The Mummelsee — the lake of the nixies

OVERVIEW

The Mummelsee is a 17–18 m deep cirque lake at about 1,030 m on the western slope of the Hornisgrinde in the Northern Black Forest, the largest, deepest and highest of the seven cirque lakes there. Its water is acid and peaty, with a pH below five, and holds no fish. According to legends it is inhabited by a nix and the King of the Mummelsee.

HISTORY

The town of Seebach derives the name from 'Mummeln', the local word for the white water lilies once common there; the legend of the water-nymphs called 'Mümmlein' may also lie behind it — the white water lily is also called the 'Nixblume'. Once the lake lay in deep isolation without any road; the Black Forest High Road made it one of the most visited lakes in Baden-Württemberg. St Michael's chapel was dedicated in 1937; most of the hotel burned, probably by arson, on 5 May 2008 and reopened in 2010.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

Around the once-isolated lake grew a number of legends. In one, a nix lived in the lake who came out at night to help people, and danced, sang and played with them. Grimmelshausen used the lake and its inhabitants in Simplicissimus for a dive to the centre of the earth; Eduard Mörike wrote Die Geister am Mummelsee, and the legend collector August Schnezler three poems about it. In 1973 it was the setting of the Tatort episode 'Die Geister vom Mummelsee'.

VISITING

The lake is directly on the Black Forest High Road (B500), with parking, a hotel, restaurants, paddle boats, a barrier-free circular path with a sculpture trail, and buses to Baden-Baden, Achern and Freudenstadt. The Westweg passes by; the Hornisgrinde summit is 1.5 km away.