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The Linden Tree of Linn: A Living Monument to Death, Hope, and Haunting Whispers

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Planted to mark the mass grave of plague victims, the Linden Tree in the Aargau valley in Switzerland has become a famous landmark. In the night though, it is said that the ghosts buried underneath it crawls from the ground to haunt as a warning for any oncoming tragedies.

High on a quiet ridge in the canton of Aargau, between the whispering woods and gentle slopes of the Swiss countryside, stands a tree unlike any other. Towering, ancient, and impossibly wide, the Linden Tree of Linn—or Linner Linde is said to possibly be around 800 years old. It’s not just one of the largest and oldest trees in Switzerland; it is a living legend, a relic of both unimaginable tragedy and eerie mystery.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

This is the legend from this beautiful village in the canton of Aargau, passed down by Ludwig Rochholz (1836–1892) and it is said that in the long nights of fall and winter, the dead will rise and roam the fields and coming back to their old village.

The Linner Linden: The majestic Linden Tree in the Jurapark, Aargau valley, a living symbol of history and local legend. // Ginkgo2g/Wikimedia

The Plague Victim’s Linden Tree

Planted in the aftermath of one of Europe’s darkest chapters, the Black Death, the Linner Linde is said to have grown from grief and memory. Around the year 1350, when the bubonic plague ravaged the continent and swept through the remote Alpine valleys, the tiny village of Linn was not spared. Or was it in fact at a later time when the plague hit again and again? Some say that it was planted in the middle of the 16th century in memory of the victims of the plague epidemics. Sources claim different things. 

The disease moved like a shadow across the land, taking entire families in a matter of days. According to enduring local lore, only one lone survivor remained after the plague had claimed every soul in the village.

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Grief-stricken and entirely alone, this unnamed survivor dug graves for the dead—perhaps his family, friends, and neighbors—and buried them in a mass grave at the heart of Linn as it was impossible to get them all to the cemetery. To mark the resting place and to honor the memory of the fallen, he planted a linden sapling. As the tale goes, he prayed the tree would stand guard over the village and protect future generations from the same fate. That tree, now more than 650 years old, still spreads its colossal limbs above the village, its twisted trunk reaching nearly 11 meters in circumference, its presence as solemn as it is majestic.

The Haunted Linden Tree

But as much as the Linner Linde is revered for its protective symbolism and deep roots in local history, its ghostly associations run just as deep. On misty evenings or moonless nights, villagers speak in hushed voices of strange occurrences beneath its boughs. Lanterns flicker without wind. Footsteps echo when no one walks. Soft, sorrowful murmurs—some say prayers, some say weeping—rise from the earth where the plague victims were laid to rest. On more than one occasion, passersby have claimed to see pale figures seated silently on the surrounding benches, vanishing into the morning light like dew.

Source

Legends say that the souls buried beneath the tree are restless—not malicious, but bound to the land by the trauma of their deaths. Some even believe that the linden itself has absorbed their sorrow, giving it an otherworldly aura that draws both the curious and the grieving. During certain village festivals, elders insist on leaving offerings at the base of the tree: bread, wine, and flowers, in quiet communion with the unseen.

Watch the Webcamera of the Linden Tree:

Yet not all stories are grim. Some say the tree whispers wisdom to those who sit beneath it in solitude. It has become a place of solace, reflection, and even romance. Couples have been married under its branches, babies blessed at its roots, and old villagers have chosen to take their last walks toward its embrace. It is both grave marker and guardian, sanctuary and spectral portal.

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The 2020 Halloween Costume Award Show

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There has always been one or two at a big Halloween party sporting the long nose tip mask, masquerading as the classical plague doctor. The same person that are always sending invitations to a Steampunk convention. But this year, the costume is on the front on so many marketing campaigns for Costume shops.

Of course, there are other costumes showing up as well. A new Harlequin costume from Birds of Prey, because we truly need a new one every other year, a Mandalorian costume, because of course, as well as a costume for every rebooted Disney movie this year.

Iconic Halloween Costumes Throughout the Ages

It is not a new thing that Halloween costumes reflects the pop-cultural impact that year. Like Game of Thrones characters lately, the Star Wars characters when they came out, and even further back, think of when Batman, Zorro or Micheal Jackson’s Thriller hit the world. It is all reflected in the costumes.

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It’s not only fictional characters or singers inspiring them, but the society around us, the news and the happenings of the world. Like when everybody dressed as astronauts the year of the Moonlanding, a royal baby when the British Royal family gave birth to a new heir. This will of course have regional impacts as well, as the modern Halloween tradition grow global, we still have our national differences in the political landscapes.

Although the costumes are always changing, it is never the trends that really tops the most bought costumes. It is always the same costumes that overflood the Halloween parties every year: Witches, vampires, zombies, pirates and superheroes. Both the slutty and non-slutty versions. But among them, the echo of society walks among the living dead.

The Plague Doctor is in

A new corner of costumes has snuck its way into the new arrivals or made a new category in many costume shops. Like the Bio Hazard Suit, the Plague Doctor has been brushed dust from its tired look and put in showcase in front of the store. And like the Harlequin costume, there is only one reason why: It is a demand for it.

