It is said that around the terrifying statue of Kindlifressenbrunnen devouring children, adolescent ghosts haunt like a misty night. They are said to be unwanted children taken out of the city through underground tunnels and returned to the crime scene.
In Bern's Old Town, at the bustling Kornhausplatz, a fountain so macabre emerges that it stops tourists in their tracks. The Kindlifresserbrunnen, or “child-eater's fountain”, is not a newfangled work of shock, as it was carved in 1546 by Hans Gieng and has dominated the city ever since. A grotesque ogre at the top of the fountain devours a defenseless baby, while three more terrified children look out of a bag slung over his shoulder. He is not only hungry, but also ravenous, mythical, and perhaps haunted.
The grotesque statue has long intrigued historians. Was it a warning, an old anti-Semitic symbol, a grim depiction of Cronus, a child-devouring Titan, or even a mad royal brother driven to a cannibalistic rage by jealousy? None of these theories fully explain Kindlifresser's troubling persistence. The legend doesn't end at the base of the statue. Beneath this terrifying figure lies a deeper darkness, carved not in stone but in whispers and shadows.
Underground tunnels around Kornhausplatz
Long before medieval walls were built around Bern, the site of Kindlifresserbrunnen was an open meadow bordering monasteries. One for men, the other for women. There were many places throughout the city where both nuns and monks lived and worked. According to local legend, they were once connected by a hidden tunnel. However, locals claim that this passage around Kornhausplatz also served a much grimmer purpose.
Read also: Haunted underground in Bern
In the city's early days, unwanted children, those born in secret or in shame, were led or left in the darkness of the tunnel, never to be seen again. It is said that these were the children of monks and nuns, and those who were brought to them, and those who were brought to them.
Over time, the stories grew: that the cries of these abandoned little ones echoed beneath the cobblestones, their souls still remaining trapped between life and death.
Children dancing in the fog
It is said that when the fog in Bern thickens and midnight strikes, these spirit children emerge from the earth. For one fleeting hour, they are no longer shadows. Locals talk in hushed tones about ethereal figures dancing in the swirling fog, their laughter mixing with the creaking of elderly shutters and the sound of the river and the surroundings of Kornhausplatz.
A fine white mist gathers between the stones, spreads gently and calmly over the ground, begins to swirl and wave, gathers into petite cloud formations and dissolves again into a slim curtain. And little human figures in airy white dresses gradually emerge from it. Like white butterflies, they fly up and down, landing here and there, playfully trying to catch each other and escape.
Then, as the final bell rings, they disappear – drawn back into the cool stone beneath the ogre's feet.
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Kindlifresserbrunnen and the ghosts of abandoned children near Bern
It is said that around the terrifying statue of Kindlifressenbrunnen devouring children, adolescent ghosts haunt like a misty night. They are said to be unwanted children taken out of the city through underground tunnels and returned to the crime scene.
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The ghost city of Bern – SWI swissinfo.ch
Fountain of the Child Eater | Bajka Foundation
Image Source: Pixabay.com
