A
Brocken spectre (
German Brockengespenst), also called
Brocken bow or
mountain spectre, is the apparently enormous and magnified
shadow of an observer, cast upon the upper surfaces of clouds opposite the sun. The phenomenon can appear on any misty mountainside or cloud bank, even when seen from an aeroplane, but the frequent fogs and low-altitude accessibility of the
Brocken, a peak in the
Harz Mountains in
Germany, have created a local legend from which the phenomenon draws its name. The Brocken spectre was observed and described by
Johann Silberschlag in 1780, and has since been recorded often in literature about the region.