Tir des Sorcières
In 2026, the Stand de tir de Diesse in Switzerland hosts the 25th 'Tir des Sorcières' (Witches' Shooting) event from June 26 to July 4, a unique and quirky tradition.
Stand de tir de Diesse · Switzerland ·
Bizarre, unexpected and just plain strange facts from across Switzerland. Browsing 80 curated facts.
In 2026, the Stand de tir de Diesse in Switzerland hosts the 25th 'Tir des Sorcières' (Witches' Shooting) event from June 26 to July 4, a unique and quirky tradition.
Stand de tir de Diesse · Switzerland ·
In Oberbüren, a bizarre tradition took place where stillborn children were temporarily 'revived' through warming to allow for baptism. This practice, known as 'sanctuaires à répit', was believed to e…
Oberbüren · Switzerland ·
The Linde tree in Linn, Aargau, was almost cut down in 1586, but was spared, and later survived multiple fires, including one in 1979 that surprisingly helped the tree by burning away parasites and p…
Linn, Aargau · Switzerland ·
Meteorites, or 'iron stones', fell on the region over 176,000 years ago, leaving behind a mysterious legacy.
Plateau de Diesse · Switzerland ·
In Oberbüren, a former sanctuary allowed parents to temporarily 'revive' stillborn babies by warming them up, just long enough to baptize them. This practice, known as 'sanctuaire à répit', was based…
Oberbüren · Switzerland ·
The lord of the manor in Maur had the right of 'ius primae noctis', which meant he could spend the wedding night with every bride in the village. However, this right was likely never exercised, and t…
Maur · Switzerland ·
Ziefen had an extraordinary law that prohibited new citizens from moving to the village for 139 years, from 1835 to 1965, with only a few exceptions, including a essential roof maker and two honorary…
Ziefen · Switzerland ·
A family named Meier grew a sweet potato plant with a total weight of 43.2 kilograms, setting a new world record at the Jucker Farm in Seegräben.
Jucker Farm · Switzerland ·
The Pflugstein, a massive boulder, was left behind by the Linth-Rhein glacier around 15,000 years ago and was nearly blown up in 1939, but was saved by the president of the local tourism board.
Pflugstein · Switzerland ·
The Bechtler Stiftung in Uster features a massive sculpture called 'The 2000 Sculpture' by Walter de Maria, which can only be viewed in daylight. This 500-square-meter installation consists of 2000 g…
Bechtler Stiftung · Switzerland ·
The Amish, descendants of the Anabaptists, still live in closed communities in North America, rejecting modern technology and civilization, and speaking old German and Swiss dialects.
North America · Switzerland
Niederweningen is home to the richest mammoth find site in Switzerland, with at least ten mammoths discovered, including a young mammoth calf. The Mammut Museum showcases these spectacular Ice Age fi…
Niederweningen · Switzerland
The fountain in Richterswil is the world's highest gravity-powered fountain, reaching a height of 101 meters without using any pumps.
Richterswil · Switzerland
Every spring, thousands of frogs and toads migrate to the Eigentalweiher to mate and lay eggs, and volunteers have been helping them cross the road safely since the 1970s.
Eigental · Switzerland ·
As of 2023, Lugano is home to approximately 12 million Japanese beetle larvae in a single park, making it a hotspot for the invasive species.
Lugano · Switzerland ·
The watchmakers of St. Imier were particularly drawn to anarchist ideology, sparking speculation about the connection between the precise craft of watchmaking and the desire for social upheaval.
St. Imier · Switzerland ·
At the Gasi Museum, up to 1000 children played in the black, dried-out regeneration mass in the 1950s, inhaling its fumes, which allegedly helped with whooping cough; as of 1950, the reason for its e…
Gasi Museum · Switzerland ·
Schelten, a village in the Bernese Jura, has a reputation for often voting against the majority in Swiss national referendums, reflecting its unique character.
Schelten · Switzerland
The Bronze Hand of Prêles, discovered in 2017, is possibly the oldest anthropomorphic bronze sculpture in Europe, dating back to the Middle Bronze Age, around 1500-1400 BC.
Prêles · Switzerland ·
Meteorites, or 'iron pebbles', fell in the region over 176,000 years ago, leaving behind a unique geological feature.
