Pioneers of Erdstall research

After they had served their original purpose, the Erdställe quickly were forgotten. Only in local traditions, the knowledge about the underground passages lived on, and soon they were wreathed in myths and legends. Only by the 19th century, they attracted the attention of scholarly research.

Pater Lambert Karner (1841–1909) (Photo: unknown)

Karl Schwarzfischer (1915–2001) (Photo: Arbeitskreis für Erdstallforschung e. V.)

After 1848, the Bavarian collector of legends Friedrich Panzer published several plans of Erdställe, along with detailed descriptions, in his book Bayerische Sagen und Bräuche (‘Bavarian Legends and Customs’).

For 24 years, Lambert Karner, an Austrian Benedictine priest, investigated more than 400 Erdställe, and in 1903, he published the results of his researches in his book Künstliche Höhlen aus alter Zeit (‘Artificial Caves from olden Times’). Today, Karner is considered as a pioneer of scholarly Erdstall research.

In Bavaria, Karl Schwarzfischer began in the 1950s to study Erdställe intensively. Through his researches, publications, and extensive public relations work, he created many new impulses. To this day, his book Zur Frage der Schrazellöcher oder Erdställe: schriftliche Zeugnisse, Mythologie, kulturkundlicher Vergleich, Aussage von Ortsnamen (‘On the question of the Schrazellöcher or Erdställe: written evidence, mythology, cultural study comparison, place name evidence’) is the most important and most comprehensive compilation on the subject. He is regarded as the ‘trailblazer’ of the Erdstall research in the German-speaking regions, which is active to this very day, not least by founding the Arbeitskreis für Erdstallforschung e. V. (‘Working Group for Erdstall Research’) in June 1973.

The special exhibition Erdställe – rätselhafte unterirdische Anlagen (‘Erdställe – Mysterious Underground Sites’), which was shown in 2010 and 2011 in several museums in Bavaria, and its companion book Geheimnisvolle Unterwelt. Das Rätsel der Erdställe in Bayern (‘Mysterious World below Ground. The Riddle of the Erdställe in Bavaria’) introduced the Erdstall research to a larger audience.

For many decades, people have committed themselves – often during their spare time – to the investigation of Erdställe. Many local historians, folklorists, and archaeologists studied the tunnels. There is no shortage in participants, suggestions for interpretations, or perspectives, but a systematic edition is still lacking. Most of our knowledge is owed to volunteer work.