Bibliographic information of the German National Library:
The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography; Detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet via www.dnb.de.
© Gunivortus Goos, Usingen, Germany 2022
eMail: Goos@boudicca.de
Design, typeset and cover: Gunivortus Goos
Front image: Hannah Böving, http://hannahboeving.com
Editing and proofreading: Ralph Young
Final editing: Gunivortus Goos
All rights reserved; No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyrightholder.
Production and publishing: Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
ISBN: 978-3-7562-9709-2
"Light gray figures hurrying to nowhere,
the wind blows them into the future,
it is misty".
Andreas Faulstich
"You probably know that too, perhaps you’ve even experienced it: you look into the drifting clouds in the sky, and suddenly you think you recognize a face or a figure; you often even involuntarily fill them with feelings, e.g. laughing or threatening. Or you see something in the patterns of curtains or wallpaper, even if they have been there already for years - the same thing also can happen in other places in other situations.
Such a momentary 'sight' can be dismissed as a coincidence, a temporary mental confusion, the result of extraordinary fatigue... But maybe it makes sense to ask yourself whether the appearance could be a communication intiated by a being that you otherwise can not perceive. Perhaps, in this way, you are 'contacted' with a specific intention. Maybe, it is a hint or a warning given to you that way that is better to heed.
Up until the beginning of modern times it was accepted that more beings go around on earth than we can see, beings who live on another 'plane of existence'. Christianity was no exception; the very fact that spirits are not counted as part of the true faith and therefore have been demonized keeps the assumption that they exist.
Since the spread of rationalism, from around the 17th century (it started around halfway the 16th century, but was not wider spread at that time), this attitude of mind changed. Rationalism also brought with it a clear skepticism, in such a way that everything that could not be inferred through sensory perception was declared to be the product of fantasy and superstition. This way of thinking was particularly wide spread in the natural sciences until the 20th century. Only in the last few decades that 'one-dimensional' thinking has lost its absolute claim. Since then, interest in things that cannot be scientifically explained in the traditional sense can again be expressed publicly without scolding.
This book is intended to make a small contribution by dealing with some of those things that is going beyond just sensory perception: the 'Witte Wieven’ or Mist witches."
The above quote is from my little book about Mist Witches which was published in 2005. With the completion of that book, the topic was ticked off for me. But the interest in Western European folk tales remained unbroken, and my collection of saga books grew considerably over the years. It was inevitable that new folktales about "Witte Wieven" (Mist Witches) also were added to my collection.
As a side note: The expression “Witte Wieven” is pronounced in English as:
• Witte: the 'i' as in 'witty’; the 'tt’ like the last letter in 'quit’ (sharp spoken).
• Wieven: the 'ie’ as the 'ea’ in 'weasel’.
In January 2021, the idea arose to process all the new material I had collected into a new edition.
Something which certainly played a role in the decision to release a new, revised, edition is the fact that in those first years of the 21st century we (my wife and I) had just shyly started to design the typesetting and layout of our texts and books ourselves. It took us several years to be able to do this in a high quality - the learning process took its time. The 2005 German edition of the Mist Witches’ book was not yet of this quality. In addition to greatly expanded content, there is also a much better design to this new edition.
Nevertheless, there is still much more that is yet possible in terms of content; there is surely even more folk knowledge and more folk tales about the White Mist Women, probably even more than was known to the author while working on this book. This book therefore does not claim completeness.
Parts of the content of the old book have now been mixed up with new content, both in the background information and the folk tales. In addition, because Mist Witches belong to the superordinate group of mist or fog spirits, about which there are stories from many places in the world, a little bit about these other mist spirits is also told, before the tales about Mist Witches or "Witte Wieven" are up - according to the book title they are the focus of attention here. The author hopes that the many pictures and photos will contribute to the intended atmosphere of the content of the book. It should be made clear here that the pictures are not authentic images of Witte Wieven, Nebelhexen or White Women. In all cases these are either creative work by artists from the past and present, or those by the author of this book who contributed his own creations and picture montages. Unfortunately, it must be said in advance, that questions about which sources this specific fact or that certain story comes from cannot be answered in many cases. It is not out of unwillingness, but rather because these sources are no longer available and the specific details have slipped out of the author’s memory.
