Each story is rooted in real local history and landmarks
A child visiting the old Herisau hospital discovers one of Rorschach's original cards. The inkblot transforms into a creature that shows what you feel — and the child must figure out what the inkblot sees in them. A story about perception, imagination, and the psychiatrist who changed how we understand the mind.
On Christmas Day, a child follows footprints in the snow through Herisau and meets the ghost of Robert Walser, who takes them on one last walk past the psychiatric clinic, through the woods, to the places that inspired his stories. Each stop reveals a tiny, beautiful observation about the world — the kind only Walser could see.
A child travels back to 1799 as French soldiers set fire to the great Grubenmann bridge at Schaffhausen. Inside the flames, the spirit of Johannes Grubenmann appears and teaches the child to rebuild: arch, truss, and the courage to span what seems impossible — because every bridge starts with believing the other side is worth reaching.
A child time-travels to the last Landsgemeinde of 1997 in Hundwil and discovers that one vote is missing. They must journey back through the centuries — 1597 (the great split), 1518 (freedom from the Abbey), 1403 (the Appenzell Wars) — to find the lost voter and complete democracy's final open-air act.
A child hiking near the Säntis discovers a colossal footprint in the Meglisalp grass. Following the legend, they meet the sleeping giant Sämtis, who asks for one last bedtime story before he turns into the mountain forever. The child must decide what kind of mountain he will become — and what stories the Alpstein will tell for millennia.
On Blochmontag at 4:30 AM, the great tree trunk breaks free from the men pulling it through Herisau and rolls through the dark streets on its own, gathering speed. A child chases it past the Reformed Church, down to the Glatt river, and into the hills — discovering that the Bloch is trying to return to the forest where it grew up.
Bartholomäus Lämmler's panoramic painting of an Alpaufzug comes to life. A child steps into the long, narrow world of the Sennenstreifen and must help a painted cow reach the alpine pasture before the paint dries and the picture freezes forever — a journey through Appenzell's most beloved folk art tradition.
On Alter Silvester (January 13), a shy child joins the Silvesterchläusen procession in an Ugly mask (Wüeschte), only to discover that when the slow Zäuerli yodel begins, the masks swap — the Ugly become Beautiful and the Beautiful become Ugly. The child must sing their way back to their true face before the last cowbell rings.
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