History
Although the first written reference to Mount Pilatus came in the 13th century, it is believed that the Celtic herdsmen inhabited Mount Pilatus even before that. It was with the completion of the Gotthard route that the real story of Mount Pilatus began. Richard Wagner on reaching the Mount Pilatus in 1859 was overwhelmed with the views from this great mountain. From King Don Carlos of Spain to England’s Queen Victoria and Atlantic explorer Lincoln Ellsworth, all were impressed by the Alpine panorama from Mount Pilatus. We, at SwitzerlandFlexiTours.com are here to enlighten you with the legend of Pilatus.

The Legends of Pilatus
According to people, in the Middle Ages, a dragon with healing powers and spirits used to inhabit this rocky mountain. It was also believed that the restless ghost of Roman governor once found solace in Lake Pilatus and because of that for long time climbing the mountain was forbidden, as they believed woe betide any one who disturbed Pontius Pilate.

Another legend of Mount Pilatus is that local people living around it believed that the tiny lake in the Oberalp dip was responsible for the devastating storms in the area. There was myth that the restless ghost of Pilatus used to rise from the waters every Good Friday to wash the blood of Jesus Christ from its hands.

The Dragon Legend of Pilatus
The legend of Pilatus cannot be revealed without talking of the Dragon legend. It is believed that in the summer of 1421, an enormous dragon was flying to Mount Pilatus and on its way it crashed close to a farmer named Stempflin, who got fainted from the shock. After recovering he found a dragon stone. It was later in 1509, the stone’s healing powers got confirmed.

Another dragon legend related to Mount Pilatus is that once in autumn a young man fell in to a deep cave and landed between two dragons. These dragons didn’t hurt him and when spring came they told that it was time to leave and rescued him from the cave. According to Petermann Etterlin’s writings, one of his fellow citizens Winkelried once killed one of the Pilatus dragons and in the process, few drops of poisonous dragon’s blood dropped on his hands and froze Winkelried’s veins and he also died. Get to know more about the Legend of Pilatus during Mount Pilatus Tours with Switzerland Flexi Tours.