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Mayor Rudolf Brun’s Ghost Under St Peter’s Church Tower in Zurich

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After the exhumation of the graves of one of Zurich’s mayors who died under mysterious circumstances people started talking about seeing his ghost wandering around the church tower and wall of St. Peter. Could the ghost of Rudolf Brun, who ruled during volatile times in the city have returned?

Zurich, a city renowned for its stunning landscapes and rich culture, also harbors a darker side woven into its history. Tales of ghostly encounters and restless spirits have permeated its ancient streets, attracting those intrigued by the supernatural. St. Peter’s Church in Zurich is the only baroque church in the city. The clock on the tower is the largest in Europe and the dial has a diameter of 8.7 metres. St. Peter’s parish church is the oldest church in Zurich and dates to before the year 900.

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Buried just below the clock tower is Rudolf Brun, the first independent city mayor in the 14th century and leader of the Zürich guilds’ revolution of 1336. He died a terrible and mysterious death, that some attributed to poisoning.

Rudolf Brun as Zurich’s first Independent Mayor

Rudolf was the son of Jakob Brun, a member of the city council, and of Mechthild. Brun overthrew the former city council with the help of the city’s craftsmen in June 1336 to balance the power between them and the aristocracy. 

In 1349, Brun led a massacre of the Jewish community of Zurich, seizing many of the spoils for himself. The incident was caused by antisemitism in the city due to the alleged murder of the son of a Zurich man, and fueled by the subsequent accusations of well poisoning. The son of Zurich man Zur Wyden from a family of shoemakers, about four years old, was murdered, and the Jews were accused of the murder. The Zurich Jewish community numbered around 400, and most of them were killed.

Mayor Rudolf Brun for example took possession of the house of a certain Moses. This event took place in the frame of the widespread persecution of Jews during the Black Death, in which the Jews were accused of spreading the bubonic plague.

On 17 of September in 1360 he died and was buried in St. Peter’s Church together with his cook. It was believed that the cook had poisoned him, but it remained a mystery for years. 

Exhuming his Bone to get to the Bottom of the Murder Mystery

In  1972, Brun’s remains were examined and tested positive for arsenic according to the ghost walk tours that used to be in the city. But as the substance was often used in earlier times for medicinal and recreational purposes, the result was inconclusive. The bone and hair analysis gave no other signs for poisoning. 

So what really happened, and how did Bruno, who lived through a violent time in Zurich’s history, die?

None the wiser for the truth, Brun’s bones were reburied at the clock tower. If we are to believe the rumors, it was without his skull, which had mysteriously disappeared. Could this have been the incident that caused him to rise up as a ghost?

The Haunting of Rudolf Brun

Just a few weeks after the reburial of Rudolf Brun, two boys were playing football near the gravesite when they experienced something that would give the historic man a ghostly reputation. When the ball they were kicking stopped in front of  the feet of a dark figure. According to the boys, this mysterious figure before them was wearing old-fashioned clothes.

One of the boys went to get the ball, not really taking too much notice of the strange man standing at a short distance. When approaching, the figure of the man turned around and walked towards the tower wall. When reaching the wall, the figure walked right through it and disappeared. 

According to the rumors, more than one person had seen this figure around the tower. 

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References:

Ghosts haunt Zurich streets – SWI swissinfo.ch 

Rudolf Brun – Wikipedia

Zurich massacre – Wikipedia

Rudolf Brun – Wikipedia

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The Ghosts of the Patron Saints of Zurich: Felix, Regula and Exuperantis, Carrying their Heads under their Arms

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There is a ghost legend from Roman times in Zurich. The story of the martyrs and saints Felix, Regula and Exuperantis who rose from their deaths and walked with their heads under their arms, is still an important story for the city. 

Before it became the iconic Swizz city it is today, it once was a Roman outpost as well. Becoming the image of Zurich city, the ghostly tale of Felix, Regula and Exuperantis helped shape the city to become what it is today.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

One of the earliest ghost stories Zurich has to offer is the story of the three patron saints and what happened after their execution when they rose from the ground where they had been executed. 

