The black cat in European folklore is shrouded in mystery and magical knowledge. From the elderly parts of Bern, ghost stories about ghostly black cats circulate in the shadows, reminding us of the elderly fear that the cat specter used to haunt people.
Beneath Bern's historic arcades and cobbled alleys, a darker story swirls in the fog. While this Swiss capital is known for its UNESCO World Heritage Old Town, medieval clock tower and stately parliament buildings, its historic stones whisper more chilling legends and ghost stories. Interestingly, among the countless legends and myths of Bern, there are many stories about black cats, harbingers of supernatural phenomena, and phantoms in the form of cats. .
Like a ghost story about a talking cat on the steep steps from Brunngasse to the Stettebrunnen fountain. It was said that after the birth, the midwife climbed the stairs. The cat called to her, “Good morning, good morning, how are you?” Before it disappears into gaunt air. And this is probably the most pretty story about the cat spirit.
Throughout Europe, black cats have long played both sides of the supernatural coin: in some regions they are signs of good luck, in others signs of misfortune. In Bern, as in many other European cities from the Middle Ages, they too remain ghost stories. Here are some of them, written mainly by Hedwig Correvon in her 1919 collection of ghost stories Ghost stories from Bern.
The black cats of this Alpine city are not ordinary creatures, they are ghosts. Witches in hiding. Spirits unshakable. Ghosts with fur and fangs.
Terribly pretty girl and Kiltgang
It started with a girl so stunningly pretty that no one in the surrounding Bernese villages could forget her face. She lived almost alone, just outside the city, speaking to no one, never seen beyond the threshold of her serene home. Her charm became a mystery and a challenge. One that a group of curious adolescent men set out to unravel during a secret night visit, known in the Alpine regions as Kiltgang. This secret tradition, similar to the Bavarian Fenster, involved sneaking under the cover of darkness to a girl's window for romantic advances.
But what they witnessed that night was anything but romantic.
When the adolescent men tiptoed to the lighted window, they saw her lying still, as if dead. Her face was lifeless, her chest still. Then an elegant black cat emerged from the shadows. He jumped out of the open window and disappeared under the bed. Suddenly the girl moved. Her cheeks flushed, her fingers trembled, and her breath returned with a sigh from some unseen depth.
The boys fled into the night, white with fear, never again approaching a black cat, especially one seen after shadowy.
Evil women and cursed cats
According to Bernese legend, wicked women are punished by death by becoming what they feared most: immortal black cats, cursed to haunt the homes and hearts of the living.
One story tells of a cruel woman, long dead, who returned in the form of a cat to torment those who dared to oppose her. Once, a housewife tried to chase away such a cat by hitting it with all her might. But the creature sat unmoved, and its eyes shone with incredible patience. A second blow was struck, and at the same moment pain shot through the woman's arm. From that day forward it hung useless at her side, as if touched by some hellish frost.
Another cat ghost haunts a house deep within the Old Town, though which house is not mentioned. At night, when all the lights go out, his presence becomes bolder. It hums like a machine. He roars like a lion. He wrestles with live cats, leaving them blind, limping, and forever changed. Residents now leave their lights on at night not to see, but to ward off the darkness.
The traitorous nun of Bubenbergraine
A ghost appears on the time-worn steps of Bubenbergraine, near the place where cloistered sisters once lived and died. Not in flowing robes, but in fur. It is uncertain whether Bubenbergraine is an elderly name or something local, but state-of-the-art Bernese are more likely to know the location as Bubenbergplatz, the area outside the third city wall.
For over a century, residents have reported sightings of a black cat creeping under pergolas, hiding in alcoves, falling into dreams and fear. A man returned home at midnight to find a cat on his doorstep. When he tried to kick it, the creature's eyes glowed with an unnatural fire. Before he could turn and run, his body grew, towering over him like a shapeshifting beast. He fell where he stood.
The next morning he was found unconscious, delirious with a fever. A few days later he died and was buried.
“The nun took another one,” the locals whispered. A nun who broke her holy vows. A nun who may have never stopped loving men – even after death.
Whispers in fur and shadow
The legends of Bern's black cat speak to the medieval soul of the city, where sin and holiness mixed in shadowy corridors and sacred silence. Cats, with their glowing eyes and unnatural charm, have become vehicles for guilt, anger and unresolved desires, and the shadow of the witch trials also looms over history.
Some say that in the narrow streets of Bern, black cats still wander between worlds, slipping through the cracks of time. As the fog rises over the Aare River, they can be seen sitting on rooftops, descending basement stairs, pausing under the gaze of a statue before disappearing completely. If you see a black cat watching you, especially at midnight, do not follow it.
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Talking Cat | Bajka Foundation
Bajki Szwajcaria Foundation – The Kilt Gang
Bajka – Unfaithful Nun Foundation
Keckeis and Waibel, Legends of SwitzerlandBern, Zurich, 1986.
Image Source: Pixabay.com
