brave companions hidden nearby. When the ladder descended, he climbed up first, pretending to offer his beloved New Year’s greetings. His companions followed, and before the maid could call for help, all twenty-one men had entered her chamber. They bound her and the castle’s inhabitants, including the under-bailiff, and soon flames engulfed the fortress. Rotzberg Castle collapsed and was destroyed.

That night, great bonfires blazed across the mountains of all three countries, Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. Their red flames announced the return of freedom and the downfall of the hated bailiffs. The legend connects these victories with the Swiss Confederates’ oath at the Rütli meadow and explains the tradition of lighting bonfires throughout Switzerland on the night of 1 August. The fires commemorate the struggle for liberty, the courage of those who resisted tyranny, and the enduring spirit of the Swiss people.

Sources

“Die Befreiung der Länder.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus der Schweiz. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/allgemein/befreiung_laender.html

Panzer Man

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Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: The Penitent of Panzer Mountain
Category: Ghost

The Myth

The Panzer Man is the restless spirit of a small farmer who once lived high on Panzer Mountain in the Bohemian Forest. After his death, he was condemned to atone for his sins for many years. His ghost remained in a lonely hut on the mountain, where he could be seen moving about beside the stove, cooking food and smoking his pipe.

One Christmas Eve, a farmer from Rueperlhof challenged his family to fetch a milk-carton lid from the Panzer Man. He promised that whoever dared to visit the spirit would receive the finest cow in his barn. A young woman accepted the challenge, hoping to win the beautiful animal. Despite the deep snow, bitter cold, night, and fog, she climbed the mountain until she reached the penitent’s hut. A light shone through the window, and inside she found the deceased farmer moving about the stove. She greeted him politely, and he seemed to have been expecting her. Before she had even finished explaining why she had come, he handed her the milk-carton lid.

The little man then invited the young woman to eat with him. Everything cooking on the stove appeared black and burnt, so she hesitated. The spirit reassured her, telling her to make the sign of the cross over the food before eating. She obeyed, and together they made many delicious doughnuts. Afterward, she returned exhausted to the farm and showed the milk-carton lid to the farmer, who had just returned from church.

Instead of rewarding her, the farmer became angry and claimed that the promised cow had only been a joke. He refused to give her anything for her dangerous journey. The following morning, however, his finest cow was found dead on the straw. The farmer’s broken promise had brought him misfortune, while the Panzer Man remained a mysterious penitent whose supernatural presence could not be dismissed as a mere joke.

Sources

“Das Panzermännlein.” In Hans Watzlik, Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/panzermaennlein.html

Ghost Church

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Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: The Midnight Mass of the Dead
Category: Ghost

The Myth

Waberl was a devout old woman who lived in Bergreichenstein. One Advent night, moonlight woke her, and she saw that her kitchen was illuminated. Believing she had overslept and that it was already time for early Mass, she quickly put on her coat and hurried to St. Nicholas Church. The streets were completely deserted, but she assumed everyone had already gone to church.

Inside, the church was brightly lit, the organ played, and the congregation sang fervently. Waberl took her place in a pew, but soon noticed something strange. An unfamiliar priest stood at the altar, while the congregation consisted of people dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Some were strangers, while others were people she had known in life. Among them sat her own deceased parents, who paid no attention to her. Everyone stared at Waberl with sharp, hostile eyes.

Her dead godmother approached and whispered a warning. Waberl had to leave the church walking backwards and abandon her cloak at the gate. Terrified, she followed these instructions. As she reached the entrance, the wild dead rushed towards her. She threw off her cloak, leapt out of the church, and fled home as fast as she could.

At that very moment, the clock struck one. The following morning, a piece of Waberl’s cloak was found on every grave in the churchyard, as though the dead had torn it apart and distributed the fragments among themselves. The terror of that night proved too much for the old woman, and she did not live much longer. The Ghost Church remained a terrifying warning of what might happen to the living who accidentally entered a gathering of the dead.

Sources

. Watzlik, Hans. “Die Gespensterkirche.” In Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/gespensterkirche.html

Dumpling Farmer

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Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: The Dumpling Farmer’s Wife
Category: Ghost

The Myth

The Dumpling Farmer was a miserly woman from Wischowitz who cared little for the hunger of those who worked for her. She was so stingy with food that her shepherd boy once nailed a noodle from the midday meal to the stable door and wrote beneath it: “Noodle, swear, have you ever seen lard?” The joke mocked the woman’s refusal to provide her servants with proper food.