At dusk at the end of an autumn day, she was riding on her bicycle on her way home. It had been a long day at work. In the medical practice where she worked as a doctor's assistant, there had been patients until late at night. In the past few weeks during her breaks she had enjoyed reading the Mist Witches book. There were many beautiful, horrible stories in it. Of course, and she was sure of it, in reality there were no Mist Witches, they only existed in the popular belief of ordinary people from centuries ago.
Although it was a beautiful book, for her, as an educated and enlightened woman, the legends had nothing to do with reality.
As she cycled on, the fog came up, which was nothing special for the time of year. The fog was getting thicker, but luckily she had driven the route so often, that she would have been able to reach her home blindfolded, so to speak. When she had almost had reached the small bridge over the stream, the fog had become so thick that her bicycle lamp hardly helped to illuminate the road. That was probably because there was water flowing there, as she knew. Patches of fog came towards her.
“Was it Mist Witches after all?” “Oh no, they don't even exist.”
Still, she felt a little fear arising. She dismounted and walked to the narrow bridge, bike in hand. Suddenly she stopped, stiff with terror. Right in front of her she saw something which was small, green and glowing. It was coming towards her. Then, out of the mist, two green eyes looked at her, and a friendly voice said inside her head:
"Don't worry, a pure heart doesn't need to be afraid of me. But if you follow your path a little further, where there is a large stone on the right side of the road, an old man has stumbled and lies in the ditch. You can certainly help him.""
Then the eyes slowly disappeared again.
A short time later she actually found an old man near the stone, as had been mentioned, who was half lying in the ditch behind it and he was moaning slightly. She knew him, he lived not far from her apartment. She helped him back on his feet and slowly they walked on until she had brought the old man to his house. She didn't tell him how she was told of him, even though he might have been almost completely out of sight from the road. She wouldn't tell anyone else either, otherwise they would all think she was either going crazy or hallucinating from being overtired.
At home, she fell exhausted down on the couch and fell asleep there almost immediately. She dreamed of two green eyes looking at her.
Then, out of the mist, two green eyes looks at her
When you feel the eyes of the beings of the night
and you're seduced by the mist of their shape
at forests and waters you can hardly escape
because near is the hour of their greatest might
... always and everywhere the Mist Witches ...
Because "Mist Witches" is a relatively young term, a few explanatory words are helpful in advance in regards to the beings named in the book title, the Mist Witches. The Mist Witches are a special group of mist spirits. Mist spirits are found in the mythologies and folk tales of many cultures in the world. Where low-hanging mist occurs, especially mist of uneven density, where light winds make the mist waft slightly, there, often folk tales are told in which mist spirits play a role.
The term mist witch has long since ceased to be an unknown phrase, indeed it is used in many places- in ghost stories, in books for young people and children, in comics and plays. It is used as well as in poetry, as a description of images, in fantasy, and role playing games. One musician called herself by that name and as a pseudonym it is used more and more often on the Internet. You can even find it in recipes, as a type of beer, and as a name for a well-known restaurant. No wonder, then, that it is becoming more and more common in activities and events for children and adults; if the respective project has to do with witches, then the term is used for one of several ’types of witches’.
As is the case with many such words, the use of the term is being expanded, but at the same time, because of that, it is becoming increasingly unclear where it actually comes from in our historical tradition. Even if there appear mist creatures in many cultures, our myths and legends describe them in such a way that is suited to the regional culture of the Dutch-German borderlands. The development of the meaning of the words “Mist Witches” in the cultural tradition of the mentioned border region is the main topic of this book - and that is achieved through folktales.
The Mist Witches which this book is specifically about occur only in a small part of the Netherlands and Germany. The focus of these tales lies in the east of the Dutch provinces of Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel and Gelderland and the adjacent areas in Germany, which are the western strip of the districts of Leer, Emsland and the county of Bentheim in Lower Saxony, and Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia. But they also occur north of this border area, all the way up to the Baltic coast in Schleswig-Holstein. In the adjacent areas the legends about these beings decrease strongly. See the map at p. 84.
In the northern and eastern Dutch dialects and those from the adjacent German border area, Mist Witches are not spoken of. There we are told of "Witte Wieven”, Witte Wiven, "Wittewiven", "Widdewive" and a few other similar spellings. It literally means "white women", but the terms encompass more than just women dressed in white. The term itself refers to something a bit ghostly, often something threatening - it is not about fellow human beings who differ from others by their clothing. Therefore, Mist Witches are not witches in the traditional human sense, the term witch mainly indicates here the witch-like power, the magical ability that is common to many folktales is implied.
