Vrouwtje Paling (“Lady Eel”)
label
Remarkable people
Vrouwtje Paling (“Lady Eel”)
If you are in the vicinity of Hoogmade and ask if anyone knows where “vrouwtje Paling” lived, you will be directed to the house at Spijkereiland 28, where Vrouwtje Paling's home used to stand. Vrouwtje Paling's real name was Marietje Spijker. She had the gift of communicating with fish. If she sat by the waterside and called the fish, the bream, perch, eel, tench and carp came to her. If she put her hands in the water the fish would even come to her stretched out hands and could just be lifted from the water.
This may sound like regional folklore, but in 1949 this was recorded in various newspapers by means of a four-page report including photos.
