Alp (folklore)
nightmare creature originating in German folklore
An alp (German: [alp]; plural alpe or alpen) is a supernatural being in German folklore.
Alp is sometimes likened to a vampire, but its behavior is more akin to that of the incubus. It is distinct from both of these creatures in that it wears a magic cloak called a Tarnkappe, from which it draws its powers. The word Alp is the German form of the word that comes into English as elf, both descended from Common Germanic. It is also known by the following names: trud, mar, mart, mahr, schrat, and walrider. Many variations of the creature exist in surrounding European areas, such as the drude or, in the British Isles, the Old Hag, related to now commonly recognized sleep paralysis.
In medieval sources
In the period before about 1000, the Old High German word alp is attested only in a small number of glosses. It is defined by the Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch as a "nature-god or nature-demon, equated with the Fauns of Classical mythology ... regarded as eerie, ferocious beings ... As the mare he messes around with women".
“Alp (folklore)” enters the record as nightmare creature originating in German folklore. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what folklore, nightmare and creature can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Alp (folklore)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, folklore, nightmare and creature provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2529990. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alp (folklore)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.