Topic
Germany & Austria
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Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is a ghostly host that storms across the sky on winter nights. Depending on the region, it is led by Wotan,…
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Funken Witch
At the Funken fires in Vorarlberg and other Alemannic areas, a witch effigy is burned each year atop a tall wooden tower. The fire…
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Krampus
Krampus, Knecht Ruprecht, Père Fouettard and Zwarte Piet are the dark companions of Saint Nicholas. While he hands out gifts, they threaten children who…
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Lady Midday (Noon Witch)
Lady Midday is a field spirit of Sorbian and Slavic tradition. She appears in the glaring heat of noon, often carrying a sickle, and…
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White Lady
White Ladies are ghostly figures of German tradition, often omens of death. The newest is said to haunt the Ebersberg Forest near Munich, a…
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Werewolf
Werewolves are people who turn into wolves. In the early modern period this became a criminal charge, and the 1589 case of Peter Stubbe…
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Poltergeist
A poltergeist is an invisible troublemaker that knocks, throws stones and moves things. The cases range from Bingen in the year 858 to Rosenheim…
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Nachzehrer
A dead man who chews on his shroud or his own body in the grave and drags his relatives after him: the nachzehrer is…
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Peter Stubbe: The Man They Turned Into a Monster in 1589. Was he the first Werewolf?
In the autumn of 1589, near Bedburg in the German Rhineland, a wealthy farmer is broken to death as a werewolf. His name: Peter…
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Europe’s Oldest Recorded Haunting — And the Man It Destroyed (Bingen, 858)
In the year 858, the Annals of Fulda — one of the most important historical sources for the East Frankish kingdom — record an…