The farmer’s wife also committed a religious transgression by churning butter on Saturday nights, which were considered especially sacred. After her death, her spirit refused to rest. As her body was carried to the cemetery, she watched her own burial from an attic window. Her ghost then haunted the house for a long time, counting eggs during the night, crawling among the sleeping hens in the chicken coop, and milking the cows. Her restless activities disturbed both the livestock and the people who lived there.

Eventually, a priest cursed the spirit and banished her to Hötschenberg Mountain in Tyrol, where she was condemned to push clouds across the sky. Some people believed that the Wild Hunt had carried her away instead. Whatever her fate, her ghost was still said to wander distant places. Once, a feather merchant from the Osserland travelling through a haunted gorge in Tyrol encountered a figure as gray and thin as a spiderweb. The ghost brushed past him, repeatedly sighing that she was merely the Dumpling Farmer’s Wife from Wischowitz, still burdened by her restless existence after death.

Sources

“Die Knödelbäurin.” In Hans Watzlik, Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/knoedelbaeurin.html

Redeemed Hand

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Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: The Hand in the Cellar
Category: Ghost

The Myth

The Redeemed Hand is a mysterious supernatural apparition said to haunt the cellar of an inn on Saueben Hill, above the ruins of Bayreck Castle in the Bohemian Forest. Long ago, the innkeepers employed a maid who was once sent down into the cellar to fetch potatoes. There, she encountered a terrifying sight: a disembodied hand hanging in the darkness, holding a bag. A strange voice repeatedly whispered, “Take it, take it!” Frightened, the maid fled from the cellar, trembling with fear.

The maid told her father, who lived in a dilapidated cottage in the village of Dörrstein. He accompanied her back to the cellar, carrying a torch to illuminate the darkness. The mysterious hand and the bag appeared again before the maid, and the pleading voice once more urged her to take it. Her father, however, could see nothing unusual, even as he waved his torch around the cellar. Finally, the maid overcame her fear and took the bag from the hand.

As soon as she seized it, the voice sighed, “God bless you!” The disembodied hand immediately vanished, and the cellar became quiet. Inside the bag was a fortune in Swedish gold. The maid and her father used the treasure to purchase a beautiful farm in Austria. By accepting the mysterious bag, the maid had apparently fulfilled the spirit’s wish and released the hand from its supernatural burden, allowing it to disappear at last.

Sources

“Die erlöste Hand.” In Hans Watzlik, Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/erloestehand.html

Stilzel

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Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names:
Category: Ghost

The Myth

Stilzel was once a horse herder who worked for the farmers of Heuhof, near the Bavarian border. His difficult task was to drive a hundred horses into the forest pastures. One day, before returning home, he counted the herd to make sure none had wandered off into the vast woods. However, no matter how many times he counted, he could only account for ninety-nine horses because he kept forgetting which horse he was riding. Enraged by his failure, Stilzel cursed and swore so blasphemously that the stones seemed to fly toward the sky and the forest trees trembled. Finally, he stood upon his horse and hanged himself from a pine branch using his own whip.

After his death, Stilzel became a mischievous and terrifying spirit who haunts the forest at night. He cracks his whip and bellows like an entire herd of cattle, frightening border guards into believing that smugglers are driving livestock across the border into Bavaria. The guards rush out, hoping to catch the smugglers, only to become trapped in deep mud up to their forks. From somewhere nearby, Stilzel laughs like the devil at their misfortune. Wanderers who hear the forest roar are warned never to look behind them, for Stilzel may leap onto their backs and force them to carry him until they are exhausted, their chests heaving and their knees buckling.

Despite his frightening nature, Stilzel sometimes helps people who recognize his presence. Once, a farmer from Bärnlohe found that his wagon would not move, even though it carried no logs and his oxen could not pull it forward. Realizing that Stilzel was secretly pressing his fist against the wagon, the farmer shouted at the spirit to get off and help push. Immediately, the wagon became light and rolled forward as if moving by itself.

Stilzel is also associated with the Saumühle, an old mill between Flöß and Heuhof where he once herded horses. According to the legend, the supernatural herdsman carried the entire mill there himself on his back. His stories portray him as a powerful, unpredictable spirit who delights in frightening travellers and tricking those who enter his forest, but who can also be persuaded to lend a helping hand.

