It is bordered by sheer cliffs, nearly 170-feet feet high on either side, and until a walking path was constructed in 1889, the only way to cross the gorge was by challenging the treacherous rapids. This proved even more perilous than it initially seemed as folklore — hailing from as far back as the 1500s — had it that this narrow passage was populated with a plethora of these ostensibly carnivorous, eel monsters. According to accounts handed down from generation to generation, these creatures would strike down unwary travelers who tried to cross the passage. The Arre River was considered to be an especially dangerous place during the time of the year when Lake Lucerne flooded, presumably releasing more of the beasts into the river. On a literary note; the gorge is also the home of the Reichenbach Falls, which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle selected as the setting for Sherlock Holmes’ untimely demise at the hands of the infamous Professor Moriarty.
There have been no recent reports of the animals in question.