The attempt to interpret the term "Witte Wieven" usually results in the explanations below.
According to tradition, they are always dressed in white, but since mist or fog occurs in different tones of white, there are also differences in the appearance of Mist Witches. Ultimately, however, this is the explanation for the name 'White Women’ as they are also called, or in the dialects: Widde Wiver or Witte Wieven. But maybe the explanation of the name referring just to color is too one-dimensional. A linguistic attempt to explain the western Saxon 'Widde' or ’Witte’ provides the following:
to see
to know
white
wise
[sensible, reasonable]
The German dialect and legend researcher Becker therefore took the position in the 18th century that 'Witte Weiber' (White Wives) or 'Widde Wiver' should be translated as ’knowing women’. In the Middle High German of the Middle Ages, one spoke of a sensible person as "wittich syns verstandes" or "wittich syner sinnen" and sensible people were called: "witachtige laden".
Until the 19th century, some West Saxon dialects called a midwife a Wize-moor, Wiesmoor or Wize-moer (’wise mother’).
Investigating the second part of the term 'Witte Wieven' you will find the following information:
Wief, plural Wiever or Wieven is the word for ’woman’ in the West Saxon dialect. In modem German language development there are two different words 'Weib' and ‘Frau’ (both pointing to wife or woman). The origin of 'Weib' is described in research as follows:
It is difficult to explain the word ‘Weib’ (woman, wife) unambiguously and clearly. It is striking that the word’s gender is neuter; it may have originally been used as a more general asexual term and was later restricted to the gender designation for a female-identified person. It is related to 'wîb', the term for movement. ’Weib’ therefore probably originally referred to the mobile, the agile being; it can also point to wrapping, enveloping, swinging. In contrast, ‘Frau' is initially called mistress, but originally the happy, mild, gracious one, in English it may be translated best as 'lady’: (Old Norse: frouwa and freyja).
Karl Gotthelf Jakob Weinhold was a German philologist. As a Germaniscist and Medievalist, he devoted himself to the historical foundations and the development of the German language, and in 1882 he wrote
The relationship of the Germanic man to his master, the position of the free man to the leader, who was distinguished by efficiency, and bound his loyal companions with a mild hand and a friendly spirit, was beautiful and cheerful bond; that is why the master was called “the joyful one” and “the kind one”. For a long time, the word ‘Frau’ retained its old meaning "mistress"; in the 13th century it was still the exclusive designation for noble women, regardless of whether they were married or not.
Karl Weinhold, p. 4
In addition to the general gendered term, 'wib' 'vîf' denoted a social status, it indicated a woman without a special title or prominent position, for a woman of higher background the word ’Frau’ was used.
The 'Wieven' in Witte Wieven ’can therefore be ambiguous; it can refer to gender or to movement, as well as women without a distinguished background. Thus, much can be imagined for Mist Witches. With this information, the explanation can be derived linguistically - the Mist Witches are ’white, swaying, wise, female mist creatures’.
With these considerations it is not far to the conclusion that German ‘weise’ (wise) and 'weiß' (both white and to know) are also related to one another. This is what the Dutch radio presenter and professional storyteller Willem de Ridder meant when he portrayed how Mist Witches echo our Germanic past:
Our Germanic ancestors lived in a society in which women played an important role. There were wise women who healed the sick with their herbs, prophesied the future, worked as midwives, and mediated conflicts. They had a certain power in society. When Christian doctrine was imposed on the Germanic tribes, they were also given a social hierarchy dominated by men and thus the wise women were banished by the church. They were called witches and they were increasingly associated with evil and the devil. The meaning of the name 'Witte Wieven can be seen in the word Witte, which also means’ know’and' wise ...
It remains to be seen whether everything about de Ridder’s statement is completely correct, but it is an idea that not just this author alone supports.
All of the above terms concerning Mist Witches or Witte Wieven are used in the following tales and discussion, but in most cases the spelling of the respective source is used, but rest assured that regardless of phrasing, each time the ghost women of mist are meant.
According to some legends, they are actually not of flesh and blood, but of ... well, that is often not clear. What substance are ghosts made of?
For the white women spirits outside the researched area, this remains unclear, often they are generally counted among the ’ghosts’, sometimes transparent, sometimes solid, which can dissolve, which cannot be wounded with weapons ... if they are made of smoke or fog, then they are well able to keep their shape when the wind blows a little.