The Legendary Theban Legion and The Saints of Zurich

Felix, Regula and Exuperantis fled to Zurich in the third century. Felix and Regula were siblings and members of the Theban legion based in Egypt. It is said they came from Egyptian nobility. Exuperantis was their servant. The legion, also known as the Martyrs of Agaunum, were stationed in the Roman outpost, Agaunum in the Valais in Switzerland. The legion consisting of 6666 med were all Christians led by the holy Mauritius, dying as a martyr around 287. 

The Ten Thousand Martyrs

They were going over the alps to put down a Gallian rebellion on the command from emperor Diokletians. When the legion refused to sacrifice to the Emperor Maximian of the Roman empire, they fled as they started executing every ten men.

They went through Valesia, preaching the gospel. They stayed in a cave in the wilderness for a while as well. The coptic Christians reached Zurich, which then was called Turicum in 286 and stayed with a Christian family. 

They were discovered by a man called Decius who was ordered to hunt the heathens down. First he tortured them, beating them and putting them in boiling oil to turn them. Still, they refused to worship the Roman gods. Then they were beheaded on the location where the Wasserkirche now is. 

The Saints of Zurich: Detail from the former altarpiece of the Chapel of the Twelve Apostles in the Grossmünster in Zurich : Martyrdom of the Zurich city saints Felix and Regula and their servant Exuperantius (right). In the background, the Lindenhof and Uetliberg can be seen from the panorama of the medieval city of Zurich. Condition after restoration and uncovering of the figures in 1937.

Their story was not done however, and after dying, their corpses stood up and picked up their heads on the ground before walking off. A trail of blood followed behind them. They walked around forty paces uphill, all the way to a hill where they prayed before laying down, thinking that this was a better place to be buried. 

Martyrs: The Zurich city saints Felix, Regula, and Exuperantius, as head bearers, offer their severed heads to Christ and are led by him into heaven. Banner: venide benedicti patris mey percibide rengnum 1506

The Truth Behind the Legend of Felix, Regula and Exuperantis’ Death

So what really happened in Roman times? Is this one of the ancient ghost stories? Some experts would even question the foundation of the story at all. 

The story of how they fled and carried their heads to the hill actually came to the monk, Florentius in a dream in the 8th century. In the 9th century there was a small monastery there and the holiness of the place grew over time.. The site where their supposed graves now are is Zurich’s most well known landmark, Grossmünster church that was built from around 1100. The Wasserkirch was built at the site of their execution. 

They have since the 13th century been saints and important for the people in Zurich. But at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1524, their graves were opened. Some claimed that they were already empty except for a few bone fragments. Some say that an Uri man stole the bones to Andermatt where the skulls of Felix and Regula can be seen today. The rest of the remains were sent back to Zurich today in the church dedicated to the saints. 

The Crypt: Crypt of the Wasserkirche in Zurich: Martyr’s Stone on which, according to legend, the city’s saints Felix and Regula and their servant Exuperantius were beheaded; a natural boulder deposited hereby the Linth glacier during the Würm glaciation. //Source: Roland zh/ Wikimedia

The skulls in question have been carbon dated, where one dates to the Middle Ages. The other skull is actually fragments of two different ones. One from the middle ages, and the other could be from Roman times. 

Were they even there? Some say that the Theban legion is fictitious, although some historians still claim that evidence places the legion in Switzerland at that time in history. Still, their feast day is 11th of September in the Gregorian calendar, and the story is still told, that they rose from their death, head in hand. 

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References:

Ghosts haunt Zurich streets – SWI swissinfo.ch

Felix and Regula – Wikipedia

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Ghosts of Uetliberg Hill and The Three Beeches by the Manegg Castle Ruins

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A woman scorned by the Manesse family from the ruins of the old Manegg Castle on the hills of Uetliberg in Zurich, she is said to haunt the place she was seduced and ended her life, appearing to passersby on stormy nights. 

