During my study of German folklore, I was surprised to learn that one of the most common folk tale narratives featured treasure hunters - not just “people getting rewarded treasure for a virtuous deed”, but people who heard that a treasure was at a certain location, and wanted to get it. They usually failed, but hope springs eternal.

I also learned that this had some basis in real world history - in Early Modern Europe, there was a real “treasure mania” where people organized themselves into groups of treasure hunter and bought “forbidden magical tools” on the black markets in order to help them with their quests.

Here are two example tales of treasure hunters:

The Burkla at Schongau

The Burkla, also known as the Schlossberg or “Castle Hill” is a large hill in Schongau surrounded by a wall and a ditch. The river Schönau flows past its base. According to legends it contains cellars and tunnels in which a large treasure is hidden.

Three sisters were said to live here who originally owned the treasure. One day, three men from the village of Niederhofen wanted to take the treasure. When they had descended into the tunnels, they saw a small black dog sitting on the treasure chest. The dog proclaimed: “One of you shall it be, and it shall be the Gitterweber of Niederhofen!” The man replied: “Oh God, I don’t want to!” After this invocation of the Almighty, the dog and the chest sank into the ground.

Source: Panzer, F. Bayerische Sagen und Bräuche. Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie. Erster Band, 1848. p. 30f.

Treasure Hunters in Wesenberg

At the end of the previous and the beginning of the current century there was a whole group of treasure hunters pursuing their trade in Wesenberg and the surrounding villages. Their usual place of rest between their excavations was the Prelauker or Belower Theerofen whose owners were keen participants in the digging, though this did not particularly help any of them. Instead their pub declined more than it prospered, and the heirs had to recover what their fathers had neglected.

Now, it is well known that the very foundation of treasure excavation is the maintenance of unbroken silence. And this was the point where the undertaking of our heroes usually failed. They themselves frequently told the story not without some pride, but also with hidden anger, of how the three of them progressed far enough into the ground that they spotted a heavy, large container that would have contained the treasure. But suddenly a white maiden - another source, my uncle, called her “clad in grey clothing” - jumped between their hands, back and forth, so that they were no longer able to work. Suddenly one of the treasure hunters impatiently called to his neighbor: “Rehdanz, grab her, grab her!”, and at once the treasure, the maiden, and everything else was gone.

Source: Bartsch, K. Sagen, märchen und gebräuche aus Mecklenburg, 1879. p. 252f.

Do you know of any other folk tales of groups of would-be treasure hunters?