Case file · High strangeness
The Brocken spectre
In 1780, Johann Silberschlag described a giant shadowy figure surrounded by coloured rings seen in the mist from the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz.
1780 CE · 51.80, 10.62 · status: explained
The account
The 'spectre' moved when the watcher moved. In a mountain long linked to witches, it fed stories of ghosts and was used by Goethe and the Romantics.
The sceptical view
It is the observer's own shadow cast onto mist or cloud, with a glory (coloured rings) around the head.
Connections in the atlas
- The witches of the Brocken
- The giant spectre of the Brocken