Castle

Gelsfrächen of the Castle Stream

by

Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Washerwomen of the Gels
Category: Ghost

The Myth

In earlier times, the Gelsfrächen were said to come at night to the castle stream called the Gels near Weiler. There they washed clothing, and people in the surrounding houses often heard the clapping sound of water and washing through the darkness.

If the women or maids of the nearby households had no time to wash their garments, the Gelsfrächen would sometimes do the work for them. More than once the farmhands from the manor farm that had belonged to the castle found their dirty overpants, left soiled the evening before after work in the fields, freshly washed and hanging on the fence posts.

Thus the Gelsfrächen were remembered as night-washing spirits who labored unseen beside the stream.

Gallery

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Das Gelsfrächen zu Weiler zum Turm. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Gelsfraechen_Weiler.html

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings
  • Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
  • Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
  • Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
  • Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
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Platschmrechen of Stöckels

by

Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology
Alternate Names: Platschmariechen, Washerwoman of Stöckels
Category: Ghost

The Myth

At the Stöckelter Moor near Itzig, where people say a pagan castle once stood, and also along the Hohlbach stream between Stöckels and Scheid, a ghostly washerwoman is said to appear on certain nights.

Her presence is known by the eerie, hollow slapping sound of laundry being beaten, though no one has ever managed to see her. She is called the Platschmrechen.

It is said that she always seeks out dark, muddy water and never washes in clear springs.

Thus the moor and stream are remembered as places haunted by the unseen washerwoman whose washing can still be heard in the night.

Gallery

Sources

sagen.at contributors. (n.d.). Das Platschmrechen auf Stöckels. In sagen.at, from https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/luxemburg/Platschmrechen_Stoeckels.html

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings
  • Christian Ascetic Deep Dive
Philosophical Readings
  • Nietzschean Deep Dive
Psychological Readings
  • Jungian Deep Dive
Esoteric Deep Dive
  • Hermetic Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
  • Marxist Deep Dive