Ghosts of Liechtenstein ()

Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest country in the world. However, there is plenty to do while visiting this small nation. You can visit one of its castles or stand in two countries at once at the Swiss/Liechtenstein border, check out a brewery, go hiking, biking, or shopping. Know that wherever you choose to roam, a ghost may follow. Or perchance, that rock you see is no simple stone.

The Guschg Herdsmen’s Doll

Chuckie has nothing on this doll. A group of herders and shepherds decided to make a life-size doll out of spare rags. They ate with the doll. They spoke with the doll. However, they also sometimes beat and violated the doll.

Fall came and it was time to bring the cows down from the mountains. The men were at the dinner table with the doll and suddenly she spoke back to them. This terrified the men. According to legend, the doll said, “All of you but one may leave the meadow to bring the animals down into the valley… But one must stay with me.” She pointed to the herder of her choice, and he stayed while the rest left.

As the men left to take the cows into the valley, they looked back and saw the man’s skin stretched across their mountain hut’s roof. Nearby, the doll was laughing.

The Three Sisters

The Feast on Assumption occurs every year on August 15 to celebrate the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. One year, three sisters left their village to gather berries. The bells rang signaling the need for the sisters to return to attend church for the feast. One sister felt that they hadn’t gathered enough berries and encouraged the others to ignore the bells.

When their baskets were full, they began to walk back to the village. On their walk, a woman stopped them. In some legends she is described as an old woman; in some, she is described as beautiful. The woman asked the sisters for some berries. They refused. Then, a halo appeared above the woman. This was no ordinary woman. She was the Virgin Mary.

She chastised the sisters first for ignoring the bells to return to the church, and then for refusing to share their berries with her. The woman believed the sisters’ hearts were made of stone. As punishment, she turned them into giant rocks.

Golden Boos

It is said that there was a Liechtensteinian woman, Barbara Erni, who went all around Europe with a large treasure chest (or backpack, depending on the legend) on her back. She would go to inns with her chest and always asked for it to be put in the room with the inn’s valuables, so her treasure was safely locked away. Once she was in her room for the night, a small man would come out of the box.

Barbara and the man would quickly grab anything valuable and run away. She became known as “The Golden Boos.” When she was finally caught, Barbara was put into prison in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. She was the last person executed in the country by being beheaded in front of 1,000 spectators in 1784. No one knows what happened to the small man. Perhaps he is still robbing inns.

The Hound of Santamerta

The chapel of St. Mamerta in Triesen is known to locals as “Santamerta.” One night a man was praying in the chapel and a ghost appeared. The ghost told the man to come back with two friends at midnight and he could have a chest of gold, if they could get around the hound guarding the chest. The man returned with his two friends, and they saw the hound with the chest. One of the man’s friends was too scared to attempt to get the hound off of the chest. When the friend showed he was afraid, all three men heard a terrifying scream.

The sound made the ghost appear and complain that he would now have to wait another 1,000 years. The ghost, the chest and the hound disappeared. However, they were trapped in the chapel. They were only freed when someone came the next day to ring the church bells.

Bonus: The Girl who Haunts Liechtenstein Castle

Legend tells of a miller’s daughter who dreamed of having more than her simple life allowed. Rich people would go to her father for his work, but never invite him or his daughter to social events. In fact, the wealthy customers would laugh at her desperate attempts to fit in.

Not satisfied, she made a deal with a devil to get an invitation to a fancy ball at the castle. Once she was at the ball, no one would dance with her. They immediately recognized her for who she truly was. For the devil only garnered her an invitation, not the other things needed to fit in with high society. Her dress was made of flour sack materials, and she spoke with the accent and dialect of the working class people.

The miller’s daughter realized that she would find no husband there and ascertained that she would never find one. She had made a spectacle of herself and would be the laughingstock of the town. Her sadness overwhelmed her. She suffered from a stroke (perhaps from her sadness), fell down a flight of stairs and died. Today, her mangled and bloodied corpse haunts the castle. After midnight, she roams the halls asking men she finds to dance with her. She is also insanely jealous of young and pretty women and attempts to scratch and bite their faces off. If you are older, you are not safe either. She attacks older people whom she blames for her plight.

Despite its name, the castle the miller’s daughter haunts is in Prague and not Liechtenstein. However, it used to belong to the Liechtenstein royal family.