Tradition / Region: Luxembourg (spring of the Oligsbaach near Emeringen; Alt/Gaanerbaach valley) Alternate Names: The Old Man of the Oligsbaach Category: Swamp dweller
The Myth
At the source of the Oligsbaach, a stream that after a short course flows into the Alt, also called the Gaanerbaach, there was said to roam a fearful being known as the Oligsmännchen.
The stream was known to swell into a raging torrent, and people warned that no one should be seen on the nearby meadow after sunset. For if anyone lingered there in the evening, the grim old spirit would seize him by the hair in an instant and drag him down into the depths, where he would be lost beyond rescue.
Thus the Oligsmännchen was feared as the dark guardian of the spring and its dangerous waters.
Tradition / Region: Luxembourg Mythology Alternate Names: Birch Maiden, Birkenjungfer, Birch Damselfly, White Horse of the Birk Category: Swamp dweller, Ghost
The Myth
In the birch forests and moors near Mutfort, Ötringen, and the Birk, there was said to wander a mysterious female spirit known as the Birch Maiden.
She often appeared as a young woman dressed in dazzling white. At times she spread a white carpet before travelers, upon which a small goat would suddenly appear. Others saw her walking silently along lonely paths, wearing a white skirt, sometimes with a red apron, or carrying a white switch. She would not answer greetings and vanished as suddenly as she appeared.
At the Birkengraben, many claimed to see her at dusk: a white figure who would utter a shrill cry, rise into the air, and disappear toward the birch moor while a terrible roaring swept through the forest. Some saw her carrying two burning candles, accompanying travelers through the night with a rushing noise in the air until she vanished near the village.
The tale says she had once been the daughter of a wealthy count whose castle stood near Ötringen. She wished to remain unmarried, but her father forced her toward a marriage she refused. On the morning of her wedding she fled into the nearby forest. Pursued by her father’s servants, she ran across the birch moor and vanished into its depths with a cry. Since then she has wandered the place as a restless spirit.
On certain nights before midnight, she is seen lamenting at the edge of the moor, clothed in white and carrying lights. If anyone dares to approach, she disappears with a scream. Should a person follow her to the edge of the bog, she may seize him and drag him down into the depths.
The Birch Maiden is also said to roam the area in another form. In the meadow called Lohkaul, a riderless white horse appears at night, bearing a shining saddle. It bursts from the forest, gallops to the banks of the Syr, and grazes there quietly. When a weary traveler passes, the horse comes tamely and seems to invite him to mount. But anyone who accepts is carried with great speed to the birch moor or to the Pleitringer pond and thrown into the water.
Thus the spirit of the Birch Maiden wanders the forest, the moor, and the meadows, appearing sometimes as a grieving woman in white and sometimes as the ghostly white horse that lures the unwary to destruction.
In earlier times, when ghosts were still believed to roam the land, there lived near Heßlingen, by the Wolf’s Mill in the forest called Wölfragrond, a strange being known as Böschgretchen.
She was said to have once been a woman of exceptional height and beauty who had been cursed and bound to the swamp there. People disliked passing that place, though no one was known to have been harmed by her.
One day, an old man known as Burgklees came along the path from Remich. Brave as he was, he went straight past the swamp. But as soon as he neared it, he felt uneasy. Pressing on, he heard someone calling behind him, “Klees, Klees, wait!” He turned and saw Böschgretchen standing before him. Terrified, he tried to flee, but the ground beneath him began to give way. He leapt aside and escaped, reaching home pale and exhausted, collapsing at his door.
The spirit remained in the area for many years and was seen by many. Once, a shepherd grazing his flock near Heßlingen noticed his dog behaving wildly, running and howling so loudly that people came to help. Following the dog, they found Böschgretchen lying dead in a wolf’s den, sunk knee-deep in mud. They pulled the body out, carried it to Ellingen, and buried it in the churchyard, where later the wall was built so that her grave now lies within its foundations.
It was said that once every seven years the dead woman returns by night to the place where she died, and that on stormy nights old people have heard her moaning there.