The story says that the ghosts are trapped inside the Ålleberg mountain, waiting for a new war to wake them up so they can fight to save the country.[4] The mountain is also thought to play host to trolls.[4]
In his One Year in Sweden, Horace Marryat recounts one of several versions of the legend current in Falköping, the municipality nearest to Ålleberg, as of his visit in the mid-19th century:
The peasants still have tales of the golden coats of armour worn by the German knights; and pretend, when wandering after nightfall, to have met the spirits of the warriors, especially before time of warfare.[5]
Marryat continues, describing the story of a young man who enters the mountain at the bidding of a mysterious gentleman:
Around the walls of a vast chamber lay sleeping cavaliers, with golden armour hanging above their heads; from behind he heard a sound as of horses in their stables at night time. Though he did walk very softly with his iron-nailed shoes, some of the warriors awoke, and asked, "Is the hour yet come?"[5]
In literature
A short story by August Strindberg titled (in English) "The Golden Helmets in the Alleberg", a humorous tale with abundant references to the history of Sweden, alludes to the legend.[6]
