How could such a tiny, unremarkable piece of water like Lake Oberalp on Mount Pilatus exert such power? It was only possible in that people projected the incarnation of evil into the waters – as did the travelling students who journeyed through the country in medieval times and made a living out of various types of incantation. We know that such wandering students were often to be met on and around Mount Pilatus. It is most likely that we have them to thank for the ancient myth of the restless ghost of Pontius Pilate finding its last resting place in Lake Oberalp.

How the ghost of Pontius Pilate found its last resting place in Lake Pilatus
Soon after the death of Roman governor Pontius Pilate, the myth spread that he had met a disreputable end. This belief was strengthened by the lack of a grave and conflicting reports of the cause of his death. Since the 15th century, it had been said that Tiberius Caesar had had Pontius Pilate thrown into chains as a punishment for condemning Jesus Christ, whereupon Pilate committed suicide. His body was thrown into the Tiber, but the river rebelled against it with great floods. The body was pulled out again and sunk in the Rhone. Alas the ghost of the damned once again caused trouble. It was then decided to sink Pontius Pilate in a tiny remote lake on Oberalp on Mount Pilatus. This apparently resulted in some degree of peace. Only once a year, on Good Friday, did Pilate allow himself to be seen, during the Passion, seated on a chair in the middle of Lake Pilatus – with flowing grey hair and wearing the purple regalia of a judge.

Ghost banished in 1585
In the mid-16th century, fear began to abate and in 1585, Lucerne's priest, accompanied by a plucky band of townspeople climbed Mount Pilatus to challenge the ghost. They threw stones into lake, churned up the water and waded in it – but the ghost did not react: the spell was apparently broken. To make sure that the ghost of Pontius Pilate had also ceased its thunderstorm invoking activities, in 1594 a gap was dug in the wall of the pond on Oberalp to dry it out. It wasn't until 400 years later, in 1980, that people ventured to close the gap again. Today the peaceful lake exists once more. And the ghost of Pontius Pilate rests in peace.