The Sennentuntschi
Lonely herdsmen high in the Swiss Alps made a doll out of rags and straw for company. One summer, it came alive.
What was reported
In a legend told across the Swiss and Austrian Alps, three herdsmen spending the long summer alone in a high mountain hut make a life-sized doll from rags, straw and an old broom. They dress it, talk to it, feed it and treat it as a woman, out of boredom and loneliness, mocking it all the while.
One day, the doll comes to life. At the end of the summer, when the men drive the cattle down to the valley, she takes a terrible revenge on one of them. The others look back to see him dead on the roof of the hut.
Explanations offered
The legend is a warning against sin and disrespect, and reflects the isolation of herdsmen who spent months alone in the high pastures. It inspired a play in the 1970s and a Swiss horror film in 2010.
- When
- Told for centuries
- Where
- Graubünden, Switzerland
- Witnesses
- Alpine 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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