From a Swizz perspective, the Uetliberg Hill is perhaps not much of a peak, but it  is Zurich’s very own “mountain”. From the top, visitors can enjoy beautiful views of the city and lake – and perhaps even a glimpse of the Alps. The Uetliberg is particularly popular in November, as its summit is often above the blanket of fog that can cover the city at this time of year. In the winter, the hiking trails to the summit are converted into sledding runs.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

It is also the location of a ghost story that has haunted these hills for centuries. The story of the ghost of a peasant girl who hanged herself on the Uetliberg hill after being betrayed by the cruel and lustful Duke of Manegg

Manegg Castle and The Manesse Family

Today, the Manegg Castle is just ruins, and even the ruins are starting to disappear. Not much is known about who built the castle, but the first documentation we have of it is from 1303. The Manegg castle square used to be a much visited place with a great view over the town, lake and mountain. 

Manegg Castle: The ancestral seat of the now extinct Manesse Family was Manegg Castle in the middle of the Albisberg, on the foothills towards Lake Zurich: It was burned by some mischievous noblemen. According to legend, this happened on Ash Wednesday, when a carnival party staged a playful siege. After the fire, large remnants of the walls survived until the 17th century. Today, only a few foundations are visible.

It was the ancestral seat for the Manesse knightley dynasty. The Manesse family is known primarily through the Manesse Manuscript, a collection of Middle High German songs. Their coat of arms depicts two fighting white knights on a red background, one of whom is victorious. It is a telling coat of arms ; the name comes from Manesser , meaning “man-killer.”

The Manesse family coat of arms: The Manesse Song Manuscript contains poetic works in Middle High German . Its core was produced around 1300 in Zurich , probably in connection with the collecting activities of the Zurich patrician Manesse family . Several additions were made up to around 1340. The text was written by 10–12 different writers, perhaps from the circle of the Grossmünster in Zurich.

The Manesse family were originally merchants and rose to knighthood through their wealth and reached their peak of power between 1250 and 1310. As vassals of the Fraumünster Abbey , the Einsiedeln Monastery , and the German Empire, they were an important family in the city of Zurich before becoming “extinct” around 1415..

In 1393, the castle was sold by Ital Maness to the “Jew Visli or Vifli” at a public auction, but already before this, it seems the castle didn’t have anyone living there anymore. 

Have a look at the panorama of the old castle ruins

The Three Beeches on Uetliberg

The girl was a beautiful and young girl from a nearby farmhouse, this more reclaimed by nature than the castle ruins. She often encountered the castle lord when he was out hunting, or walking into town. They started talking and he would soon seduce her by three beech trees on the hills. He told her he would marry her and she finally gave in. 

After this, he cast her away and treated her coldly with her losing her honor and innocence. To make him change his mind, she sat outside the castle gate, hoping he would take notice and pity her. Instead, he just laughed and sent the dogs after her, who ran out into the forest on the hill, and back to the three beeches. 

There she cursed his name before taking her own life. It is said she was buried close to three beeches on the hill as well as she wouldn’t be able to be buried as a consecrated ground. The trees were supposedly standing up to a few decades ago. 

The Manesse Family: The Manesse family was continuously represented in the Zurich City Council from the 13th to the 15th century. They twice provided the mayor and actively promoted the city’s cultural life. They belonged to the city’s patriciate . Rüdiger von Manesse, son of Ulrich M. Manegg and Adelheid von Breitenlandenberg. Married to Clarita von Hertenberg. Engraving by Johannes Meyer from 1696

The Ghost of Uetliberg Haunting Stormy Nights

Tales started to be told that someone was haunting the area around the three beeches were she was buried. When storms were coming in over the city and thunder roared a fire sprung up from under the trees, even when it was raining. 

As the lightning flashed, illuminating the night, travellers passing by would see a white figure, her long hair loose, beating her chest and wringing her hands, always looking at the old Manegg Castle where the lord who betrayed her came from. 

Now his castle has burned down, crumbled and his name mostly forgotten. 

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References:

Die drei Buchen am Uetliberg | Märchenstiftung 

Manesse – Wikipedia