A Pied Piper “wearing multicolored clothes” leads 130 children out of the village of Hamelin, Germany in 1284 and none are ever seen again. The real life basis for the Robert Browning poem or Brothers Grimm tale remains the subject of different theories as to what exactly happened. Whether socioeconomic, political, victims of the Plague, mass hysteria or something more sinister, the loss of the children leaves a lasting trauma on the village for centuries.
This Day in Halloween: A Pied Piper leads 130 children out of the village of Hamelin, Germany in 1284 and are never seen again. / Illustration by Ryn Heller
