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| Print by Jeramias Gath 1618 |
September is now remembered for the awful tragedy of World Trade Centre disaster on September 11th 2001. But most people don't know about an even more less known manmade disaster because it happened centuries ago at Plurs. It was believed that a very affluent village/town called Plurs had been beautiful and picturesque, with its inhabitants healthy and prosperous.
Situated in an area that is part of Italy today, but back then it was Swiss, and nestled among greenery and hills, there was a Mount Conto nearby that the ancient people believed was the dwelling place of a powerful spirit. This mountain was considered sacred in pre-Christian times, and visited regularly by people at certain times of the year.to give offerings. They regarded the mountain as home of a god, whose identity might've been Odin, who was considered the chief god of the Lombards people. But it was also possible the god was Mercury, who was worshipped by the Romans. Apart from this, ever since the Dark Ages, the citizens of the large village Plurs remained faithful to the mountain and the deity who lived there, but since turning to the Church, people in Plurs forgot many of their old customs and traditions passed down since ancient times, and saw the mountain dweller as a demon or a spirit that should be left alone.
It was during the Early Middle Ages that Plurs became a town, when people recognised that Mount Conto was filled with precious and valuable stones called "Lavazzi" (talcum). They mined for it, and this made them very rich. Mining wasn't quite understood very well, since they didn't fill in the tunnels or support the walls inside after making large caves. This would cost them badly. For it was one single night on 4th September 1618 that the mountain smoked and ejected lightning, collapsed, and buried the whole town of Plurs, killing between 1,000 and 2,500 people. Some believe that it was carelessness and others say it was the anger of the god in the mountain.
I will briefly mention also another well known event like that was the Landslide of Goldau that happened on 2nd September 1806, but that was a natural disaster. In the area itself there had been a Medieval village of Rothen that disappeared under a landslide. The people of Goldau prospered and its nearby mountain Rossberg was the cause of the destruction. Share a thought to those long forgotten.
My sources:
Posted by She Wolf Night
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