Though the Grand Duchy can look back on more than 1000 years of written history, the area was populated well before that famous year 963, when Siegfried, Count of the Ardennes, and founder of the Luxembourg dynasty, bought a rocky promontory on the river Alzette, and called it Lucilinburhuc, the cradle of today's "Luxembourg".

Exhibits in the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg City give evidence of early settlers from the mesolithic and the neolithic ages (some 10 000 - 7 000 years ago). Caesar wrote of the vast forests covering the entire area, during the French Revolution the country was known as the "Département des Forêts" (the Department of forests), and even today more than one third of the country is hilly woodlands, sheltering ancient trees and monuments in its crags and valleys, such as the "Devil's Altar" near Diekirch.

Little wonder then that many a legend and creepy story was born in such fertile lands. We leave it open whether they be true or not, but we aim to present here just a handful of these folk tales from time immemorial:

Melusina

Melusina is said to have been the wife of the founder of Luxembourg, Count Siegfried. When they married, she had one particular request, namely that Siegfried must leave her alone for one full day and night every month, and that he should not ask or try to find out what she was doing. Of course, Melusina was such a beautiful girl that Siegfried could not refuse her this one small wish, and all went well for years and years, when on the first Wednesday of the month, Melusina would retire into her chambers in the "Casemates", a network of caverns underneath the city, not to be seen again until early light on Thursday.

But one day, Siegfried's curiosity got the better of him. Wondering what on Earth she might be doing alone all the time, he peeped through the keyhole, and was shocked to see that Melusina was lying in the bathtub, with a fishtail hanging over the rim. As you all know, mermaids like Melusina, have a very keen sixth sense, which tells them instantly that they are being watched, and thus she recognised her husband through the door, and jumped out of the window into the river Alzette below, never to be seen again ... except every now and then, some people say they saw a beautiful girl's head pop out of the river, and a fishtail rippling the calm waters of the river Alzette.

The 'Stierchesgeescht'

Close to the Trier-Gate of the old Fortress, in the rocks at the "Stierchen", a part of the city-walls, there lived a terrible ghost, the "Stierches-geescht".

Having been a heavy drinker in his time, he now took his pleasure in haunting drunkards. He would lie in wait for them, then throw them to the ground and beat them up. Sometimes, he would appear -immensely inflated- and bash people with a massive stick.

During parades, he used to appear in front of the coach-horses and make them shy. Occassionally, when the monks of the 'Altmünster Abbey' tried to sound their bells for the evening service, he would stand on the tower holding the bells, or even lay himself down on the streets, to prevent the people from reentering their houses.

Even today, there are still drunkards claiming they met the "Stierchesgeescht" on their way home.

The 'Zidewitzen' at Bourglinster

The lady of the Linster castle, called 'Zidewitzen' was known for her merciless handling of the castle's affairs.

A miserable farmer, had been held in a dark cell of the castle's tower, simply for not having been able to deliver his due amount of wheat. Finally freed, he angrily made a fist in the direction of the castle. Zidewitzen who saw the gesture ordered the farmer to be removed from her county. His reply to the order was : "I'll still be around in your county when you'll be burning in hell".

The merciless woman died shortly afterwards, but the Dark Lord did not want her to be burried in the parish church in Junglinster. The closer the death convoy came to the church, the heavier the weight got for the horses to draw. At the bridge over the 'Ernz', a small stream, the convoy stopped. The driver furiously whipped his horses, which eventually ran off past the church, into the 'Lëtschen-' hole, where the charriot disappeared with it's load in a deep moor.

Dancing Witches in Koerich

In the little stream through the village of Koerich, there stood a castle in the early Middle-Ages.

One day, a day-labourer who had been working all day in the fields returned to his home at midnight. When he came to the castle yard, he saw a well-lit dancing room, in the middle of which a huge goat-footed shape in a trench-coat stood conducting a band of musicians with his golden stick. Around him, a group of witches were dancing to the music.

The day-labourer was paralysed with fear, and only after having filled his pockets with stones was he able to flee the horrific vision.

The Werewolf of Bettembourg

A long time ago, an old and crippled soldier came from the direction of Luxembourg City. He lay down to rest at a cross standing on a hill just outside the town of Bettembourg.

Suddenly he jumped to his feet, started swearing to God and Hell, and completely destroyed the representation of our Lord's crucifixion.

From that day, a big wolf started haunting the grounds around the old church of Bettembourg, killing all that would come in his way. No bullet and no spear could do him any harm, until a wise monk told the people of Bettembourg to make a bullet of silver into which to carve the names of Jesus, Maria and Joseph.

The hunters then set out to track the beast and eventually shot it. When they arrived at the place it had disappeared, and the body they found, was that of the old soldier, who turned out to be a former Bettembourgian.

On this hill a small cross still stands, and sometimes at night, howling wolves can still be heard near it.

The two howling witches

A young farm labourer from Redange-sur-Attert, on his way back from his father's funeral to Frassem, where he worked, was passing the "cat's cave" near Oberpallen when came upon a little old woman, all clad in white. She carried a basket in her arm and silently approached him in a straight line till she was just a few feet away. She looked him up and down without uttering a word, then just as suddenly as she had arrived she disappeared into the woods off to the side.


A few miles on, he met a young girl all dressed in white, and also carrying a basket in her arm who also looked him up and down without a word and similarly disappeared into the bushes off the path. Not a moment later the labourer saw both white-clad women -the old one and the young one- in those very bushes. Moving towards him, they uttered such a bone-shattering howling scream, that the labourer ran away in panic. But no matter how quickly he ran, the howling followed him ceaselessly, never seemingly more than a stone's throw behind him. And so he ran ever faster until he came to the edge of the village, when all of a sudden, the howling stopped, and the two witches -for witches they surely were- disappeared like fog.

The next morning, the labourer saw that his fear had turned his hair all white.

See also: Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts presented by D. L. Ashliman, University of Pittsburgh
See also: The Echternach Dancing procession

© Serge Moes Luxembourg Tourist Office - London