What is a White Lady?
Many German legends tell of a woman in a white gown who appears, usually in castles, at crossroads or in the forest. She often announces a death. The best known is the White Lady of the Hohenzollerns, who is said to have appeared in the Berlin Palace before a member of the family died. Oskar Schwebel collected these traditions in 1878 in Die Sagen der Hohenzollern. In his Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm linked the white ladies to figures such as Frau Holle and Perchta.
The White Lady of Ebersberg Forest
The Ebersberg Forest east of Munich is one of the largest continuous woodlands in Germany. On state road 2080, near the Hubertus Chapel, the ghost of a female cyclist is said to stand at night. According to the story, she died in the forest after a hit-and-run. She waves cars down, gets in, and suddenly vanishes. In some versions, she grabs the steering wheel.
No such accident appears in any record. The story follows a pattern known around the world, which the folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand described in 1981 as the “vanishing hitchhiker.” What makes Ebersberg special is that here you can watch a legend take shape almost in real time, spread through the local press and the internet.
Episode on this topic
Further reading
- Jan Harold Brunvand: The Vanishing Hitchhiker. American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, 1981.
- Oskar Schwebel: Die Sagen der Hohenzollern, 1878.
- Johann Georg Theodor Grässe: Sagenbuch des Preußischen Staats, vol. 1.
- Jacob Grimm: Deutsche Mythologie.