Bergmönch

The Bergmönch is presented in German folkloric sources as one of a family of mountain and earth spirits that inhabit mines and pits. Rather than arising from a single cosmogonic origin, the Bergmönch functions within occupational and regional lore as a personified presence of the mountain-work environment: a spirit who dwells in the unseen mountain realm and interacts directly with miners. Sources situate him alongside dwarves (Zwerge), Bergmännchen, Erdkobolde and other localized spirits (for example the Swabian Halgeist), indicating a broad cultural pattern in which subterranean wealth and miner safety are imagined as mediated by sentient beings who reward industriousness and punish vice.

Accounts describe the Bergmönch as giant in size with white hair and very large, fiery-looking eyes "as large as dining plates." He is said to wear a black hooded cowl like a monk (the feature giving rise to the name Bergmönch) and may also appear dressed like a miner—under that style he is called Meister Hämmerling. Variants record that he can take the shape of a horse with a long neck and "terrible looking eyes," and that he is able to become invisible.

Reported behaviors and powers center on activity in pits and mines: he is active both deep in excavations and on the surface above them, filling excavated ore from one bucket to another and at times performing the work of miners. One account claims he can excavate more ore in an hour than miners can in a week. He may assist favored miners by excavating ore for them, revealing hidden lodes of gold and silver (on condition that the miner throw some of his mining tools into the offered lode) and by offering aid such as lamp oil that reportedly never diminishes if the recipient keeps the source secret. He enforces community morals by punishing vices named in the tradition—whistling, cursing, egoism, infidelity and idleness—and is described as hot-tempered and fond of hoaxes. Punishments attributed to him include violently maiming or displacing miners (one report says he can grasp a miner and put him down elsewhere with such force that the miner's limbs are shattered) and a poisonous breath said to be able to kill twelve people at once.