Legendary cloudbursts - Sagenumwobene Wolkenbrüche

A real insider tip are the legendary cloudbursts not far from the town of Trendelburg. They are rare natural phenomena and unique in northern Hesse. A distinction is made between the wet and dry cloudbursts. Both are only about 400 meters apart and are connected by the nature park circular hiking trail "Burgblickweg" (which offers numerous views of Trendelburg Castle, Rapunzel's home tower, throughout the entire trail).

The cloudbursts are sinkholes, funnel-like craters in the earth, which are designated as natural monuments. The Wet Cloudburst is - as its name suggests - filled with water. The water is up to 16 meters deep in the center of the crater. The Dry Cloudburst, on the other hand, is not filled with water, but is no less spectacular.

The legend about the origin of the cloudbursts:

A legend revolves around the origin of the cloudbursts: "Trendula, one of the three Reinhardswald giantesses and namesake of the town of Trendelburg, was full of ill will toward her sisters Saba and Brama. One stormy night, Saba and Brame were on their way back from a visit to their father, the giant Kruko, when the hateful Trendula ambushed them and backstabbed Brama. For days, downpours and heavy thundershowers had been falling in the area of the murder site, and the just punishment was not long in coming: lightning struck the murderess, and in a roar of thunder the earth opened and swallowed Trendula." However, the origin of the name of the cloudbursts, which originated from the legend, is not that far-fetched at all; for if we disregard the mythical, a storm lasting for days with heavy precipitation remains quite suitable as a formative natural event to bring down the thin cover of an underground erosion in the Zechstein and to cause the vernacular to call the then - at least in the context of the legend - inexplicably suddenly existing, but actually 250 million years old earth funnel cloudburst.