Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: Ghost Music of Homburg Castle
Category: Ghost
The Myth
The Homburg Castle Music is a mysterious supernatural procession associated with the ruins of Homburg and Rechberg castles, which stand on opposite wooded summits of the Homberg ridge between Basel-Landschaft and the Fricktal region of Aargau, Switzerland. On moonlit nights, strange music can accompany an extraordinary procession traveling along a road suspended in the air between the two castles. The music is played by an otherworldly band of horn players, trombonists, and trumpeters, and the procession moves with uncanny grace and silence. The phenomenon is also regarded as a portent of severe summer thunderstorms, whose approaching fury can be heralded by the distant sound of the mysterious music.
One night, a traveler named Joseph Hochreuter from Wittnau was crossing the Homberg after returning from Basel-Land. As he descended the mountain, he discovered that the plain before him was blocked by a double hedge of living greenery, with a broad, perfectly straight highway running between the hedges. While he stood wondering at the sight, the night wind carried the sound of distant music toward him. Soon a magnificent procession appeared. At its head marched pairs of boys dressed like pages in identical black-and-white coats, arranged from the smallest to the largest. Behind them came men dressed entirely in black, followed by a band whose musicians played loudly as they advanced. A fine gentleman’s carriage drawn by six jet-black horses followed at a distance, with several ladies and gentlemen visible inside. Behind the carriage walked pairs of maidens in snow-white dresses, ranging from tiny children to fully grown women, while women in black cloaks brought up the rear.
The procession passed in remarkable order and elegance, raising no dust and making no sound beyond its music. Hochreuter soon realized that the highway did not follow the mountain’s slopes but ran straight through the air from Homburg Castle to Rechberg Castle. Eager to discover where the procession was going, he hurried toward the ridge to obtain a better view. Suddenly, the moon disappeared, plunging everything into darkness. The green hedges, the elevated highway, and the entire procession vanished, and the music gave way to thunder roaring in every direction. A violent storm broke over the mountain, and Hochreuter struggled to find his way down to the valley. According to the legend, the music of Homburg Castle can still be heard for hours across the surrounding countryside when a severe summer thunderstorm approaches.
Sources
“Die Homburger Schlossmusik.” SAGEN.at – Schweizer Sagen. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/allgemein/homburger_schlossmusik.html