Pilatus with dragon

Many myths and legends surround Mount Pilatus. For example, it is said that in the summer of 1421, a huge dragon flying to Mount Pilatus crashed to the ground so close to a farmer named Stämpflin that it caused him to faint. When the farmer came to, he found a lump of clotted blood and a stone. This Dragon Stone, which was legally declared as having healing powers in 1509, can now be viewed in Lucerne’s Natural History Museum. In the chronicles of Swiss chronicler Petermann Etterlin (approx. 1430/40 to approx. 1509), you can read how Landamann Winkelried killed one of the dragons of Mount Pilatus: he wrapped thorny brambles around his spear and thrust it into the dragon’s open jaws, then finished the job with his sword. But a drop of the dragon’s blood sprayed onto his hand. This drop of blood – and the poisonous breath of the dying dragon – froze the blood in Winkelried’s veins and he also died. Many powers are ascribed to dragons – not just those in the Pilatus legends. They invariably represent primal power and mastery of the elements of fire, water, air and earth.