Klagfrau or Klagefrau is the Wailing Woman of German folklore. To hear her is an omen of death or disaster. She goes by many names but her meaning is always the same. She's a harbinger of doom.
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Also called Klagmuhme (Wailing Aunt) or Klagmutter (Wailing Mother), she's the German version of the Irish Banshee (bean-síghe). The Banshee is a female spirit in folklore who foretells death of a family member by screaming, wailing, shrieking, clamoring or keening.
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The Banshee is connected to tumuli or gravesite and burial mounds. Every wealthy family is thought to have its own Banshee.
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In Germania the Klagmuhme has shape-shifting powers and can appear as an animal. She might howl around the house in the shape of a longhaired black dog. In the guise of a goose she cries in the corner. She may appear as a dove in the eaves.
She also appears as a large gray cat or a whimpering white or three-legged sheep near the afflicted house. She can be an eerie bird, a fiery toad or a calf with red eyes. Another toad found near the house is the Harvest Toad.
The term Klagmutter also refers to the caterpillar of both the death's-head hawkmoth and of Arctiinae moths. The Klagmuhme is first attested in 15th century Middle High German as klagmuoter (wailing mother), referring to an owl.
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The owl is also called Totenvogel (bird of death) and refers to the Little Owl (Athene noctua), who makes a wailing, keening sound. In some regions the cuckoo is also associated with death, but if one who hears it pats a pocket or purse, money will come.
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The human form of the Klagefrau has a number of manifestations. She may appear as an old woman in black dress with white scarf. She can be small or infinitely tall. Her face may be covered in spiderwebs.
She can appear dressed in linen, a material used in burial shrouds. She might have glowing eyes or can be
"gigantic, hollow-eyed, deathly pale, and dressed in a wafting burial robe."
Ludwig Bechstein: Deutsches Sagenbuch. Meersbusch, Leipzig 1930
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She also appears as a distorted black figure without a discernable shape. The Klagmuhme's wailing can be deadly for those who hear her, just as the Hafermann peering in the window is an omen of death for those who see him.
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If a person falls ill and Klagmuhme howls at the door of the house, clothes of the ill person are placed outside. If the Klagefrau takes the clothes, the sick person will die. If she leaves the clothing untouched, the patient will recover.
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"In the houses over which she stretches her long bony arm in stormy nights, there will be a corpse ere the moon has finished its cycle."
Ludwig Bechstein: Deutsches Sagenbuch. Meersbusch, Leipzig 1930
She does not usually enter houses, but floats over them. Her whining and keening can cause anxiety and illness. She often appears around midnight.
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Klagefrau is a tormented spirit. In Saxony, she's the soul of grieving mother seeking her drowned son. The Allgäu (Swabia) has a midnight procession of Klagefrauen (wailing women) or ghostly men carrying a coffin.
In Carinthia and Switzerland, the Klagmuhme may take part in the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is a cross-European spectral event with participants including Goddesses, Gods, witches, satyrs, odd-legged horses, trolls, dwarfs, demons, werewolves and immortalized warriors.
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The Hunt is known from Wales to Rome, France, Tyrol to the North Sea, Scandinavia. Switzerland also has a separate hunter, Der Türst: Dread Huntsman, who might also appear in south Germany. Localized versions of the Wild Hunt exist in other regions.
In the south it's often called the Wildes Heer (Wild Host) or Wütendes Heer (Furious Host). If encountering this spectacle it's best to lie down in the middle of the road and let the Host pass over, or get sucked into the mayhem perhaps never to return.
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In the Fichtel Mountains of Germany and the Czech Republic, Klagmütterlein is a female wood sprite or Waldweibchen (little forest woman). Klagefrau is counted among the "noisy spirits" along with poltergeist and Klabautermann the Sea Kobold.
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