For the group of "Witte Wieven" or Mist Witches this is at least partly clear ...
Appearing from the mist on the water
It is true that not all sources make it clear that the Witte Wieven are mist creatures. Although they are called 'ghosts', their consistency is not always obvious. But in this content, some folktales do have a connection with the mist, and here are some examples from the legends:
Their consistency is so light that they do not run, but often float; some more examples from the folktales:
These few examples show that the name Mist Witches (German: Nebelhexen) used to describe "Witte Wieven" may be accurate. But doubts remain, because who wants to know with certainty what consistency, what ’material’ the bodies of the spirits, in this case Witte Wieven, are made of. Mist is assumed here, which is why the main figures here are called "Mist Witches".
As is very often the case with folk tales, there are contradictions for the logically thinking person that cannot be explained with common sense thinking. In the folk tales there are stories of Mist Witches (Witte Wieven) who eat pancakes and drink beer or milk. How is that supposed to work when you have a mist body? There is no logically satisfactory answer to this, as is the case with many other myths and legends.
The title and subtitle of the previous German edition of this work from 2005 may therefore be significant, translated: - Mist Witches live between Here and Hereafter - sometimes they can be solid, then again misty or completely invisible.
Because we know nothing about these things, it is easy and futile to speculate about them. So it would perhaps be a better idea to take the stories as they are, without wanting to look for any logic in them, except perhaps for moral aspects.
A few words need to be said about the term ’legend’. Long articles and even whole books have been written about the various types of narratives, their characteristics and subdivisions. But here, in the interest of brevity, this discussion is kept as short as possible and adapted to the content of this book.
As a preliminary point:
In casual usage the words folktale (or folk tale), legend and myth may well be used interchangeably, although they are not quite the same in scope from an academic point of view. Nonetheless, when in this book these different terms appear, consider them as folktales. For all clarity, the author’s use of ‘folk’ in ‘folktale’ relates directly to folklore, the lore and tradition of the common folk.
Folklore is a general term describing the popular, shared traditions of a nation or people (folk) that are usually informal, local and oral in their transmission. It applies to stories, proverbs, songs, dance and so on. It may include elements that are legendary, superstitious, humorous, moralistic, or even mythical.
Cando at the wordreference.com forum, Apr 20, 2016
Originally, the legend (the German term 'Sage - pronounced like the Norse story typ 'saga'), is something that has been said, something spoken, such as a short speech, a rumor or a report - a decisive characteristic that has been passed on orally for decades or much longer. Closely related is the German verb 'sagen' which means ‘to speak’.
The content of a legend (which is generally kept brief relates to originally real events, which are often adapted for the time in which they are told, or to the audience or local conditions); names of places are often mentioned and many legends often include observations in the surrounding nature containing elements that are inexplicable, fairytale-like or magical in nature. At the time such stories went from mouth to ear, they fitted in with the prevailing popular belief. Legends differs from fairy tales by the almost self-evident claim for credibility, and at that it is irrelevant, that dwarfs, witches or other 'supernatural' beings occur in the story, or that inexplicable natural events occur that cause fear or bring blessings.
In addition, legends are usually anchored in true facts or those that one can imagine as true:
The Bourtanger Moor
Almost all peoples in the world have legends, but the content then naturally corresponds to the respective culture. It should be noted that in colloquial language there is often no clear distinction made between a legend and a myth; in this regard, in the English-speaking world, the term 'legend' is a word used for almost all narrative types. As already mentioned: instead of 'legend' here, the term folktale is preferred.
The general origination of a legend may may well be concrete, but the legend can certainly be transformed through its oral dissemination. Legends are passed on, from village to village, from area to area, they can virtually wander, which is why similar stories occur in different regions, the core of the story remains almost the same, but they are always adapted to the peculiarities of the respective local environment.
Migratory legends, sometimes also called 'hiking legends' are therefore stories whose core, i.e. the basic content, is more or less the same, but which are told differently in different regions, and adapted to the respective area. Facts such as the place names, the local persons, or specific characteristics of the surroundings can be adapted.
There are several types of legends, each type can be subdivided into certain special forms. Some of the main types are tales about heroes, tales about deities, and, and that applies to the legends of this book, folktales. These arise mostly from the everyday life of the mostly common people, and their contents tell of the surrounding nature and things that affect the people or their immediate environment. The folktales later in this book are about "Witte Wieven", or Mist Witches, or whatever other name these beings are called. The tales come from the countryside, from small villages, from farms and from the people who live there in the rural areas. The stories fit in with the everyday life and popular beliefs of these people, and were therefore not something foreign to the people of that time, not something exotic from distant countries, rather it was part of their world.
