Every December, when the nights develop lengthy and the spirit of Christmas fills the air, Bern’s vacation phantoms awaken. These tales from lore and legends, remind us that even amidst celebration, the spirits of bygone eras linger.
As twinkling lights line the traditional streets and snow dusts the rooftops of Bern throughout Introduction season, the scent of mulled wine, gingerbread and candied almonds wafts by the city. The Previous Metropolis looks as if a winter postcard delivered to life with its church spires and lit up home windows within the chilly winter nights.
Learn Extra: Take a look at all ghost tales from Switzerland
However behind its festive appeal and glowing Christmas markets, December brings with it greater than heat and marvel because it invitations the return of Bern’s vacation phantoms, whose tales swirl like mist across the Aare River.
These ghost tales have been collected by Hedwig Correvon within the e book Ghost Tales from Bern in 1919 and are all set within the haunted darkness of Christmas instances.
The Dancing Beguines
On quiet, moonlit nights close to the Nydeggbrücke, these with the uncommon reward of second sight could glimpse one thing actually otherworldly. Seven small lights rise from the river’s darkish waters and start to swirl and twirl, chasing each other in joyful abandon above the light present. These are not any extraordinary flames; they’re the spirits of the Beguines, younger girls as soon as cloistered within the monastery at Klösterlistutz in opposition to their will.
Beguines: Though they’re known as Beguines, have been they actually this? The Beguines have been Christian lay spiritual orders that have been energetic in Western Europe, notably within the Low International locations, within the thirteenth–sixteenth centuries. Their members lived in semi-monastic communities however didn’t take formal spiritual vows. Though they promised to not marry “so long as they lived as Beguines”, to cite an early Rule of Life, they have been free to depart at any time. Beguines have been half of a bigger non secular revival motion of the thirteenth century that burdened imitation of Jesus’ life by voluntary poverty, care of the poor and sick, and spiritual devotion.
In accordance with legend, their stressed souls are granted a fleeting second of freedom every Christmas to bop above the river they have been as soon as forbidden to cross. Because the clock at Nydegg Church strikes midnight, their ghostly sport ends in a gentle sigh earlier than they vanish, leaving solely ripples on the water and a chill within the air.
The Lonely Stroll Close to the Studerstein
Within the deep silence between Christmas and New 12 months’s, when the moon glows brightest, a solitary determine could be seen strolling alongside the banks close to the Studerstein, a park within the previous city. Wearing a protracted wig, knee breeches, and polished buckled footwear, the ghost of a person emerges from an previous pavilion, tapping his silver-capped cane alongside his acquainted path. He by no means speaks. One employee who as soon as dared to name after him was met not with a reply, however with an inexplicable downpour from a transparent sky and a deafening crash behind him. Like echoes of the phantom’s grief, or a warning to not disturb his solemn procession.
The Homesick Ghost
In a slim home deep inside Bern’s Previous City, Christmas brings a gentle creak of previous doorways and the hush of unseen footsteps. The apparition is of a younger peasant girl, wearing centuries-old garb with a sulfur-yellow hat tucked underneath her arm. She is the homesick ghost, returning every holy season to the childhood house she as soon as knew, though the story doesn’t point out what home it was. .
She drifts from room to room, pausing earlier than mirrors to rearrange her hair as if getting ready for a celebration that may by no means come. Residents have discovered to not interrupt. When her quiet journey is full, the doorways shut behind her, and he or she vanishes till the following Christmas, drawn once more by recollections of heat lengthy gone.
The Aare Crossing
This ghost story takes the haunted christmas all the way in which to hell and the Aare River, lush with ghost tales.
The Christmas tree lights within the ferryman’s room at Ramseyerloch had already burned out. Ramseyerloch was an previous mooring place to the 18th century court docket jail, however has been used for for much longer. Then the ferryman’s spouse observed a darkish shadow on the opposite aspect of the Aare, waving its arms as if calling the boatman throughout. At the moment? At this hour? Instantly afterward, a shout was heard, three or 4 instances.
With a heavy coronary heart, the ferryman untied his boat and sailed throughout. He noticed {that a} thick black fabric wrapped his head. He defined that he definitely wouldn’t ferry him throughout like that. The journeyman jumped into the boat and pressed the oars into the ferryman’s hand. The tide started to surge because the boat handed over them. Home-high waves appeared about to tear down the homes. And the boat danced as if it have been about to capsize at any second and sink into the abyss. The ferryman’s hair stood on finish. He had by no means made such a journey earlier than. The cloaked man stood immobile on the bow. Then the ferryman threw his stick at him: “You’re in charge for all this!”
A flame hissed. The odor of sulfur started to fill the air. The ferryman’s spouse watched the occasions from the window in horror. She noticed a tiny gentle dance above a excessive wave for some time. Out of the blue, it disappeared within the spray.
The Ghosts from the Cathedral
Shortly earlier than Christmas a very long time in the past, a younger parish assistant arrived in Bern after a day’s hike. Because it was night and he couldn’t proceed his journey to the Oberland till the following day, he was quartered in a small room within the cathedral, whose window confronted the platform. The total white gentle of the moon shone by the window bars.
Round midnight, the sleeper felt as if one thing have been taking place outdoors. He rose and pressed his face to the window bars. There he noticed 4 clergymen of their vestments strolling with a critical, measured step beneath the timber on the platform. 4 nuns adopted them at a distance. Critical questions will need to have been occupying the clergy, for once in a while they paused, some gesticulating vigorously, others with their arms clasped behind their backs in thought. Not a leaf on the tree stirred, and never a stone stirred beneath the toes of the walkers. Not a sound was heard both.
As they handed the cathedral window, one of many clergymen turned his head and noticed the younger man watching them. Out of the blue, eight tiny flames hissed up. A bluish cloud moved in entrance of the moon. However when it disappeared, the platform lay because it had been earlier than. The moon lined the turrets and spires of the cathedral with silver; silver wove itself over the leaves of the timber. However there was not the slightest hint of those that had simply walked right here.
A Merry Haunted Christmas In Bern
In Bern, the place historic cobblestones bear in mind each footstep and each whisper lingers within the chilly air, Christmas just isn’t solely a season of sunshine however of shadows as nicely. Lengthy earlier than Christmas turned the season of the merry, one thing darker brewed.
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References:
Einsamer Spaziergang | Märchenstiftung
https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11831/heimweh
Aareüberfahrt | Märchenstiftung
https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11841/auf-der-plattform
