Tradition: German Mythology
Alternative names: Öscher Hund, Öscher Pudel
Category: Dog, Cow
The Myth
Long ago, people in Pfronten-Ösch frequently saw a huge phantom dog wandering through the area at night. It became known as the Öscher Hund or Öscher Pudel.
The apparition usually appeared shortly after midnight. It was enormous, about the size of a calf, and its strange appearance made it even more frightening: it was described as being half calf and half dog.
A night watchman who encountered the creature more often than most once found himself being followed by it. The apparition approached him accompanied by the terrifying rattling of chains. Eventually it came so close that he was able to see it clearly.
The creature was divided in color, being half fox-colored and half black. Its eyes were enormous and fiery, said to be as large as the full moon, making it a horrifying sight.
When the night watchman reached the Bärenwirt, however, the Pudel suddenly disappeared. Instead, he heard a terrible crashing noise, as though all the houses of Ösch were collapsing at once.
The Öscher Hund could also be seen by people who did not normally believe in ghosts. Yet it was not visible to everyone. According to the legend, only people born under a particular sign were capable of seeing the apparition.
One Christmas Eve, for example, the creature approached two travelers walking along the road and accompanied them for a considerable distance. One of the men could see the phantom clearly, while his companion could see nothing at all.
Sources
“Der Pfronten-Öscher Hund.” In Hulda Eggart, ed., Allgäuer Sagen, selected from K. A. Reiser’s Sagen, Gebräuche und Sprichwörter des Allgäus, no. 194, pp. 198–199. Kempten and Munich, 1914. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. Accessed August 29, 2026. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/deutschland/bayern/allgaeu/hund.html