It would perhaps be weird if this costumed popped up out of no where, but seeing the global landscape and what impacted us most this year, it goes without saying this is the cosplayer’s response to 2020.

Popular: On Wish, thousands of people have already bought the costume for this years Halloween. And it appears as one of the top searches for ‘Halloween Costume’ there as well.

In many ways, it showcase the need for human kind to put our fears from the everyday world into firm material. It is an interesting thing about the human condition. And a telling one, especially in the western hemisphere that it is this particular imagery that we conjure up, every time we fear sickness we can’t control. A new sort of unconscious mythological icon to separate ourselves from a deadly disease.

In many ways we can see this as the same with the fashion face masks. You know, the one looking great, but are no were near effective to shield us from any diseases? Perhaps buy one of these plague doctor costumes instead. It kind of worked in the middle ages. It is most likely more effective than many of the fashion face masks.

But what was this Plague Doctor?

A plague doctor was a physician who treated victims of the bubonic plague. You know, from medieval times. Another case that no fashion is out forever. As they had a rather narrow understanding of how sickness worked back in those days, they seldom cured any of their patients. They served to record a count of the number of people contaminated for demographic purposes.

Vintage Costume: For the true fan of vintage and historically accurate costumes, a 17th century costume from Germany.

They wore the famous beak mask to protect them from illness which they believed was airborne. In fact, they thought disease was spread by miasma, a noxious form of ‘bad air.’ Today this practice is obsolete, although, some would say the thoughts like it is making a combat, trying to combat the bad air or energy with esoteric oils. The plague doctors themselves put sweet smells of flowers, herbs and spices to combat this illness they though lingered in the air.

The costume have changed throughout the years though. Medical historians have in fact attributed the invention of the ‘beak doctor’ costume to a French doctor named Charles de Lorme in 1619.

They were also rarely proper doctors, and there are stories that in one case, a plague doctor had been a fruit salesman before his employment as a physician.

But the strong imagery of them has lingered, long after their failed methods of treading plague patients with leeches and herbs was replaced with modern medicine. The doctors themselves morphed into a sort of dark omen, a warning of imminent death. Because if these doctors started walking your streets, it was a certain telling you probably were gonna die.

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The Plague of the Past (?)

In these strange and scary pandemic times, its nice to live in a world of modern health care, science and the wide spread information about the internet. But pandemics and epidemics have always been a part of the human experience through history, and it’s really just in the last couple of centuries, we’ve really been…

Too Medievaly Mainstream

And don’t you worry, if the plague doctor gets too mainstream for you, there is always the Hazmat Suit option this year. For a more up to date imagery, icon and way of dealing with this fear of disease and help us social distancing at Halloween parties. If you are allowed to step outside that is. Or rather, if you let yourself.

Ah, anyway, what is the point. What is the point of acquiring a costume is all Halloween this year is sitting on your couch, skyping with friends and watching horror movies by yourself? Also, check out this list about ideas for costumes to wear on Skype or Zoom.

So what do you think? What will be the Halloween costume of the year? How about next year?

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5 Pandemic Movies to Watch during the Pandemic

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In these times so many of us turn to these horrible movies that reflect our time. Pandemic movies have never been watched so much as now. Why is it so that a real threat leads to a thirst to watch more about it? Is it the feeling of being prepared that makes us seek out these movies? Is it assurance that at least we don’t have it that bad, or is it more the recognition, and that these movies are not as far fetched as they once were? So here are five, non-zombie pandemics to get us through quarantine.

The Crazies (2010)

This is a remake of the classic from 1973 with the same name. It did really well to be a remake of George A. Romero. Starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell, it focuses on a fictional Iowa town that becomes afflicted by a military virus that turns those infected into violent killers.

After a strange and insecure plane crash, an unusual toxic virus enters a quaint farming town. A young couple are quarantined, but they fight for survival along with help from a couple of people.

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Children of men (2006)

London, 2027. In this dystopian world, humans have been incapable of reproducing for eighteen years for an unknown reason and been ridden with the flu epidemic. Britain is the one remaining civilized society on the planet, which has resulted in people wanting to immigrate there. As such, it has become a police state in order to handle the immigrants, who are placed into refugee camps. A former activist is tasked to get the only pregnant woman to a safe place.

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Carriers (2009)

Starring Chris Pine and Piper Perabo, this dystopian roadtrip movie has gained new life after the Corona virus put people in quarantine to watch movies.

As a lethal virus spreads globally, four friends seek a reputed plague-free haven. But while avoiding the infected, the travelers turn on one another.

Black death (2010)

This movie stars some Game of Thrones actors, including Sean Bean and Carice van Houten as well as Eddie Redmayne. You can probably guess how well Sean Bean fares in this movie. Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is given the task of learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life in a small village.

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It comes at night (2017)

This movie was written and directed by Trey Edward Shults. Shults began writing the film after the death of his father as a way of dealing with the pain. And it is mostly about a family. Well, set in an dystopian pandemic ravaged world.

Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son. Then a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.

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