Plateau de Diesse · Switzerland
In Grossaffoltern, a remarkable stork colony has formed, with 29 stork pairs and 49 young storks living on various rooftops, making it a unique and fascinating sight to behold.
Grossaffoltern · Switzerland ·
As of 2024, the last diaper factory in Rüti bei Büren, Switzerland produces 600 diapers per minute, with each child requiring around 5000 diapers until they can use the toilet.
Rüti bei Büren · Switzerland ·
In 2024, the Gampelen camping site in Switzerland was shut down due to its location in a nature reserve, leaving nearly 800 campers without a place to stay.
Gampelen · Switzerland ·
By 2024, the Gampelen camping site in Switzerland had been a home for many long-time campers, including Traugott Strasser, who had been coming to the site for 25 years.
Gampelen · Switzerland ·
In Wiedlisbach, a village in the canton of Bern, a unique 'Dementia Village' was opened in 2022, where people with dementia can live in a protected environment, with their own shops, restaurants, and…
Wiedlisbach · Switzerland ·
The Emmental region's groundwater is replenished surprisingly quickly, with water from the Emme river flowing through the aquifer in just 7 to 14 days. This was discovered by researcher Andrea Popp u…
Emmental · Switzerland ·
The city of Bern has subversive street signs that deviate from the standard white on blue signs used in the rest of Switzerland. Instead, the signs in the old town are colored red, green, yellow, bla…
Bern Old Town · Switzerland ·
In 1798, the Helvetian Republic briefly made Aarau its capital for just four months, before moving to Luzern, and later to Bern in 1799 due to the 2nd Coalition War. This erratic shifting of capitals…
Aarau · Switzerland ·
The Mediation Act of 1803 introduced a rotation system where six cities - Freiburg, Solothurn, Basel, Bern, Zürich, and Luzern - shared the honor of being the capital, with each serving for a period…
Freiburg, Solothurn, Basel, Bern, Zürich, Luzern · Switzerland ·
In the village of Gündisau, there's a unique tradition where a groom had to pay the 'Anstand' to the local Jungmannschaft when marrying a girl from the village, with prices varying greatly, once as l…
Gündisau · Switzerland
The suspension bridge in Meilen's Beugenbachtobel was built using a design by Hans Pfaffen, who had previously constructed similar bridges in Nepal, where they were used by Sherpas and even a yak.
Beugenbachtobel · Switzerland ·
The world's first energy-autonomous multi-family house is located in Brütten, where the Vogt family lives without noticing the increase in energy prices. The house generates its own energy using sunl…
Brütten · Switzerland
In 2017, a mysterious bronze hand was discovered in Prêles, a small village in the canton of Bern, dating back to the Middle Bronze Age, around 1500-1400 BC.
Prêles · Switzerland ·
The street signs in Bern's old town are a riot of colors - red, green, yellow, black, and white - thanks to a legacy of Napoleon's 1798 campaign in Switzerland.
Bern · Switzerland ·
The city of Lucerne uses a horse-drawn carriage to collect organic waste in the Hirschmatt and Neustadt neighborhoods, promoting social integration and delighting residents of all ages.
Hirschmatt and Neustadt neighborhoods · Lucerne ·
In Lucerne, a team of inventors, the Green Monkeys, built a road-legal sofa with a moped engine, complete with blinkers, a steering wheel, and a horn, which they drove through the city's streets duri…
Lucerne · Lucerne ·
Only from the lower part of the Spreuerbrücke were people allowed to throw 'Spreu' (chaff) and leaves into the Reuss river in medieval times, a peculiar privilege that highlights the bridge's unique…
Spreuerbrücke · Lucerne
The building that houses the Bourbaki-Panorama was once used as a parking garage, and in the 1920s, it even featured a rotating platform, making it one of the first mechanized parking facilities in C…
Bourbaki-Panorama · Lucerne ·
The world's steepest cogwheel railway, the Pilatus Railway, runs from Alpnachstad to the top of Mount Pilatus. This railway has been in operation since 1889 and offers breathtaking views of the surro…
Pilatus Railway · Lucerne ·
The Pilate mountain has a unique and steep railway, the Pilatusbahn, which is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world, with a maximum gradient of 48%. This feat of engineering was opened in 1889 a…
Pilatusbahn · Lucerne ·
The Stanserhorn features a unique 'CabriO' double-deck open-top cable car, which was the world's first when it opened in 2012, offering breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and lakes.
