"Rats!" Top 5 Page for this destination Hameln by pieter_jan_v

More rats - Hameln

Hameln is a very old German city known from the Pied Piper story. Its written history dates back to the 9th century. The town got its city rights in 1277.

There are signs that the town is much older as shipping at the Weser river is proven to exist around 900BC.

Unfortunaly much of the old archived city documents were burned in WWII.

The Pied Piper - Hameln

The story of the Pied Piper dates back to 1284 when Hameln suffered from a rat infestation. A stranger arrived dressed in pied clothing claiming he could end the plague. The people of Hameln promised him to pay if he succeeded. The rat-cather played a catching song on his flute and lured all the rats to the Weser river where they drowned. The people were happy but the piper was not payed the full agreed sum of money.

In anger the piper returned on Sts. John and Paul's Day when the people were attending a church service. Once again he played a song, now luring 130 of the Hameln children into a cave of the Koppelberg Hill and where they were never seen again.

• Pros:Lovely old German houses
• Cons:A million visitors each year
• In a nutshell:Pied Piper town