Wiedergänger

The term Wiedergänger is German for 're-walker' or 'one who walks again' and denotes the dead who return to the world of the living. Scandinavian cognates (Danish genganger, Norwegian gjenganger, Swedish gengångare, Icelandic afturganga) derive from Old Norse aptrgangr ('re-walker') and cover a similar conceptual field of revenant returns. Sources treat Wiedergänger not as a single uniform entity but as a category of post-mortem problematic presences whose apparent causes include vengeance for injustices suffered in life or a soul that is not released due to the deceased's former conduct.

Descriptions vary by region and by subtype rather than presenting a single canonical form. In German tradition the revenant may appear as a corporeal corpse rising from the grave; specialized forms include the nachzehrer (often depicted as remaining in the grave with an open mouth/eye while gnawing burial shrouds) and the aufhocker (an undead that physically springs onto night walkers). West German material also records headless-rider motifs as a local form of physical revenant. In the Nordic/Icelandic corpus the cognate category includes the draugr, a supernatural corporeal revenant encountered in sagas. Archaeological finds (e.g., a Schelluinen skeleton interpreted by excavators) show burial treatments—face down, heavy stones, unusual orientation—made in some contexts out of fear of physical reanimation; such finds are interpreted as evidence of concern about corporeal return.

Wiedergänger broadly are credited with returning from death to disturb, harm, or frighten the living. Specific behaviors are recorded for regional subtypes: the nachzehrer was said to 'suck the vitality' of the living by means of an open mouth or eye and by gnawing burial shrouds, sometimes without leaving the grave; the aufhocker physically leaps upon night ramblers, growing ever heavier until the victim collapses from exhaustion or dies (legends add the aufhocker can take forms such as a werewolf in some Rhineland tales); draugr in the Icelandic sagas are corporeal revenants whose encounter often portends imminent death. Motivations offered in sources include vengeance for wrongs or a soul not being ready to pass on.