Daniel Zimmermann

AN ALM-BUTZ is someone who once, for example as a dairyman, treated the alpine pastures dishonestly and must atone for it - as a shadow creature.

Almbutze are usually very lonely, so they gladly seize any opportunity for mischief and to gain companionship. Near humans, their interaction possibilities are greatly limited. They can only communicate with people if someone directly addresses them. This mainly happens with alpine staff - less frequently with alpine visitors. They are allowed to make various deals with them, such as negotiating shadow world-companion-contracts.

EVERY YEAR, when the alpine folk move down to the valley with their cattle in the fall, the Butz and his companions come into our world and they live it up on the Alm until spring. Some alpine folk leave "welcome gifts" for him, like cheese, bacon, bread, and, of course, schnapps... and even candles, because it is said that the Butz and his companions love to play cards on long, dark winter evenings. The strong desire to play games when the opportunity arises, which is common among the Butze, is likely due to their loneliness.

On most alpine pastures, there are BUTZ-PORTALS  such as a hole in a rock, a gate, or even disguised as a bench. The portals from ancient times were more obvious, mystical places. Newer models, such as "BUTZ BOXES," are inconspicuous, plain, hidden, and equipped with a kind of control unit: a manual portal key that enables travel between worlds. „Da drin rumpelt der Butz“ („The Butz rumbles in there" – a common Austrian saying), they say, which is why Butz Boxes are left untouched, not moved, and not opened over generations.

MYSTERIOUS SIGNS, which are occasionally found on old building structures in the course of luminescence dating, could have been written in the shadow world. I have come up with the following explanation: This shadow-world-paint is, of course, invisible to the human eye — just like the Shadow World and its inhabitants.

Some of the shadow world paints, however, are apparently made from metastable crystals that absorb energy from cosmic radiation and release it when stimulated by short-wavelength light (UV light, black light). In other words, UV light can make messages from the Shadow World visible..