The story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is one of the best-known legends of the Middle Ages. The tale revolves around a mysterious piper who after scaring away a plague of rats from the town of Hamelin proceeds to lure the settlement's children into the woods, never to be seen again. It's a fable that history for the most part has dismissed as pure fantasy, but there are suggestions that behind the myth lies a disturbing truth and that it's actually based on a real incident.
So, who was the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and is he really responsible for the disappearance of over 100 innocent youngsters? Click through the following gallery and learn more about this intriguing but disturbing medieval mystery.