When, in the 18th and 19th centuries, mostly wealthy, well-off people began to collect folk-tales and wrote them down, it was inevitable that they used the language of their literacy and education, and not that of the common people from whose mouths the legends were heard. Short spoken sentences were transformed into grammatically well-flowing sentences and the stories were often spun out a little so that the stories could also be understood by readers in distant areas. Book of legends were in demand. And that seduced many authors to invent and publish legendary stories themselves. Some sound so believable that they have often been misinterpreted as ’real legends’. Such stories are called pseudo-legends. The book "Goddess Holle" from 2019 by the same author contains some examples of such stories.
Nowadays we have rather vague, oftentimes unfortunately overly romantic ideas about the spiritual life of people from the time when they still lived in tribal communities or communities of nations in Western and Central Europe. Yes, often even from the later farmers and villagers of the ’dark’ centuries of the Middle Ages we have romanticized life ’knowledge’.
In contrast to us, these people felt dependent on fate, delivered to forces that were beyond human reach and control, and this probably nourished the belief in higher powers, including non-physical and non-terrestrial beings. This world view must have been decisive for the awakening of a defined belief in the sense of religion; it therefore encompassed (and encompasses to this day) much more than was prescribed by the church that came into being - with this we are approximating popular belief.
Although the indications and clues that spirits and alien beings are involved in everyday life are numerous, we can only speculate and make assumptions about them - we would need real evidence to assert facts. These, however, are not to be found in legends, even if we have in the great wealth of legends an important source of valid assumptions and presumptions about the beliefs, customs and ideological ideas of our ancestors.
For example, we can deduce from the legends and grave finds that there were times when people believed that after their death they lived on in another place in just about the same way as they did during earthly lifetimes. To be able to do this, one would also need many objects from everyday life in the afterlife and so it is not surprising that these were given to the graves.
This "continuation of life" in the hereafter also explains why membership in the social community, the family or the kinsfolk did not end with death; you only went over to the group of ancestors and continued to be involved in all important family events. The latter can also be deduced from the fact that, for example, in pre-Christian times deceased heads of families were often buried in the ’place of honor', that is, under the domestic fireplace, the place where important agreements and contracts were made and where the welcome guest got his seat.
Thus, our legends give plenty of hints and clues about the religious ideas and customs from ancient times. Everyday life became, as a matter of course, incorporated in the oral traditions. Since the final writing down was preceded by a longer phase of narrative oral transmission, it remains unknown to us what was changed, removed or added during this period. The core of the legends, however, shows us the attitude of the people of that time quite clearly. A connection can be assumed from today’s customs back through known customs of the Middle Ages to the beliefs of the Western European peoples before the year 800 CE. Since it is usually not known from legends when the respective story came into being, its details can usually not be assigned to a specific time. However, since we know that the conveyed content was probably at least partly in circulation as so-called teaching stories long before they were written down, it can be assumed from them that a belief in the supernatural content of the legends indeed existed at the time, and that those legends were part of the local folklore. This belief was that of the respective everyday life, it was part of the life of the people that the legends tell about. Its is important to remember, however, that the folktales we know from written sources were the stories as they existed at their time of recording - mainly the 18th and 19th centuries. The core of the stories may have been much older, the other details, such as local people, names of villages and other things are most likely not.
Many of the legends that this book is about are about old tombs and other cult sites, places where giants, dwarfs, (and especially in the old Saxony region) the Mist Witches, (that are the "Witte Wieven", as they are often called there) occur. In contrast to places and locations where legendary heroic stories are set (one can think of the many stories about Charlemagne, the Saxon Duke Widukind and Siegfried the Nibelung hero), the Mist Witch legends remained the stories of the common people from the country. And accordingly, the places of the mist beings did not become places of worship. Instead, they remained and, as far as they still exist, just graves or earth pits from bygone times.
However, it is precisely the traditions relating to Mist Witches that can help to give us an impression of the everyday lives, religious ideas, and the worldview of ordinary people, generally a view into the world of the country folk.
