The haunted sawmill of Petersberg/Monte San Pietro
Do you know the Regglberg mountain? It is a high plateau in the south-east of South Tyrol where the villages of Deutschnofen/Nova Ponente, Petersberg/Monte San Pietro, Aldein/Aldino and Radein/Redagno all stand. Here, the pastures and forests tell of nature and culture... and sometimes also of ghostly groans and spectral saws.
A long time ago, a very mean farmer lived near a small river, the Rennerbach, between the two villages of Aldein and Petersberg. There he built a sawmill. He was the only man in the neighbourhood who owned a sawmill, so all the people who needed wooden boards had to bring their tree trunks to his mill. When the farmer cut the villager´s boards, he always kept the best ones for himself. He thus became very rich. Whenever he wanted to enjoy himself, he would go to his chamber, lock the door, take out his moneybags and count his ill-gotten gains. That was his favourite pastime. The older he got, the worse he became. It is said that skinflints live longer and in fact the farmer lived to a ripe old age. But finally his last hour came, he died and his ghost had to pay for his sins. During the nights between Christmas and Epiphany, he had to go down to the frozen Rennerbach river and turn the icy wheel of the mill with his bare hands. While turning the wheel he would emit piteous groans. Once all the trunks were cut, the ghost had to get heavy blocks of ice from the river and cut them into boards.
While on their way home late at night, many old people from Petersberg claimed to have heard the moaning of the ghost. Can you hear it too?