Stanserhorn · Lucerne ·
During the Battle of Sempach in 1386, Austrian knights had to cut off the tips of their poulaines, a type of shoe, in order to move more easily on foot. This unusual act was necessitated by the terra…
Sempach · Lucerne ·
The Rütli meadow was the site of a bizarre incident in 2007, where an individual, dubbed the 'Rütli-Bomber', caused a detonation during the National Day celebrations. However, it was later discovered…
Rütli meadow · Lucerne ·
In 1603, a couple, Jacob Leringerst and his wife, held a second wedding ceremony, inviting the city's dignitaries, despite being poor. The bride wore a maiden's wreath, and the groom wore a garland l…
Basel · Lucerne ·
Lucerne's historical records from 1372 note that in Basel, wine was extremely cheap, with a measure costing only 1 Schilling, and 4 measures available for 1 Pfennig.
Basel · Lucerne ·
IWC's first secular perpetual calendar took into account the complex leap year rules of the Gregorian calendar and was so precise that it would only deviate by one day after 45 million years.
IWC Museum · Schaffhausen
A family, the Meiers, grew a massive sweet potato plant with a total weight of 43.2 kilograms, setting a new world record at the Jucker Farm in Seegräben.
Jucker Farm · Schaffhausen ·
In 1974, the canton of Schaffhausen introduced a unique law requiring its citizens to vote in elections, with failure to do so resulting in a small fine.
Schaffhausen · Schaffhausen ·
The Munot fortification in Schaffhausen has a unique tradition where the Guardian of the Munot rings a bell every evening at 9 p.m., a custom that dates back to 1377 and signals the time for city gat…
Munot · Schaffhausen ·
The Rhine Falls is home to a unique inhabitant, the eel, which can climb up the rocky walls of the falls, defying the powerful current. This phenomenon has fascinated visitors for centuries. The eel'…
Rhine Falls · Schaffhausen
The Bern Historical Museum contains the Moringen arrowhead, which was determined to be of meteoric origin in 2023. This ancient artifact has been in the collection for over a century, and its otherwo…
Bern Historical Museum · Bern ·
On Nebengasse in Bern, the Zibelemärit tradition includes a bizarre custom where farmers braid onions into intricate designs, which are then sold as a specialty of the region.
Nebengasse · Bern
The Kindlifresserbrunnen, or Ogre Fountain, is a bizarre fountain featuring an ogre devouring a child, surrounded by frightened children. Its origin is disputed, with theories ranging from a represen…
Kindlifresserbrunnen · Bern ·
The Burgerbibliothek Bern holds letters from Wilhelm Fabry, a 17th-century surgeon, that contain bizarre drawings, including one that resembles a creature from H.R. Giger's Alien films, 350 years bef…
Burgerbibliothek Bern · Bern ·
A revolutionary eye surgery using a tooth as a replacement for the cornea was performed at the Pallas-Kliniken, allowing a 70-year-old patient to see again after years of blindness.
Pallas-Kliniken · Bern ·
The Abbey of Saint Gall has a unique architectural plan, known as the 'Plan of Saint Gall', which is the only major architectural drawing from the period between the end of the Roman Empire and the 1…
Abbey of Saint Gall · St. Gallen ·
The Mühleggbahn funicular in St. Gallen has a unique history, having been originally opened in 1893 as a water counterbalancing funicular with two cars and a passing loop, before being replaced by a…
Mühleggbahn · St. Gallen ·
The Kunkler-Bau, a former theater building, was demolished in 1971 and is now the site of a McDonald's restaurant.
