Jon Solo Sebastian 03/23/2025:

Welcome to this week’s Monster of the Week! Have you ever tossed a coin into a wishing well or fountain? I remember doing it as a kid, but never put much thought into it. Sometimes I’d make a wish, and other times, I’d just toss a coin and walk away. Getting that close to a well years ago, according to Danish folklore, could be considered risking your life. At the bottom of the well, if you believe the tale, a creepy monster sits waiting and hoping someone will lean over to pull up the bucket of water. At that instance, he reaches up and pulls you down under. Your imagination can fill in what happens after that.

The Well Man, or Brøndmand

Not much is known about the creature other than what he allegedly looks like, and what he does. Most, including myself, believe him to be a scare-creature to keep kids out of trouble; not unlike many of the old folktales.

There are two descriptions of what he looks like, but the main one is rather terrifying whether you see him at the bottom of a well, or at a local Starbucks. He’s skinny and very tall—at least seven foot tall. His arms are extremely long (so he can reach you from the bottom of the well). His skin is ink black and oily, and he has glowing red eyes. The other version of the Well Man is a tiny human-like creature—like a Gnome. He doesn’t look friendly despite his size and smile because he’s covered in blood. He rides up the bucket smiling and waving at you before he attacks.

As I said above, Brøndmand was likely used to keep children from playing near the well—a prevention type of scare tactic used to keep them from falling down the hole. How many films or shows have we seen where someone falls down a well? The tale of Brøndmand should be enough to keep those numbers very low.  It is said, for those who believe in the creature, that they would toss coins or other valuable items into the wells to pay off the Well Man, or to make him go away. If anyone went missing, or the water was foul and townspeople got sick, they’d know their tribute wasn’t worth enough.

In the old days, people didn’t have technology, or the type of science we have now to determine things that seem so simple to us today. Imagine rats get in the well and die, or a bird falls down there, or God forbid, a person. A decaying/decomposing body in the drinking water would most certainly cause the drinkers to become ill or worse. Instead of the townsfolk looking at it that way, they blame the evil creature; Brøndmand.

What could be logically explained today, wasn’t so easy back then. With that in mind, and the description of the Well Man, would you lean over the edge of a well to see if a monster is waiting for you?