Wildschönau Fables | Wildschönau Tourism

Fairytale Valley

Wildschönau Fables

The Wildschönau is a valley steeped in legend. The students of the Wildschönau High School have rewritten and illustrated 20 of the best-loved local legends. Read more here...

The ancient legends tell tales of dragons, giants, devils and ghouls. Many are creepy and some have a happy ending. Read the local legends here...
When you are out and about locally look out for the large Fabulous Wildschönau signs which indicate the places where the stories originated.

the best wildschönau legends

The Wildschönau Dragon

Many many years ago, the end of the Wildschönau Valley was covered by a huge lake. The Kundl Gorge through which the Wildschönau River flows into the Inn Valley did not yet exist...

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The Legend of Halsgatterl

The Great Plague must have struck with a vengance in the Wildschönau because the most terrible of our myths and legends tells the story of this sickness which wiped out most of the population of the region...

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Cranberries

Cranberry picking is a well-loved pastime in late summer and autumn. If the local legend is to be believed the cranberry was created in the Wildschönau by the devil himself...

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The Giant of the Markbachjoch

On the top of the Markbachjoch Mountain a huge and powerful giant was said to have lived. Every time the giant marched through his revier on the Markbachjoch the earth would quake under his feet...

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The Mühltal Giant

Between Oberau and Auffach lies Mühltal. A long, long time ago a terrible giant lived here with his servants, a group of dwarves in a huge crystal cave called the Mountain of Glass...

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The Wild Hunters

In early times, superstitious local people believed in a group of ghouls called the Wild Hunters, a band of flying demons who stole people away and who were especially dangerous at night...

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The Schatzberg Dwarf

There was once a dwarf who lived in the Wildschönau. He lived in a little watch tower. The dwarf guarded a huge gate in the mountainside that only he knew how to open...

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The Silver Mine in Thierbach

Many hundreds of years ago, Tirol was a fiefdom and silver and was still mined to pay the King’s tarif. Hundreds of miners searched for the precious metals...

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The Golden Dwarf Swore Revenge

Wherever mines existed in these regions there were always tales of Venetian Gnomes. These dwarf-like creatures were always on the lookout for any kind of precious metals and stones....

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The Garter Snake’s Crown

In olden days in this region there were stories told of Garter Snakes adorned with magical golden crowns. And so it was in the Wildschönau...

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The Marchegger

A ‘Marchegger‘ was someone who worked the ground around the boundaries of a piece of farmland - or even a little beyond the boundaries…

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The Demon of the Gressenstein

There are many chapels in our valley, but none as large or as splendid as Oberau’s Antonius Chapel. However, the story goes that one fearful Wildschönau inhabitant was not at all happy about a holy chapel...

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The Great Fire in Oberau

One day in the year 1719, an old beggar arrived in the Wildschönau. He had travelled a long way and as the lunchtime bells were ringing in the belfries he entered an inn in Oberau...

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The Building of Oberau’s Church

After the terrible fire that destroyed the Oberau Church in the year of Our Lord 1719, the inhabitants of the village erected a simple wooden construction to replace it...

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The Witches‘ Sabbath

Many years ago the people in the Wildschönau believed in witches. The story goes that once a year at Christmas the evil demons, witches and even the devil himself held a wild festival on the Lämpersberg...

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The Mill under the Lämpersberg

Hikers discover a very interesting spot on the east side of the Lämpersberg Mountain. Deep under the earth’s surface you can hear the roaring and clattering from an underground waterfall...

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The Devil in the Oberau Church

Even in earlier times people’s behaviour in church was not always exemplary. The Oberau Church congregation was notorious for its gossiping and inattention...

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The Strange Light in Auffach

A strange light could be seen every night in the new church in Auffach, as though all of the candles had been lit at once...

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The Creepy Ghost of the Kundl Alm

There are many stories about the high pastures around the Wildschönau Valley. Many mysterious happenings have been reported over the years, especially in autumn and winter when the cowherd’s huts stand empty...

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The Bull from the Black Lake

In the Tirolean mountains many small ponds and lakes can be found like the legendary Black Lake near the Lämpersberg Mountain. The dark moorland pond is the subject of our story...

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About the Project

The Wildschönau Legend Project with the local High School and the Wildschönau Tourist Board has been a huge success.
A huge compliment goes to project leader, art teacher Anton Silberberger as well as headmaster Paul Schneeberger for their ideas.
The "Art Benches" another project whereby the students created 5 colourfully decorated benches, was led by art teacher Stefanie Luchner. These seats are very popular with guests of the local Wildschönau open air pool!.

The fascinating Wildschönau Legends can be read in the booklet Fabulous Wildschönau available in the Wildschönau Tourist Office for € 2.
An ideal souvenir.