The Disturbing True Story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin -

When, lo! as they reached the mountain-side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.
Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child’s Story -

The piper was cheated out of his payment for ridding the town of Rats so he came back and took the children as a form of revenge....Or so the story goes..
What I found interesting is ... the kids were actually taken... dum ta dumm dum !

Historical records suggest that the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was a real event that took place. Nevertheless, the transmission of this story undoubtedly evolved and changed over the centuries, although to what extent is unknown, and the mystery of what really happened to those children has never been solved. The story also raises the question, if the Pied Piper of Hamelin was based on reality, how much truth is there in other fairy tales that we were told as children? -

www.ancient-origins.net...

very interesting indeed! i can't believe after all this time, i've never heard the complete pied piper story. i have heard the bit about the rats as i'm sure most everyone else has at some point in there life but, i've never heard the end part about him not getting paid and coming back to take away to towns children. that sh!t is bananas.

so basically an entire town's worth of children were abducted. all with the exception of

-a deaf child who couldn't hear the piper's music
-a blind child who couldn't see where he was going
-a lame child who couldn't keep up

and incidentally

The supposed street where the children were last seen is today called Bungelosenstrasse (street without drums), as no one is allowed to play music or dance there. -

weird stuff. so, was the pipers instrument something more than just a simple musical instrument? apparently he was also able to open a hole in the side of a mountain, which is interesting....

maybe that's where the piper came from initially. from inside the mountain...

I cant recall where I read it but I heard the tale was in reference to the childrens crusade that happened in 1212.
The story I heard was a couple of merchants started preaching god had spoken to them and told them that the only way to win back the holy land was with children as their hearts were pure.
They rounded up about 30,000 French and German kids, put them on boats then sailed them to Turkey or something and sold them all into slavery.

Whether or not the above is true or the OP or something else entirely I think we can all agree if the story is in anyway based on fact those kids probably didnt end up well

OMG, I was just laughing out to my youngest last weekend as all of our hens followed him through the yard calling him the Pide Piper of Hamlin...

Lol, that is just creepy, I always thought he was a hero??? Oh my...

You learn something new everyday..

The Pied Pedo of Hamlin? I wonder if he wore a shell suit, countless gold chains and smoked a cigar?

Now then, now then....

But yeah, I'm sure there is some truth behind a lot of faerie tales, just real events that got twisted into rhyme throughout the ages.

Kind of like some of the stories in the bible are thought to be based on real events. (parting of the red sea due to earthquake, etc)

a reply to: 727Sky


I've heard the story before but it's always a good tale to re-read. Suspicious, with betrayal and intrigue and possibly revenge. It's got all the makings of a modern horror story...except that it really happened (in some fashion or another.)

a reply to: 727Sky

The most relevant item seems to be the stained glass window from the Church of Hamelin, created circa 1300. This would have been commemorating the event to people who actually lived at the time. The text was simply:

In the year 1284, on the day of John and Paul, it was the 26th of June, came a colorful Piper to Hamelin and led 130 children away.

The reconstruction of the window, created from historical descriptions, features a piper and children dressed in white. It bears mention that the John and Paul referenced are not the apostles but Catholic saints who were martyred in Rome in the 4th century.

Next there is the first entry of the town chronicles in 1384 that says, "It is 100 years since our children left"

60-70 years later comes the Lueneburg manuscript:

In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul
on June 26
By a piper, clothed in many kinds of colours,
130 children born in Hamelin were seduced,
and lost at the place of execution near the koppen.

From the Hamln (Hamelin) website:

Alsatian nobleman Augustin von Mörsperg travelled to Hamelin in 1592 because he had heard about the strange tale and wanted to find out more.

To me it sounds like whatever happened was mysterious and not at all like 130 people emigrating from the town. We've got music, multicolored clothing (or something else?) and 130 children leaving the village. The first thing that occurs to me is some sort of mass hysteria that culminated with the children disappearing into the forest. These sorts of things can take root with children — look at the recent Slender Man related news stories involving children.

Also consider the various outbreaks of dancing mania dating back to at least the 14th century in Germany and similar behavior in medieval Italy such as Tarantism. Outbreaks of Tarantism had a correlation with the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, which occurs on June 29th.

I have yet to see anyone type the word.... ALIENS.

Multicolored clothing (maybe some sort of material that they had never seen before).
Abduction.
Mountain mysteriously opens and closes?

Sounds like it could have been an alien to me.

originally posted by: butcherguy
I have yet to see anyone type the word.... ALIENS.

