The Pied Piper
The year is 1284. The town of Hamelin is in chaos. A rat infestation has swept through the town, and the people are desperate for a solution. One day, a stranger arrives in town. He is dressed in a long, flowing coat and a wide-brimmed hat. He carries a pipe, and he plays a strange, haunting melody.
The town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation in the year 1284. A piper dressed in multicolored clothes appeared and stated that he was a rat-catcher. He promised the town and the mayor that he would help the town with this rat problem. The mayor promised to pay him for removing those rats, and the price tag was 1000 guilders. The piper decided to take the mayor up on his offer, and lured the rats to the Weser River with his pipe. The rats drowned. The mayor took back his offer and decided to pay the piper 50 guilders instead of the promised 1000. The mayor went as far as to say that the piper brought the rats himself just so he could come and remove the rats for a high price. The piper was so angry that he left the town and said that he would take his revenge on the town.
On Saint John and Paul’s Day, the piper returned when all of the adults were in the church. He was dressed in green to look more like a hunter. He was playing his pipe and attracting the town’s children. About 130 kids followed him out of town and into a cave. The children were never seen again.
The earliest mention of this story of the Pied Piper seems to be a stained glass window. It was placed in the Church of Hamelin in 1300. There are several accounts of the window between the 14th and 17th centuries. The window was destroyed in 1660, but a modern reconstruction of this window was created by Hans Dobbertin. It is generally considered that the window was created in memory of a historical event from the town that was very tragic. There is an entry from 1384 that apparently states “It is 100 years since our children left”. There are no explanations for the event that is universally accepted as fact. The rats weren’t even added to the story until 1559.
In 1384, Decan Lude of Hamelin reported that he had a chorus book that contained a Latin verse that gave an eyewitness account of the event. An early German account of the event is in the Luneburg manuscript. Part of the town gate from 1556 is exhibited in the Hamelin Museum. According to the museum, the stone is the oldest surviving evidence for the legend. It has the following inscription:
“In the year 1556,
272 years after the magician
Stole 130 children from the city,
This gate was founded.
Between 1559-1565, Count Froben Christopher von Zimmern wrote a version of this legend in one of his books. This is one of the earliest accounts which mentions the plague of rats.
There are theories that the children were lost from natural causes instead of the mystical character of the Pied Piper. One of those theories is that the children died from disease or starvation, and the Pied Piper is symbolically the character of Death. Some other theories are that the children died in the Weser river, died in a landslide, or from a sinkhole.
There is also one theory that the children died from an epidemic that were brought from the rats.
There is also a theory that all of the undocumented children were sold to a recruiter in the Baltic region. This was not uncommon at this time. Linguistics Professor Jurgen Udolph said that 130 children did disappear on a June day in 1284 in Hamelin. He states that: ”There were characters known as lokators who roamed northern Germany trying to recruit settlers for the east.”
All local reports of the incident of the missing children state that it is specifically June 26th. June 26th is a pagan holiday known as midsommar. They often place emphasis on the children being led away to the “Koppen”, which translates to hills. In some areas of Germany, there are bonfires that are lit on these mountains. Some believe that a shaman led the children away to participate in this event and was either massacred by local Christians in the area or forced into a monastery.
A mass psychogenic illness may also be a theory. This is in the form of dancing mania. In the 13th century, dancing mania outbreaks did occur. One happened in 1237 when a large group of children traveled from Erfurt to Arnstadt, which is about 12 miles. They were jumping and dancing all of the way.
Whatever option is what really happened, the truth is that 130 children went missing that day. We may never know what really happened, but it was a day to remember.
Facts about missing children now:
It is estimated that 2300 children go missing every day in the U.S.
About half of a million children go missing every year.
97.8% of those children are found in a year.
Fun facts:
-This story was spread as folklore and has appeared in writings from people like the Brothers Grimm and Robert Browning.
-There is a popular theory that the Pied Piper is a symbol of hope to the people of Hamelin, which was attacked by a plague that was carried by the rats.
-In some versions of the story, there were three children behind. One child was deaf and could not hear the music. One was blind and could not see where the piper was going. The third was handicapped and could not keep up.
-The Hamelin street named Bungelosenstrasse, or the street without drums, is believed to be the last place the kids were seen. Music and dancing has not been allowed on this street ever since.
-To this day, the town is very much centered around the pied piper. The local restaurants have an “at tail” dish from thinly sliced ham. There are also rodent shaped cakes and breads. There are also reenactments put on by the Hamelin Museum. There are souvenir shops where you can buy rat- themed gifts and all things pied piper.