The Lorelei
On a high rock above a dangerous bend of the Rhine, a golden-haired woman is said to sing boatmen to their doom.
What was reported
The Lorelei is a slate rock rising about 130 metres above the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, at a narrow, fast-flowing bend long feared by boatmen. The rock was known for its echo, which may be where its name comes from: old German words for 'murmuring' and 'rock'.
In 1801 the writer Clemens Brentano told of a beautiful woman linked to the rock. Heinrich Heine's poem of 1824, later set to music, turned her into a siren who sat combing her golden hair and singing, so that boatmen forgot the rocks and were wrecked.
Explanations offered
The legend is a literary creation of the Romantic era rather than ancient folklore, though it drew on the real dangers of the bend and the rock's famous echo. The river has since been widened and deepened, and the Lorelei is one of the Rhine's best-known sights.
- When
- Legend from 1801
- Where
- St. Goarshausen, Rhine Gorge, Germany
- Witnesses
- Rhine boatmen
- Status
- Legend
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.