Tradition: Swiss Mythology
Alternative Names: The Piano-Playing Ghost of Neuheim
Category: Ghost
The Myth
A farmer’s wife from the mountain village of Menzingen once travelled on a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Einsiedeln, accompanied by her twelve-year-old daughter. During the journey, the girl suddenly pulled a sugar heart from beneath her clothes and ate it, although she had no idea who had given her the mysterious gift. After the family returned home, the child began seeing a strange apparition: an old, wrinkled woman carrying a walking stick and a large rosary, approaching from the neighboring house. The girl alone could see the woman, but the haunting soon began to affect the entire household.
During the night, the inhabitants heard someone pacing up and down the wooden stairs, closing doors, and playing a musical instrument. The unexplained noises caused considerable fear and annoyance, but the farmer could find no source for them. Suspecting that a ghost had entered his home, he summoned the dean and several other priests to bless the house and perform exorcisms. They searched the entire building and kept a strict watch over the yard, hoping to discover the cause of the disturbances. After a prolonged period, the musical ghost reportedly disappeared, but the farmer was said to have spent 500 guilders dealing with the haunting.
A similar apparition was associated with the old chaplain’s house in Neuheim, where a ghost reportedly wandered through the building at night and played the piano. Its music disturbed the sleep of the household, turning an ordinary home into a place of nocturnal unrest. Together, these accounts describe spirits whose presence was revealed not only through strange visions but also through unexplained sounds and music that disturbed the living.
Sources
“Das Gespenst.” SAGEN.at – Traditionelle Sagen aus der Schweiz (Zug). Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/zug/gespenst.html