Fact or fiction

The Walpurgis Night (April 30th to May 1st) is depicted in classic literature like Goethe’s Faust as a time when witches and devilish creatures celebrate eclectically atop the Brocken. Since the late 19th century, the Walpurgis Night at the Brocken has locally developed as a dark tourism event, attracting about 10,000 visitors annually. However, over the past two decades, controversy has arisen: how can these tourist-oriented jovial festivities coexist with the dark past of local witch trials, in which innocent people were brutally murdered? This chapter adopts a cultural anthropological approach, utilising qualitative interviews to explore Walpurgis Night and its connections to historic witch trials. Through a case study approach, this chapter illuminates how facts and fiction can intersect, exploring efforts aimed at reconciliation between divergent viewpoints in the management of dark event tourism and narrative constructions of witch trial histories.