The Dragons of Mount Pilatus
The mountain above Lucerne was once so feared that climbing it was forbidden. Dragons lived there, people said, and one dropped a healing stone.
What was reported
Mount Pilatus rises over Lake Lucerne. Medieval legend said that the body of Pontius Pilate had been thrown into a small lake near its summit, and that his restless spirit raised storms whenever anyone disturbed it. For centuries the city of Lucerne forbade people to climb it.
The mountain was also said to be home to dragons. In one story from 1420, a dragon flew over a farmer near the mountain and dropped a stone, which was found to cure illness. The 'dragon stone' is kept in Lucerne's natural history museum.
Explanations offered
The storms are the ordinary weather of a mountain that catches cloud. In 1585 a priest climbed up with townspeople and threw stones into the lake to prove nothing would happen. The dragon stone is thought to be a meteorite, or more likely an ordinary stone shaped by water.
- When
- Told since the Middle Ages
- Where
- Mount Pilatus, Lucerne, Switzerland
- Witnesses
- Swiss legend, and a stone in a museum
- 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.
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