Brocken · The Night the Witches Met

The Brocken is the highest point of the Harz Mountains and the centre of German witch legend: on the night of 30 April, witches are said to fly from every direction to the summit on brooms and goats and dance around fires. That night is called Walpurgis Night.

Goethe wrote about it in Faust, and the mountain’s link with the devil has never come undone since.

Today a festival is held on the mountain at the end of April each year, crowded with people in pointed hats. Locals put it plainly: the crowds are ours, what is in the mountain is not.

Folklore / Harz Mountains · Germany / Time immemorial