Multicolored clothing (maybe some sort of material that they had never seen before).
Abduction.
Mountain mysteriously opens and closes?

Sounds like it could have been an alien to me.

I was avoiding the Tsoukalos interpretation but I was thinking it

originally posted by: theantediluvian

originally posted by: butcherguy
I have yet to see anyone type the word.... ALIENS.

Multicolored clothing (maybe some sort of material that they had never seen before).
Abduction.
Mountain mysteriously opens and closes?

Sounds like it could have been an alien to me.

I was avoiding the Tsoukalos interpretation but I was thinking it

Haha!
I went and did it!

There was a famine.

In desperation, the villagers of Hamelin ate their children.

They then made the story up to explain their disappearance.

a reply to: 727Sky

Another thing that occurs to me is that there might have been Ergot poisoning (Ergotism/St. Anthony's Fire) from bread served at the feast in observation of John and Paul Day. Ergotamine is ultimately from what "acid" was derived (ergotamine -> lysergic acid - > "acid") and there are plenty of recorded instances of poisoning from ergot in medieval Europe inducing hallucinations, psychosis, muscle spasms and it's even been implicated in the accusations leading up to the Salem Witch Trials.

If that was the case, you could have these poor children, hallucinating and talking about seeing a multicolored man, who the adults could not see, and dancing to music the adults could not hear. During the Dancing Plague of 1518, some of those stricken danced themselves to death.

EDIT:

I Googled "pied piper ergot" and this seems to be a popular hypothesis.

a reply to: 727Sky

The three children left behind oddly sounds like the three wise monkeys (see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil). One child was blind, one was deaf and the third was lame. (The lame reference doesn't match not being able to speak this day and time but who knows about back then?)

Also does that mean there was 133 children in all? Is there a Numerology significance there? The story also says the piper led all the rats into the water except for one? What's that about?

I'm just trying to find some kind of parallel I guess.

Edit: I also wonder if there is a Kokopelli connection with both of the stories being about colorful flute or pipe players and both being mischievous?

a reply to: theantediluvian

if it were ergot poisoning then im sure the adults would have eaten the same bread and suffered the same fate. plus i don't think there was anything about the adults not seeing the man and the children being the only ones who could.

the adults were the ones who spoke with the piper, made a deal with him and then reneged on that deal causing him to come back for the children, like a medieval freddy krueger.

Someone once told me the real story was that the Pied Piper was a rapist/murderer, who, over a period of time, stole one kid at a time luring them outside with his flute until eventually he had kidnapped them all and was never seen again. He also told me he was well liked by the townsfolk, and the rat deal never happened.

Sure none of it is true, perhaps a little truth in it though, just as with all versions of this story.

Also, if you haven't seen this film below, check it out! It's about the pied piper, and even though it's in a different language, you don't need to know it as there is very very very little talking. It's called Krysar (aka the pied piper).

Couldn't find the original video I watched, but looks like someone else uploaded it.

This is a darker film, using puppets! I really love the art of it, so many interesting things. Check it out if you've never seen it.



Here's the wiki for those of you that can't watch it.
en.wikipedia.org...(1986_film)

Couldn't get the link to work due to the symbols, so here it is in text.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pied_Piper_(1986_film)

This film also doesn't have the typical ending, it has a twist so it's not your normal pied piper tale.

I remember in childhood,how this story gave me the chills,i knew the end.So many of these fairy tales were dark,dark stories,come to think of it-my mother made sure to buy me these books and read them to me till i could read them myself.I have to say,i found most of them depressing and very morbid.I never read or bought my own kids any fairytale books-i opted for modern and more cheerful books.Was'nt gonna visit all that doom and gloom and gory endings on my lil ones-they grew up with Who flung Dung and Cheeky Charlie,Cat in the Hat,etc-sent em off to dreamland with a smile instead of nightmares+morbid thoughts:-)a reply to: CallmeRaskolnikov

I had never heard the end of this story before so thanks OP for that.

But now I'm more disturbed that R. Kelly calls himself the "Pied Piper of R&B". Considering he likes underage girls the connection is really deep....

a reply to: ArchPlayer

Yeah, but to be fair R Kelly is an idiot.

There is a tone that only children can hear and there are tones only rodents can hear.
is it possible that the pied piper had knowledge of this.

Electronic pest control

Google Search: tone only children can hear



love and harmony
Whateva

Pied means many coloured, I wonder if the outfit was refracting light like a cd does in the sun?