No-one really knows where the name “Agath” came from.  It is mentioned in various documents, the first time being in the year 1480.  It could be a version of the name Agatha who was said to own a stable in the lower Ladritsch Valley.  This type of stable also comes up in two of the following legends.  And the Bütze play a prominent role in the legends of Vorarlberg.  These creatures are ghosts that are described in other areas as dwarfs, house ghosts, forest ghosts or mountain ghosts.  Not a lot is known about what they actually looked like.  What we do know is that they were small, hunched with long ears and either grey or jet black hair.  The Alpbütze or Alp ghost is at home in the Montafon and the people here thought that the ghosts would move into the huts on the Alpine meadows in the fall after the cheese mongers and shepherds went back home.¹  Bütze are usually described as mean, ugly and dangerous creatures that made peoples lives hard and tried to scare them.  Sometimes, though, they are described as being helpful and kind, living peacefully together with people under the same roof.

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1 Vgl. Elsensohn  2006: 115ff