CHILD-EATING STATUE in Bern, Switzerland -and a Bear with a RED PENIS. The Kindlifresserbrunnen.

"The mystery isn't only why Bern built a statue of a man eating children. The mystery is why Bern put its own armed bears beneath him."

Why does Bern, Switzerland have a child-eating statue above an army of armed bears?

The Kindlifresserbrunnen, also known as the Child Eater Fountain, Ogre Fountain or Kindlifresser Fountain, is one of the strangest historic monuments in Bern's Old City, Switzerland. Created in 1545–1546 and associated with Renaissance sculptor Hans Gieng, the fountain depicts a terrifying figure eating a child while carrying other children in a sack. Directly beneath the Child Eater is an extraordinary detail that is often overlooked: a military procession of armed Bernese bears, complete with weapons, a captain and a banner.

Nearly 500 years later, the meaning of Bern's Kindlifresserbrunnen remains disputed.

This episode goes backward through the history of Bern to investigate what was happening long before the Child Eater appeared. The trail reaches back to 1144 and the William of Norwich ritual-murder accusation, the founding of Bern and Nydegg Castle around 1191, the documented presence of Jews in medieval Bern, and Bern's own 1293–1294 accusation that Jews had murdered a Christian child.

The investigation then moves into the 14th and 15th centuries, when Bern was becoming a major power in the Swiss Confederacy and repeatedly confronting the Habsburgs. During the early 1400s, Roma, historically called Gypsies in European records, also appear in Switzerland and surrounding European territories. Jews and Roma were therefore both part of the historical landscape long before the Child Eater Fountain was constructed.

The episode examines the major theories surrounding the mysterious Child Eater, including Cronus or Kronos devouring his children, the Roman Saturn, the medieval Kinderschreck or bogeyman, antisemitic interpretations, blood-libel imagery and Bernese folklore. But instead of looking only at the frightening figure at the top, the investigation asks why an army of Bern's bears is marching directly underneath him.

Following the bear backward opens another trail. Bern's bear symbolism leads into the city's medieval history, the Swiss Confederacy, the Reformation, Habsburg power and the political struggles of 16th-century Europe. It also reaches further back into the Celtic world and Artio, the ancient Celtic bear goddess, whose famous bronze sculpture was discovered at Muri near Bern.

In 1528, Bern adopted the Protestant Ref