Tradition: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternative Names: The Ghost of the Chapel at Mertert
Category: Sheep
The Myth
The ghost haunting the road between Mompach, Mertert, and Wasserbillig is a mysterious supernatural being capable of taking the forms of various animals. For generations, it haunted the place where a road from Mompach joined the main road between Mertert and Wasserbillig. The location was notorious for strange accidents involving travellers and wagon drivers. Horses would suddenly fall, wheels would break, and sometimes all four wheels of a wagon would break at once.
One moonlit night, a bold boatman was walking from Mertert to Wasserbillig with a companion when they noticed a calf standing on a small slope beside the road. The boatman climbed up to catch it, but slipped back down as soon as he reached for the animal. He tried again, only for the same thing to happen. This time, however, the calf had transformed into a sheep. Frustrated, he made a third attempt, carefully crawling up the steep slope. Once again, he slipped, and when he looked up, the sheep had become a headless calf.
Alarmed, the boatman abandoned his attempts and turned toward his companion, who had already fled. He hurried away himself, but the headless calf followed closely beside him all the way to Wasserbillig. There, in the sudden stillness of the night, he heard a strange rustling in the trees, and the apparition finally disappeared. After a cross at the haunted spot was replaced by a chapel, the ghost seemed to have been subdued and appeared only rarely.
Sources
La Fontaine, Edmond de. Luxemburger Sagen und Legenden. Luxemburg: Jos. Beffort, 1882.