Oversized ghost haunted Wolfratshausen - this real woman was behind it
Created: 12/22/2021, 09:04 AM
From: Dominik Stallein
The Marktgschlerf is a well-known legendary figure.
During the carnival procession in 1963, a larger than life doll of the terrifying figure wandered through Wolfratshausen's old town.
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The Marktgschlerf is one of the most famous legendary figures from Wolfratshausen.
There are two gruesome myths about this ghost.
Wolfratshausen - There are different versions of why it terrified people in Wolfratshausen from the 13th century onwards.
However, all traditions agree on one detail;
The Marktgschlerf still haunted the old town centuries after her death.
Oversized ghost haunted Wolfratshausen - this real woman was behind it
The spirit of the Wolfratshauserin is said to wander through the Loisachstadt to this day. Her arrival is announced from afar: the legendary woman wears high-heeled slippers that are shod with iron plates. She pulls the heavy shoes, which echo loudly with every step, behind her as she walks. She shuffles - and that's what gives the “Marktgschlerf” its name.
That alone does not turn the poorly dressed woman into a mythical creature in most of the stories, but it does turn it into a bogeyman.
Sometimes, writes the writer Alexander Schöppner, who died in 1860, the figure was seen sitting on a bench.
Then the woman got up and shuffled through the market, frightening people in their homes.
The special thing about the ghost with the eponymous gait was its ability to make itself incredibly big.
It then protruded into the attic and stared into the houses on Marktstrasse until it disappeared again at lightning speed at dawn.
Was the Marktgschlerf a murderous midwife or a cruel landlady?
The Marktgschlerf was particularly happy to create moments of shock among housewives whose husbands were not at home.
The sight of the white fur hood in front of the windows on the upper floor was not only associated with a real horror for the housewives and other market residents: their appearance also announced impending doom, for example deaths.
So far the narrators of the Wolfratshausen legend are in agreement.
What was conveyed differently is the reason for the haunted.
Two versions have been passed down - and in both cases the Gschlerf was not just a ghostly figure of horror.
One version says that the woman from Wolfratshausen worked as a midwife - and is said to have been responsible for the death of the child during a birth.
Her existence as a ghost was the punishment for that.
Wolfratshauser legend about Nantwein could be related to it.
The second tradition is related to the story of Saint Nantovinus: The Marktgschlerf was accordingly the Wolfratshaus landlady Rena Zapf.
She was known as the "angel maker" for unwanted pregnant women.
In addition, Zapf had constantly changing partners - she was notorious as a prostitute.
One of her lovers: the Wolfratshausen judge Ganter.
Together with this corrupt comrade, she is said to have been responsible for the death of a traveler: out of greed and malice, she committed a crime to the pilgrim Konrad Nantvin.
Nantovinus was sentenced to death.
But that's another legend.
Legends from home: series
In our “Legendary Homeland” series, we present sagas and legends from the region in random order.
Finally over a brook that could work miracles.
Anyone who can contribute information can get in touch by email to Redaktion@isar-loisachbote.de.
