Astonishing Legends16 Feb 2020

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Part One

In the year 1284 CE, a remarkable and colorfully dressed young man came to the town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony, Germany. There are two documentations of this wanderer’s visit, the originals of which have since been lost. According to the contemporary Hamelin chronicle and a depiction in a stained glass window in a local church, this handsome stranger began to play his flute through the streets. Enchanted by the notes, 130 children from the town followed him into the woods, never to be seen again. In the hundreds of years since the supposedly real event occurred, the most significant addition to the story would be the reason for the mass kidnapping. After successfully ridding the town of a plague of rats using his musical pipe, the payment the piper was promised was withheld by the mayor and the town leaders. Furious at his being cheated, the magical visitor took their children as his payment. This later variation of the narrative we have all come to know as “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” Today, we may think of this story as a children’s Fairly Tale. But as the Brothers Grimm had noted themselves, and who are partly responsible for making it known to the world, this is a legend and not a Fairy Tale. The difference is that legends are considered to be based on actual events, people, and places. In relation, it’s also said that there is a kernel of truth to every legend. If that is accurate, then the real Pied Piper event may be far more mysterious and tragic than we could have imagined, either as children or adults.

For more information on this episode visit our website!

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(443)

The Flirting Ghosts of Norway

Legend: In the 1890's an illicit affair centered around a hotel in Norway ends badly. Are the departed lovers still hanging around the original section of the hotel's top floor? Background: M...

19 Feb 201552min

The Cackowski Intruder

Legend: A spirit visits two siblings multiple times a week for several months during their highschool years. Neither one of them knew it was happening to the other. Background: Comedy and Imp...

6 Feb 20151h 12min

The Birds, The Psychic and Ollie the Crime-Fighting Dog

Legend: Bird flies at the window, death knocks at the door. According to legend, if a bird crashes into a window in your house and dies from the collision, it is a portent that someone close to ...

22 Jan 20151h 10min

The Devil in the Diner

Background: Have you ever encountered someone other-worldly? Someone who seemed to exude a dark charisma that frightened you with their ability to be so magnetic? Legend: Talented comedy writ...

9 Jan 201537min

A Krampus Christmas

20 Dec 201449min

Celebrity Cemetery

Background: Marc D'Andre our Correspondent at Large, is back with one of his special tours of the final resting place of not only Marilyn Monroe, but countless Hollywood icons of film and televisio...

11 Dec 201441min

Amelia Earhart Vanishes Part 2

Legend: Did Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan live short lives as castaways, or were they lost at sea after running out of fuel and ditching their Lockheed Electra 10E? Maybe they were taken prisoner,...

27 Nov 20142h

Amelia Earhart Vanishes Part 1

Background: Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous aviators in the world and she flew into the history books in July of 1937 when she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Lae, Papua New ...

14 Nov 201446min