Some of the legends and stories told here may seem trivial to the literary educated, almost as if they are from penny novels of the 20th century. But that is precisely what constitutes their authenticity. Without the filter of linguistics, they are written down as they are actually told or could have been told, because their exact wording is really recorded nowhere. They tell of the everyday joys and woe in which the Mist Witches had their natural place. Having said this, it must be admitted that, as previously explained, this one-on-one recording did not happen often, for the educated collector and writer almost always seemingly tried to write down what they were told in corrected grammar and spelling, often with added explanation segments for readers. But the collected and recorded pieces of folk-knowledge come much nearer to the authenticity.
Wherever the legends were retold, here and in some of the sources, attempts were made to maintain authenticity as much as possible, and yet, often it is only the very short and condensed words of a local simply needed to be passed to far-away living readers to make the stories understandable at all.
If we, by reading this book, get involved in these folktales, then maybe we can meet these beings again and experience their presence - perhaps in their own surroundings.
The following story about "Witte Wieven" is not an old folktale from previous centuries. It is a modern story, you could call it a pseudo-legend, but that would not be fair, because the attempt to pretend it being a folktale is completely lacking. But this story makes it clear that the fascination for Witte Wieven, for Mist Witches, is still alive, even today, and exactly that is why it is incorporated here. The story and its engravings were a joint project between two Dutch people, the poet Joop Bersee and the artist Jan Schindler. Both gave their kind permission to include the story and the three engravings here.
In order to explain in advance some expressions from the story:
1 - Kolhorn is a village in the northern part of the Dutch province of North Holland, the part that is called West Friesland.
2 - The letters WW mentioned in the story stand for the Dutch unemployment law, or unemployment benefit.
3 - Gelderland is a Dutch province, partially bordering Germany. The Veluwe is a large area of that province with many woodlands and a protected natural park.
4 - Zuyder Zee: previously a sea inside the Netherlands, bordering the North Sea and the Wadden Sea, today a big lake.
The Witte Wieven of Kolhorn
Mist Witches in Kolhorn? In West Friesland? Not just in the east of the Netherlands? I can hear you thinking. As far as I know, Kolhorn’s Witte Wieven have never been written about. It was discussed after the young children went to bed because a child who heard this would never go outside anymore from fear. Unfortunately, I have to add, the stories were exaggerated and de Wieven were used to raise children: "If you don’t go to sleep right now, the Wieven will come and get all your teeth out of your mouth."
I did some research. A little bit. And what do I know about it now? Why am I writing about it? I will explain it in great detail. And the story doesn’t begin with a swampy landscape, but with a dry attic! Mind you, my attic.
I actually never come up there. There is a blanket of dust all over there and I'm allergic to dust mites. I’m fighting my allergies to the limit because the DVD player isn't working and the manual is somewhere in that gray moonscape. There are boxes upon boxes and even more boxes. A broken chair. What do you do with it? And of course these eternal suitcases. Suitcases dwell and live in attics. And they keep mice as pets. I move carefully through the dust. Maybe it’s here, in this dresser? I could buy a new DVD player. They are not that expensive anymore. Yet, still looking a little further, there are still 4 months to go to the vacation pay. Brown envelopes, letters, grandpa's broken watch. His time was up. His watch stopped at 9:48 a.m.
It reminds me of something, that time stamp. I just can't think of it. Fifties are over! Forgotten. Forgotten. Darn it! On a Monday morning on the way to work the panic arises: Do I still have my pajama pants on?
WW is written on a brown envelope. Two Ws under a layer of dust. I have never received unemployment benefits. I don't feel like looking in the envelope. But there is so much dust. Then open the WW envelope and hope for a bit of luck. Some brochures. Manuals of devices that no longer exist. Yes, in my head they're still there, all these mixers and kitchen aids live there for a few years longer. And then, luckily, I found the manual! How is it possible. And here is an old train ticket. No, not that old, from 2008. It is a there and back to the town of Schagen. On the back of the card it says: "Witte Wieven." It is also written, "See Notes." I keep looking in the envelope and pull out some handwritten sheets of paper. On the top sheet is written: "Witte Wieven in Kolhorn." For real. I read a few lines and then go to the broken chair, remove the boxes that are on it and turn the pillow over. Under the pillow, a metal spring penetrates the material relentlessly like a curled bayonet. Now watch out, because I might want to have another child. Sit down carefully and do not create dust clouds. The armchair makes a noise. Is no longer used to it. Just for a moment, I think like I'm talking to the chair.
I start reading and soon the memories come up and take over ...
