Could the Aare Gorge in Switzerland be home to an historic creature? The Tatzelwurm is an senior Alpine legend, and even in state-of-the-art times, people have claimed to have seen this elusive and mysterious snake-like creature.
In 1935, the Russian-Berlin born photographer Balkin entered the restaurant of the Baer Hotel in Meiringen. While hiking into a nearby gorge, Aare encountered something strange. A narrow, high chasm carved by millennia of rushing glacial water, where mist lingers between sheer limestone walls and the roar of the river drowns out the outside world.
After a few schnapps, he told his story. He saw a strange animal, it could have been 80 cm long and 25 cm wide. It looked like a immense, scaly snake, but with legs.
The innkeeper knew exactly what he was talking about when he mentioned a row of pointed teeth and a pointed whistling sound. It must have been Tatzelwurm, or Stollenwurm as the Swiss called it. A well-known legend, but there is no solid evidence for it. So far, this has been claimed by Balkin, who took a photo of the creature.
The disturbing and mysterious image was published in the German daily Berlin Illustrierte Zeitung in April this year, along with a cash price for those who manage to get the physical version delivered.
Switzerland's landscapes are renowned for their tranquil lakes, quaint villages and the snow-capped majesty of the Alps. Until the early 19th century, the waters of the Aare Gorge, or Aareschlucht, could only be crossed by boat and were sometimes associated with Acheron, the underground river of death through which Charon flows.
One of the most terrifying is the story of the Tatzelwur, a terrifying creature that is said to haunt the dense forests and deep gorges of the Bernese Oberland.
A monstrous alpine mystery
Descriptions of the Tatzelwurm vary by region, but the creature is typically depicted as a stocky, serpentine beast, 2 to 6 feet long, with a scaly body, low clawed legs – usually two forelimbs, sometimes four – and a grotesque, feline or reptilian face. Some accounts claim it has poisonous breath or can emit a piercing, disturbing hissing sound.
They live in tunnels and caves that they dig in the rock. Although generally described as relatively shy, tatzelwurms are also considered threatening and aggressive and are said to attack humans and animals. It is said that when a Tatzelwurm crawls on sand, the sand turns to glass, suggesting that this mythical creature generates intense heat.
Tatzelwurms supposedly do not reproduce biologically, but develop in a similar way to the basilisk: the rooster lays a black egg in a lake, where it is incubated by the heat of the sun. The egg hatches into a Tatzelwurm, which may eventually grow into a Tatzelwurm.
It's certainly not the only place talked about, and stories about it can also be found in the Austrian, Bavarian, French and Italian Alps. It goes by the names Tatzelwurm, Bergstutz, Arassas, Praatzelwurm and Stollenwurm, which is the most commonly used name in Switzerland. Since the story first became renowned in a German newspaper, in this case it is known by its German title.
For centuries, Alpine farmers, shepherds and travelers have talked about this creature in hushed tones. Particularly in remote areas such as the Aare Gorge, there are stories of strange sightings: a shadowy, writhing figure crawling through the mist, a disembodied figure hissing in the darkness, and livestock found with unexplained wounds.
Meetings in the Aare Gorge
The Aare Gorge itself has always felt like a place between worlds. Surrounded by 50-meter-high cliffs, the gorge narrows in places to just a meter wide, and walking along the narrow paths above the rushing water gives a disturbingly claustrophobic feeling. This eerie atmosphere has made it the perfect setting for stories about strange creatures – none more renowned than the Tatzelwurm.
The creature sighting wasn't the first time someone claimed to have encountered something strange in Aaron's Gorge.
One of the earliest recorded encounters dates back to the 18th century, and the year 1814 is also mentioned. Other sightings occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries, often by loggers or shepherds who swore they saw the beast emerging from the water in bulky fog or sunning itself on the rocks deep in a gorge where no human could easily reach.
Modern legends and mysterious evidence
After publication in the newspapers, the “Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung” offered a reward of 1,000 German marks for the caught worm. Some claimed that the photo was developed in an office in Berlin and not by the photographer himself, which should confirm the story.
Although no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced, tantalizing snippets of alleged remains and blurry photos sometimes find their way into local folklore.
The Alpine Monster continues
Today, although the Aare Gorge remains a popular tourist destination, its atmospheric depths have a reputation for being a place where amazing events take place. Visitors report feeling they were being watched, hearing unexplained rustling in the undergrowth, or catching glimpses of something immense slithering between the rocks just out of sight.
While skeptics dismiss the Tatzelwurm as folklore born of isolation, fear and an overactive imagination, the legend still casts a shadow over the Bernese Oberland and the Aare Gorge. As historic glaciers recede and the secrets hidden in the ice begin to surface, one wonders what else lies hidden in these deep, water-carved canyons – watching from the fog, waiting for nightfall.
Nowadays, there are over 80 eyewitness accounts of the Tatzelwurm in the alpine landscape and to this day the Tatzelwurm is the official mascot of the Aare Gorge. .
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Tatzelwurm of the Aare Gorge: Switzerland's elusive alpine monster
Could the Aare Gorge in Switzerland be home to an historic creature? The Tatzelwurm is an senior Alpine legend, and even in state-of-the-art times, people have claimed to have seen this elusive and mysterious snake-like creature.
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Tatzelwurm > Aareschlucht | Aare Gorge, Meiringen, Haslital
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Tatzelwurm (Fabeltier) – Wikipedia
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