Hexeneiche (Witch's Oak)

The legend of the witch's oak near Elkenroth
At a time when houses still had their own names, there was a house in Elkenroth called "curse". A single woman lived in this house. But she didn't seem to be alone in her house. As if the name had not been chosen at random, the house appeared to be under a curse. No matter what she tried, the woman just couldn't find peace. Because even if she was the only living person in the house, she had to share her home with a demon, more precisely a witch. Day and night she was up to mischief, wailing, screaming, rumbling and making terrifying and incomprehensible noises. The entire house groaned and moaned under her influence. The woman tried everything to get rid of the witch's demon, but all pleas and prayers were unsuccessful. One day the woman no longer wanted to share her home, she simply couldn't and didn't want to endure this daily torment anymore.

So she made a pilgrimage to the nearby Marienstatt monastery. There she complained to a priest and told him about the evil spirit of the witch in her house. She asked him to help her exorcise the witch's spirit from her home. Some time later this Father appeared in front of the woman's house. He uttered words and incantations traditionally used to drive away spirits and exorcise, while constantly sprinkling the house with holy water. The demon drove out of the house, enraged and screaming with rage. While the priest drove the spirit of the witch towards the forest - the "Hoh" - he said to the woman that she could follow him to look at the spirit of the witch over his left shoulder. However, the woman refused because she never wanted to see the demon again. Arriving at the "Hoh", the witch's demon looked back at Elkenroth and begged the priest to let him back into the village.

But all pleading and begging was of no use, the priest remained true to his task and banished the witch's demon to an oak tree despite the pleading. This made the witch moan even more from the oak tree and finally asked the monk to at least allow her to move just a little bit – just a cock's step – towards Elkenroth every year, for one day, a long time after the woman's lifetime to be able to occupy the house again. Here, too, the Father remained steadfast and would not allow anything of the sort. So the witch stayed in the oak tree forever and ever, and if you listen carefully at night, you can still hear her wailing today.