The Rider on the White Horse
On the North Sea dikes of Germany, a ghostly rider on a pale horse is said to gallop along the top of the wall when a storm flood is coming.
What was reported
In the folklore of the North Frisian coast, where low farmland is protected from the sea by dikes, a rider on a white horse was said to appear on the dikes during storms. His appearance was a warning that a great flood was coming and the dike might break.
The writer Theodor Storm, from Husum, turned the legend into a famous novella, Der Schimmelreiter, in 1888. In it, a determined dike-builder and his white horse die when the sea breaks through, and he returns as a ghost rider whenever the coast is in danger.
Explanations offered
The legend reflects the real danger of storm floods on this coast, which drowned many people in past centuries. Storm's novella is one of the best-known works of German literature, and the rider has become a symbol of the North Sea coast.
- When
- Legend; novella published in 1888
- Where
- North Frisian coast, near Husum, Germany
- Witnesses
- North Frisian folklore
- 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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