Sennentuntschi

On the way from Schwende to Ebenalp, Appenzell, Switzerland.

"Sennentuntschi" is a tale from the folklore of the German speaking areas of the Alps from Switzerland to Carinthia in Austria and the southern parts of Bavaria:

Three mountain shepherds (Sennen) spend the summer on a pasture high in the alps. Being all alone up there they decide to make a doll from rags and straw to keep them some female company. They talk to the doll, feed it and take it to share their beds at night. Until one night the doll becomes alive. She still does everything the shepherds tell her to do and they congratulate themselves on their luck. At the end of the summer it is time to take the herd back down to the valley. They don't want to take the woman with them but she doesn't let them leave, demanding that one of them stays behind to make up for what happened during summer. In the end, the oldest shepherd stays. The other two are told to go and not look back. Before the alp is out of sight, the two do take a look - just to see their friend dying a slow and painful death.

Parts of the story have just been made into a movie. German trailer: [link] (Just a warning: A lot of people would probably call this a horror movie and there is some violence involved...)

Update: Thank you so much for all the comments and s. I'm very busy at the moment so I probably won't have time to thank you individually. But I really appreciate every one of them.