Sources

“Stilzel.” In Hans Watzlik, Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/stilzel.html

Weihizer

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Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: The Weihizer
Category: Ghost

The Myth

The Weihizer is the ghost of a wealthy but dishonest innkeeper who once lived in Neukirchen in the Bohemian Forest. He cheated his customers by pouring only as much drink as he could fit his unusually long thumb into the jug. Through this trick, he accumulated an enormous fortune. One day, he challenged his servant Girgel to cut as much straw from dawn until dusk as the innkeeper possessed money. If Girgel succeeded, he would receive ten guilders; if he failed, he would have to pay the innkeeper the same amount. Girgel worked tirelessly and produced a huge pile of straw, but the innkeeper’s mountain of money was even larger. The poor servant lost his ten guilders, which the wealthy man simply tossed onto his enormous pile of silver.

The innkeeper was said to possess supernatural abilities, including the power to be in two places at once. When the hay was being brought in, he could be seen in the meadow and inside the barn simultaneously. As he grew old, he tried to ease his conscience for the harm he had inflicted on the poor. He ordered a gigantic bell to be cast, so wide that eight couples could dance beneath it. Yet the bell could not save him, because not a single honest penny had been used to pay for it.

After his death, the innkeeper could not rest in his grave. As punishment for his dishonesty, he was condemned to raise mysterious fires and sit on the cellar stairs. Before the Angelus bell rang, he was forbidden to harm anyone. Afterward, however, his ghost tormented those who came to fetch beer. The beer would not flow from the barrel because the innkeeper sat upon it, holding his purse. At night, cattle often cried out in terror, and farmhands who rushed outside discovered the stable doors standing open while the cows trembled and staggered around the yard.

One night, a travelling priest stopped at the inn, but nobody dared fetch him beer from the cellar. The priest descended himself to banish the ghost, making the sign of the cross three times. The ritual failed, and the Weihizer leapt from the barrel and struck the priest on the head with his purse, knocking him down. Desperate to rid themselves of the troublesome spirit, the people summoned the Bishop of Regensburg. The bishop finally took the ghost away to the wilderness of Switzerland, ending its haunting of the inn.

Sources

“Der Weihizer.” In Hans Watzlik, Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/weihizer.html

Rofner Berg Ghost

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Tradition: Liechtenstein Mythology
Alternative Names: The White-Cloaked Knight of Rofner Berg
Category: Ghost

The Myth

The Ghost on Rofner Berg is a mysterious apparition said to appear at night on the southern slope of the Schellenberg in Liechtenstein. The ghost takes the form of a man wearing a white cloak and wanders between the Rofner Chapel and the wooded hill known as the Schneller, where Eschnerburg Castle once stood. From this lonely hillside, the surrounding Rhine plain stretches toward the towering mountains, but after nightfall, the area is haunted by the figure of a restless knight.

According to the legend, the apparition is a knight who killed his own brother in a fit of rage. Because his sudden and violent deed went unjudged during his lifetime, he could never find peace after death. His spirit remains condemned to wander the hillside, passing between the former castle and the chapel century after century. The white-cloaked knight continues his endless journey, unable to rest in his grave because the crime he committed was never brought before a judge.

Sources

“Der Geist.” SAGEN.at – Liechtensteiner Sagen. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/liechtenstein/geist.htm

White Horse from Malans

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Tradition: Liechtenstein Mythology
Alternative Names: The White Horse of Malanser
Category: Ghost

The Myth

The White Horse from Malans is a ghostly apparition said to haunt the Malanser hill above Eschen, where the ruins of a once-great castle still stand. Long ago, a robber knight lived in the castle with a band of armed followers. They terrorized the surrounding region, threatening the people of Eschen and Mauren with their raids and robberies.

Eventually, the farmers of Eschen and Mauren formed an alliance to put an end to the knight’s rule. They planned to attack the castle on a Sunday evening and set it on fire while its defenders were unaware. When the day arrived, the farmers marched up to the heights and ignited the castle at nine o’clock. The knight and his men-at-arms were heavily drunk and failed to notice the flames until the fire had spread too far. All the armed men perished in the burning castle, but the knight managed to escape on his white horse.

The farmers pursued the fleeing knight as he raced across the heights. In his desperation, he rode too close to a cliff and plunged over the edge with his horse. Yet the knight’s story did not end with his death. According to the legend, his restless spirit must continue to haunt the Malanser hill, riding his white horse through the area until he has made amends for all the harm he caused during his life.

Sources

“Die Malanser.” SAGEN.at – Liechtensteiner Sagen. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/liechtenstein/malanser.htm