Bohl · St. Gallen ·
In 1416, three Italian scholars, Poggio, Cencius, and Bartholomä, visited the St. Gallen library with the intention of 'rescuing' ancient Roman and Greek texts, potentially by stealing or buying them…
St. Gallen Library · St. Gallen ·
A mummified corpse of a woman named Anna Catharina Bischoff was discovered in a brick-walled grave chamber at the Barfüsserkirche in 1975. She was found to be an ancestor of Boris Johnson. The church…
Barfüsserkirche · Basel ·
The company Sandoz, founded in Basel, produced the synthetic substance lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD, in 1938. The psychoactive properties of this preparation were discovered by acc…
Sandoz Headquarters · Basel ·
In 2013, the bank vault at 'Unternehmen Mitte' in Basel was filled with 8 million 5-Räpplern coins, weighing around 15 tons, as part of a campaign for an unconditional basic income initiative. The co…
Unternehmen Mitte · Basel ·
On May 7, 2018, a truck lost its cargo of frozen cow halves on Pfingstweidstrasse, causing a massive traffic jam and damage to a tram line and traffic lights.
Pfingstweidstrasse · Zurich ·
In 2010, a construction worker at Pfingstweidstrasse was thrown out of a cherry picker when a passing truck touched it, but miraculously landed on the truck's container and survived with moderate inj…
Pfingstweidstrasse · Zurich ·
The public pay phones from Swisscom near tram stops, such as Bezirksgebaeude and Albisriederplatz, play horror music when you enter them, a strange and unexplained phenomenon.
Bezirksgebaeude and Albisriederplatz · Zurich
The Peak Walk suspension bridge at Glacier 3000 is the only bridge in the world that links two mountain peaks, offering breathtaking views of the Eiger, Jungfrau, and Matterhorn.
Glacier 3000 · Lausanne
For over 600 years, the Cathedral's Watch in Lausanne has been calling out the time from 10 pm to 2 am, a tradition that continues to this day, offering visitors a glimpse into the city's rich histor…
Lausanne Cathedral · Lausanne
In Winterthur's Neuburg neighborhood, the annual 'Fassdaubenrennen' was held since 1953, with participants wearing wooden barrels on their feet; by 1953, the event had already become a local traditio…
Neuburg · Winterthur ·
Louisa Lamour, a pornographic actor, was born in Winterthur, which might come as a surprise to the city's conservative residents.
Winterthur · Winterthur ·
In 1943, during World War II, the town of Campione d'Italia issued its own postage stamps, featuring the town's coat of arms and views of the town, with values in Swiss francs.
Campione d'Italia · Lugano ·
The lake's water is home to a unique phenomenon called meromissi, where the water is stratified into layers with different chemical properties, creating a 'lake within a lake' effect. This natural wo…
Lake Lugano · Lugano ·
A famous story from the Escalade is that of the Mère Royaume, who scalded a Savoyard soldier with her soup, helping to defend the city. To this day, chocolate marmites (cauldrons) are sold and eaten…
Old City · Geneva ·
In the 7th century, the chronicler Frédégaire reported a bizarre event where the water in the Lac de Thoune became so hot that it boiled and cooked the fish, a phenomenon that has never been explaine…
Lac de Thoune · Thun ·
A devastating cyclone passed through La Chaux-de-Fonds on August 23, 1934, causing widespread destruction. By 2023, the city had experienced another cyclone, following a similar path and causing dama…
La Chaux-de-Fonds · La Chaux-de-Fonds ·
The capital of the Warhammer fantasy world, Altdorf, shares its name with this Swiss town, a surprising connection between the real and fantasy worlds.
Altdorf · Altdorf
A kangaroo and its joey escaped from the 'Maro's' experience restaurant in Lostorf and hopped through the streets, causing a surprise for the locals.
Lostorf · Solothurn ·
A billionaire from Basel was fined for driving drunk and exposing himself to another person at the Kefikon Nord rest stop in 2025.
Kefikon Nord rest stop · Frauenfeld ·
A 55-year-old man miraculously survived an air mattress explosion in his apartment in Aarau, which shattered windows and damaged the door.
Aarau · Aarau ·
An 84-year-old driver intentionally pushed people with his car to clear a path on Schützenstrasse in Ibach during the Schwyzer Sennenchilbi festival.
Schwyzer Sennenchilbi · Schwyz ·
Flugabwehrkanonen from 1963 are still used by the Swiss Army to secure the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Davos Dorf · Davos ·
Hidden stories of Switzerland beneath your feet
Facts are sourced from various open websites and may have been edited. Copyright of original content belongs to their respective owners.
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