The good people of Mayen tricked the devil into helping them to build their church and he was so enraged about it that he tried to tear off the spire. He twisted it this way and that but it didn’t come off. So he left enraged and the spire stayed up – albeit all twisted and asked. That’s the legend and the spire became the emblem of Mayen. Allied bombers destroyed the church in 1945 but it was rebuilt – with the twisted spire.
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The carpenter who built this church spire blamed his construction fault on the devil. It worked. People don’t remember his name and his error about wood moving after construction. What they do remember is the legend that the devil corkskrewed the tower in a fit … Continue reading Orange and Lemons Say the Bells of St Clements
Legend has it that the devil himself twisted the spire of St Clemens in Mayen. I’m not sure if that’s true but it’s a much more compelling story than that it was simply caused by a mistake of the carpenters.
Since the devil’s ire came from being fooled into helping to build the church – he’d been told that the people of Mayen were building an inn with a ballroom rather than a church – here are a few twisted vines.
pictures imperfect blog 