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A Case Study On A Local Urban Legend

Strange things occur in the woods near Blankenburg. (photo: private)

Lies die deutsche Version hier.

 

Intro

It was a dark night, distant town lights barely cut through the fog that was wrapped around the dense Blankenburg nadelwald in which Willi used to take walks to get his mind off the things that concerned him. He felt far from good, his job as a delivery for the local chinese restaurant proved to be a lot more strenous then expected. This time though, he found no comfort in the woods. He had the feeling that he was not alone in the Hartzer wilderness. It could be his imagination combined with the weariness from a particulary hard shift, or maybe it was the large man-made campfire and hut right in front of him. Willi stood there in shock, unable to move. What kind of shadowy being would live in such a place? Suddenly, the huts makeshift door opened, and Willi realized the immediate danger he was in. The wolf-person of the Hartz mountains had set up their camp to claim the innocent souls of Blankenburg!

 

Some facts

Let's start our study with some geographical context. Blankenburg is a small (19K residents as of 2023) and peaceful town in the Harz region of central Germany. Trust me, its heaven on earth, apart from its fierce local drug scene, the occasional Hells Angels / Bandidos punchup or the depressingly empty town centre. I grew up near Blankenburg and spent quite some time there as child, as it was my mums workplace. While the streets may be rough, one cannot deny the beauty of its surrounding nature and the extensive selection of local meat specialties of the now-defunct Real department store. Harz-excited backpackers can book a room in one of its hotels or b&bs if the fancier ones in Wernigerode blow up the budget. I remember going on hikes with my family on the nearby devils wall, a rock formation with its own essay-worthy legend (just not an urban one).

Blankenburg is small enough to let an urban legend spread around quickly, especially in an age where even my most backwoods relatives have a facebook account. The (heavily!) dramatized encounter described in the intro section took place on the morning of March 25th, 2023. While some articles claim years of wolf-person activity in the area, local news coverage of the phenomenon really began around this time. The incident occurred in the Heers forest, a nature reserve close to Blankenburg. The local police station received an emergency call about a jet flame and what the caller described as a “wolf-human” at the Sandhöhlen cultural heritage site. Services including firefighters arrived at the scene and met a person running away from a small fireplace. The fire was put out, the fleeing person wasn't caught, and nothing else of note happened that day. While that may not sound too exciting, forest fires are a real danger in the increasingly dry areas of the Harz region.

A mild press frenzy with nationwide tabloid coverage broke loose in the following months, made up mostly of retellings of the above occurence or similar ones. Videos by local TV crews were made, and some can be quite entertaining for german-speaking audiences (meet the locals and their wacky antics!). There also seems to be a small yet stable fanbase sympathizing with the wolf-person in online comment sections, insisting on investigators to leave them alone. The most interesting scoop was a strange picture of a figure sitting in what appears to be the Sandhöhlen area, somewhat reminiscent of the Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot footage. Assuming it hasn't been staged, it looks like a nude adult with grey skin, fur, or bodypaint, equipped with a wooden staff. Naturally, descriptions of the wolf-person vary, from a person in standard outdoor gear to someone dressed up as a wolf or even covered in actual fur. Local authorities told journalists that they are aware of one or several persons living in the forest and that they regularly find makeshift housings and fireplaces. To this day however, the identity of the Blankenburg wolf-person remains a mystery.

 

Some legends

The Heers nature reserve is noted for its man-made cave systems related to ancient human history. It is believed that the Sandhöhlen were a Thing site, a central element in early germanic society used as council, governing body and trading place. While the ancient Thing sites are now discussed as an early example of democratic participation, the concept of course got appropriated by the Nazis as a sort of open-air spectacle closely related to the ideology of the Volksgemeinschaft. Romanticized versions of pagan history where a thing (pun intended) since the early modern age and provide a satisfying blueprint for legends. Ignoring the obvious secular aspects of pagan society, places like the one near Blankenburg can be connected to all kinds of mystic rituals by modern-day new-age-enthusiasts.

They're not to be fooled around with: Werewolves

Being a passionate reader of gothic fiction, the legend also reminds me of Frederick Marryats short story “The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains”. Published in 1839 as a chapter of a larger novel and later re-released on its own, it tells a werewolf story that heavily builds upon the fairytale trope of the evil stepmother, who in this case is also revealed to be the titular white wolf. Apart from its jarring misogyny and the somewhat clunkily written setup, Marryats story also introduces the idea of forest spirits who take the form of humans or animals to punish those who comitted murder. My research has shown that there is more literature linking the Harz to werewolves: The Edwardian ghost hunter / author Elliott O'Donnell provided a colourful depiction of a similar encounter in the region in his 1912 non-fiction(!) book “Werewolves”.

In both of these narratives, the Harz region appears as a domain not yet conquered by christianity and modern society, inhabited by powerful forces of nature and mystery. The wolf-person lore ties into this, with the apparent inability of authorities and hobby investigators to get definite answers on the persons identity. This is a sharp contrast to the reality in most of the Harz, as anyone who has been there in recent years will find the region being turned increasingly into a tourist attraction. I bet my bronce Harzer Wandernadel that soon enough we will find postcards of the wolf-person in every tourist trap from Schierke to Thale. This paradox makes the narrative of someone hiding in the forest even more intriguing, suggesting that there still may be some place for the strange and unknown these days.

 

Some theories

We close our study with some theories i developed or came across regarding the wolf-persons identity. I genuinely believe that several unrelated entities could be responsible for what became this recent urban legend. Therefore, the theories do not exclude each other and could all be true (or none of them).

What secrets lie in the Harz mountains?

Theory #1: Homeless and/ or other marginalized people Some articles propose the idea that the people living in the woods may do so involuntary, either out of homelessness or financial debt. Considering the neglect homeless people face by local politicians and an overall poor economic state in town, there might be some truth to it. Communal shelters only exist in a neighboring town, arguably making it harder for people without resources to find someplace to live. This narrative has the potential to both over- as well as underestimate the agency of marginalized people and shouldn't be spread carelessly. I think it might be a possibility, though i believe that even around Blankenburg there are more friendly places to get shelter – as i wrote, half of it qualifies as a ghost town.

Theory #2: Neo-Pagan outdoor enthusiasts In one of the videos, the director of the Harzer Wandernadel mentioned people in all sorts of cosplay, typically neo-pagan oder medieval, visiting the Sandhöhlen site. I think this is the most likely explanation for the photograph described earlier. The connection of the site to ancient history and existing caves could have also inspired someone along these interests to go there for more than a photo opportunity and try to live in the forest for maybe a week or so – that would be sufficient for creating some media buzz in a town where nothing ever happens.

Theory #3: A genuine werewolf There might be a less mundane reason for hiding in the forest: being a werewolf. The caller on March 25th might have seen one mid-transformation that later appeared as a fleeing person to the authorities. Appearently there wasn't a full moon that night, but who relies on the moon for anything? The Harz can officially be declared werewolf capital of Germany. That would also put an interesting spin on tourism in the region. Hiking is so much more fun when you're busy dodging silver bullets.

 

Some last words

I hope that this essay helped the distinguished reader to gain some insight into the urban legend that is known as the Blankenburg wolf-person. My research was mostly based on newspaper articles that can be found and translated using search terms like 'Wolfsmensch Blankenburg'. While the german word 'Mensch' is grammatically gendered as male, not much is known about the persons gender and it wasn't really discussed in the articles.

Time will tell if the wolf-person can really establish itself as a local urban legend. I truly hope so.

 

This article was published under the CC BY-ND 4.0 license