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The Miller

Before the Möhne Valley dam was built approximately 100 years ago, 800 people lived in the little Möhne Valley. In the little village there was a church, a brickyard, a dairy, a cement factory and a corn mill, the Körbecker Mill. This is where our story begins.

In the year 1913, a young man lived here. His name was Heinrich but the residents of the village always called him Heinrich the Miller. He led a normal life just like all of the other residents of the village. He spent most of his time in the mill where he crushed the corn which was delivered by his neighbour; farmer Friederich. He used every single free minute he had recovering from the tiring work with his beloved Cecilie. It was said in the village that the two of them were a happy couple and it really was the case. Their love for each other was so great that Cecilie had given Heinrich her most valuable item – a ring. She had given it to him on one of their moonlight dates in the shadows of the graveyard trees as a sign of her eternal love. The ring had been passed on from mother to daughter for over two hundred years. Heinrich had to promise to care for this ring as if it was his own flesh and blood and he did do. He kept it in a little secret compartment in his cabinet in the bedroom in the top floor of the mill and he only took it out when no one was watching.

The day came when all of the village residents had to leave their beloved houses. The dam walls were finished and the valley in which the village was situated was to be flooded in. All of the village residents had already brought all of their belonging into the new settlements in the neighbouring village and had said goodbye to their village. Heinrich the Miller had done this too. None of the former residents wanted to experience the sight of seeing their village being flooded so everyone decided to meet up on the church in the new village to have mass. When Heinrich stepped into the church he remembered that he had left the ring in the secret compartment. He couldn’t let it be lost underwater; how would he explain that to Cecilie? So he ran off down into the valley but became more and more unsure with every step he made. A haunted silence fell all around the once lively village. No one was there and it even seemed as if the birds had all flown away. There was nothing to be heard but his fast panting. He ran as fast as he could with the permanent thought that the masses of water could wash over him at any moment. He suddenly realised that he couldn’t swim but he did not let himself be discouraged from the plan to rescue the ring. Finally, when he could hardly run anymore, he reached his mill and ran quickly upstairs grabbing into the cabinet to search for the ring. At that very moment there was a violent noise rumbling behind him, the ground started to move, the thunder of the water became louder and louder until it was a deafening noise. “The water” he thought. “The water is coming!” and there it was. He quickly grabbed the ring and ran out of the mill but he was caught by a massive tidal wave outside which was at least twice as high as his mill. He wanted to scream but the masses of water were already burying his body. He weakly opened his fingers and lost the ring and could only watch as it floated down towards the ground. Heinrich the Miller was never seen again and his body was never found either.

In 1920 some of the residents of the new village reported that they had seen a lonesome walker near to the dam whose footprints contained flour. Just 20 years later, in 1940, fisherman Eduard reported that he had seen a strange man rowing over the lake. As the man left the boat, the floor of the boat was covered in flour.

A further 20 years later, in 1960, a loud scream sounded from the middle of the lake on one spring evening. The residents were frightened and ran to the banks of the lake to find blood and traces of flour.

In 1980, some school children reported to have seen a face just under the surface of the water during a boat trip over the Möhnesee. Their teacher found flour in their hair.

In the year 2000, a Catholic Church group moved into their holiday quarters for a two week holiday camp in the village hall. During a visit to the sands around the Möhnesee, the children found a valuable ring on the shores of the lake. They thought nothing of it when they put it in their pockets and kept it. When the children woke up the next morning, they found floury footprints on their sleeping bags.

Author: Matthias P. and the team of carers