On creepy nights, through dark woods and steep slopes group of women were secretly walking, looking back over their shoulders in fear that someone may follow them around to the place they are gathering. The top of the Brocken mountain in Germany was the biggest gathering point for witches in Europe. They were gathering to celebrate the coming of the Satan, on the night of Walpurgis. Even though the witchcraft was forbidden they were performing their witch ritual a witch sabbath. Many women have lost their lives during the chasing for the witches. Today people still come to this place, but no burning up women is being performed. Most of the witches in those days were accused for bad weather conditions and ruining the crops.

And today Walpurgis, night on April 30 is an old pagan festival, which borrowed its name from Saint Walburga whose feast occurs on May Day. On this night witches ride on their broomsticks to places of old pagan sacrifices in the Harz Mountains, especially to the Brocken. The Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, is considered to be the point of Walpurgisnacht. Its peak has 1142-meter and it’s always in mist and clouds, lending it a mysterious atmosphere that has contributed to its legendary status as the home of witches (Hexen) and devils (Teufel). There, they dance around a huge fire and worship their lord the devil, who bestows them with new magic power.
The writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in Faust writes that the witches come on Walpurgis night and sing:

“Now to the Brocken the witches ride; the stubble is gold and the corn is green; There is the carnival crew to be seen, And Squire Urianus will come to preside. So over the valleys our company floats, with witches a-farting on stinking old goats.“

If scary tales of witches, and devil and ghosts are not enough for you, the Brockenber has a meteorological phenomenon: the Brockengespenst, or spectre of the Brocken. Given the right atmospheric conditions, the mountain can produce an optical illusion. As the sun sinks, the shadow of a walker cast from a ridge becomes magnified and an enormous silhouette appears on low-lying clouds or mist banks below the mountain. If you are not afraid of the shadows than you’ll get scared when you find out that the distant shadow starts walking, tracking the observer’s path. The name Brocken spectre came into use among mountaineers after a climber fell to his death on the Brocken. Not realising that he was observing his own shadow, the climber lost his footing after being startled by a rainbow haloed figure emerging from the mists. Forest pathways snake through Brocken National Park, shrouded in mist, their gnarled limbs dripping with moss and lichens, the trees seem to close in behind the hiker. With names such as the Witch’s Altar and Devil’s Pulpit, bizarre rock formations rise from the forest floor. In the brooding green half-light, the rocks take on a malevolent appearance.