This day. It was February, cold and not a single cloud in the sky. I arrive at Schagen train station. In time. This train is always on time. Always also almost empty. I get out and walk across the platform to the exit. The sign shows the city of Den Helder as the final destination. It is 9:48 a.m.
Every time I walk down the street from Schagen train station to the apartment my parents live in, the seasons come up over me. Back and forth from the train station to the apartment and from the apartment back to the train station. In autumn, summer, winter and spring. I still saw the piles going into the ground for the new part of the town. They easily went six or seven meters into the ground. Was there perhaps air down there, or an underground river, perhaps a Roman sewage system?
Look, it's the window on the first floor, to the left of the main entrance. At first you see something grayish brown and it moves. Not much, but still. I wave and yes, an arm waves back. Nice, such a protected house, but somehow they don’t belong here, but instead on an old farm somewhere in Gelderland or on the Veluwe. It’s too modern around them. Look, that little thing over there behind the window, that’s my mother. The wind makes the last few meters extra cold.
My parents. They are still standing there. But they have stalled over the years. Maybe its the gravity. We're all drawn to the ground, in the end right down into the ground.
I can feel my father's crooked fingers. He smiles and is happy to see me. My mother is like a very expensive Chinese vase that could easily break. I have to bend down to give her three kisses. Everything is going well, they say. Well, we just ignore all the medical stories. We just don’t waffle about it. Yes, please, coffee with a cookie. My mother opens the box: "Bought here in the supermarket yesterday. They're cheaper there, the same biscuits. The other shops are rip-offs."
We’re talking about uncles and aunts whom I only know by name. Probably nice people. About this and that and "what did they look like. And he or she will probably not be around much longer."
I don't care that much. I look through the window at some birds.
At noon we go downstairs to the dining room. A table has been reserved. We talk again about this and that and who had died. Everyone around us has an appointment with death. This here is the last waiting room. It really happens here. This certainty, just like the Rio Carnival. The cheese market in Alkmaar. The Keukenhof and the Japanese tourists. They all have an eye that grows into a camera.
The potatoes and other things are rolled into the dining room. When we eat, my father begins with his stories."First a good potato, it will loosen the tongue." I do not know this expression. I ask him about it. He laughs a little, so he didn't understand. A piece of potato looks up at me a bit angrily, it seems. I shut my mouth. My parents like the beetroot. I find them terrible. My father speaks and thoughts arise with the stories. I ask him to repeat what he just said. I didn't listen well. We have forgotten that. He points to a table with a crooked finger. "Do you see that man over there with that brown sweater? Turned ninety-four the day before yesterday and he can still tell a lot. He can narrate well. I don't really like his stories, everything is a bit vague."
Now my mother start talking. "He always talks about wild Wieven."
My father shakes his head: "No, Witte Wieven. You are my wild Wief," he tells her with a wink.
"What are they" I ask?
My mother intervenes. “Well, that's just nonsense. This gossip about Wieven. You shouldn't believe in that. There is no such thing. Nonsense."
We eat our pudding in silence. Then the dirty dishes are collected.
"What's up with these Wieven?" I ask my father.
"Well, if you're interested," and he points to the 94-year-old man. "His name is Theo. And he knows whole stories and tells them to anyone who wants to hear."
My mom looks a little pissed off and says, "Yeah, he likes to be interesting."
"Go to him, he likes to talk," says my father. My parents go to the elevator, back to their room.
Peat barns at Kolhorn
White Women empty the eel fykes
"Are you Theo" I ask? A red head looks at me.
"Yes, I am Theo." We shake hands. "Sit down," he says. I tell him that I have just talked to my parents about the Wilde Wieven and the mist.
"Are you a fog expert" I ask with a laugh?
"You mean Witte Wieven," says Theo. "What do you want to know about her?"
Suddenly the world stops turning.
"You're not going to tell me these women really exist," I stammer?
The red head comes a little closer. "Yes, you should know that these Wieven actually come from the East of the country and belong there. I don't know why that is so. It's just like that. Just read it in the books. About the "Wievenkoelen", that are the Witte Wieven potholes, in which they dwell, near the town of Lochem and so on."
"And how did you get here?”, I ask.
I'm starting to believe in my questions myself. Am I really going to ask him about this Witte Wieven? Am I wasting my time here? Why this interest? My interest, just out of the blue. I dont know. He has already continued his story.
