Brocken- Germanic LocationLocation · Landmark
Also known as: Blocksberg and Brockenberg
Description
Every April 30, witches fly to the Brocken on broomsticks and enchanted goats to dance around bonfires with the Devil on its summit. The highest peak in the Harz Mountains, the Brocken spends much of the year wrapped in fog, and climbers who reach the top sometimes see their own shadows thrown enormous and haloed onto the clouds below.
Mythology & Lore
The Witches' Mountain
The Brocken rises 1,141 meters above central Germany, the highest point in the Harz. Fog wraps it for most of the year. Storms roll in without warning. On certain days, a climber standing on the summit sees a figure in the mist below: enormous, haloed in rainbow light, mimicking every gesture. It is the climber's own shadow, thrown onto a bank of cloud.
Johannes Praetorius published the first detailed account of the Brocken's witchcraft traditions in his 1668 Blockes-Berges Verrichtung, recording the local belief that the mountain was a gathering place for witches and demons. The name Blocksberg, by which the mountain was commonly known, became a byword for witchcraft across the German-speaking world.
Walpurgisnacht
On the eve of May 1, witches from across Germany fly to the Brocken's summit. They arrive on broomsticks or enchanted goats. Bonfires blaze on the peak, and the Devil presides over dancing and dark oaths sworn until dawn.
Goethe set the Walpurgis Night scene of Faust on the Brocken. Faust and Mephistopheles climb through fog and whirling sparks, guided by will-o'-the-wisps, to find the summit alive with witches and demonic revelry.