The Klabautermann
Every good ship, Baltic sailors said, had a little sprite living in it, who hammered and fixed things at night. If the crew ever saw him, the ship was doomed.
What was reported
In the folklore of German, Dutch and Scandinavian sailors on the Baltic and North Sea, the Klabautermann is a small water sprite who lives aboard ship. He's usually invisible, a little man in sailor's clothes with a pipe and a hammer, who helps the crew, fixing leaks and warning of danger by knocking on the hull.
Sailors left food for him. But seeing the Klabautermann was a terrible sign: it meant the ship was about to sink, and he would abandon it.
Explanations offered
The Klabautermann's knocking may be the creaking and banging of a wooden ship's timbers, and he reflects sailors' hope for luck at sea. He's related to household spirits on land, like the kobold. Carved figures of him were once kept on ships.
- When
- Told by sailors for centuries
- Where
- Stralsund, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
- Witnesses
- Sailors of the North Sea and Baltic
- Status
- Folklore
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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