"Most likely they came by mistake with the peat ships. Because there was a lack of peat here, there was a lot of trade and special ships went up and down from east to west to bring this peat here. De Wieven were underground- in this peat."
I hear from him that the Zuyder Zee was nearby. The village of Kolhorn was once a fishing port on the Zuyder Zee. Kolhorn. What a beautiful name. What a beautiful word. Full of the magic of history. Theo keeps talking.
"The peat was brought here by peat ships and then put in barns to dry. They’re still there, those black barns. Black with tar to prevent rot." He drinks some water. "Look, I'll tell you my story. It goes back three generations. My son never saw it because we had moved closer to the big city and where I saw the Witte Wieven are now houses built.”
White Women Pit
I break out in a cold sweat. Seen? Oh no, but no and yes at the same time, because I want to hear his story and no longer knew where the boundaries lie between truth and fiction and fantasies.
Theo saw the look of surprise on my face. "You should look at something like the Loch Ness monster. Who believes it? Nonsense, right? But there are people who would swear under oath to have seen this monster. Well, of course money does matter there too. Because you can be sure that these guys earn a lot with their T-shirts and glasses with Nessie on them. With these Witte Wieven you don't have any of that. Of course that's also because they are not always tied to one place. Sometimes they are expelled by new buildings. In any case, my grandfather once took my father to check the eel traps, and one morning my grandfather stopped and said to my father: "Wieven!"
He knelt down and motioned to my to do the same. He pointed. My father told me he was looking that way but saw nothing. At first he thought it was because of the fog. Then he saw shapes emerge from the mist. Sometimes curls with one hand and one arm on it. They even saw some figures breaking away from the mist. Some looked very graceful, and others a bit awkward, although they appeared to be nothing but mist. Hand in hand they did a kind of round dance. It must have taken a good half an hour and then it probably got too light, or too hot and they went away pretty quickly. Grandfather said he saw someone looking at him. Creepy. But in time he knew that they would leave him alone if he didn't bother the Wieven. Once, together with my father, I saw Wieven pulling the trap out of the water. And damn it, the fish, the eel, everything went out, back into the water. Nice fish, damn it. These Wieven did it on purpose.
My father knew a lot about birds and insects and brought me to the Witte Wieven as part of the same nature. There was nothing scary about it. Strange though, because you are shocked at first. But then if you look at it longer, you will be impressed - like lightning or a storm. This was much quieter, the Wieven, but you had the feeling that it held an enormous power. Hence, the stories will survive. It is true what they say. People die, but the stories will always remain.
You don't have to believe me. I tell my story and hope that there will be people who will continue to tell on my story. De Wieven are still there. You must be lucky. And then it may well be that you suddenly find yourself in the middle of them. That the Wieven fill the air around you. Then smile, let them know, that you really see them and it is not your imagination.
Well, I really have to lie down now. I always do that after lunch. I wish you something, and decide for yourself. Is it all true? Would nonsensical gossip stories survive if they didn't make money with them? There is more between heaven and earth. Me for example. Yes boy, I'm halfway between heaven and earth at ninety-four.
See you."
I'm back in my attic, sheets of paper in one hand and the envelope in the other. I blow all the dust off the envelope and the two W letters are now clearly visible.
Statue of three "Witte Wieven" in the Dutch village of Norg, in the province of Drenthe
Voices of slumberous music,
Spirits of mist and of flame,
Moonlit memories left here,
By gods who long ago came ...
Wiliam Wilfred Campbell
Witte Wieven - White Mist Women
Mist spirits do not only occur in the small, limited area from which the "Witte Wieven" originate, but are much more widespread throughout world cultures. In order to substantiate this, legends and folk knowledge about mist spirits in general are presented in this chapter, some of which come from other, sometimes distant areas.
Depending on the area, they are described in very different forms, but are sometimes recognizable as a modification of the mythological figures occurring in the respective area. That these stories often take the form of legends shows the old folk knowledge, often with a possible reference to earlier beliefs. In the French legends about 'white women' aspects of Celtic mythology can be recognized, in the Polish, Bohemian and Slovak legends about them one recognizes beings from Slavic tradition.
There are legends about White Women in several areas of Germany and beyond, and yes they also exist in other regions and on other continents. There are, for example, the White Castle Woman, the White Mountain Woman, the White Mermaid, etc.; they can be recognized in some of the tales told in this book. In many areas there are such figures, and the well-known works of the mythologists (Jacob Grimm was one of them) tell about them in