The Pied Piper of Hamelin
A town's records say that in 1284 a piper in bright clothes led 130 of its children away, and they never came back.
What was reported
The earliest known account comes from a stained-glass window made for Hamelin's market church around 1300, now lost but described in later sources. It showed a piper in coloured clothes leading children away. Town records say that on 26 June 1284, 130 children of Hamelin followed a piper out of the town and were lost.
The rats came later: they were added to the story in the 16th century, and the tale reached its best-known form through the Brothers Grimm and the poet Robert Browning.
Explanations offered
Historians have offered many explanations: young people leaving to settle new lands in eastern Europe, which fits Hamelin surnames later found there; a children's crusade; a disaster or an epidemic; or a dance. No record from the time settles which, if any, is right.
- When
- 26 June 1284
- Where
- Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany
- Witnesses
- The town's own records, and a church window now lost
- Status
- Never solved
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.