The Three Drops of Blood at Berlin

5 July 1539. Verger Andreas Klingenberg entered the Mariendom sacristy at half past five in the morning. On the floor by the altar lay three round drops of blood, no bigger than a button, in a row. Andreas sought a wound — on himself, the priest, the two choirboys of the evening before. No wound. He wiped the drops with a cloth; the cloth was kept in an iron chest. Three weeks later, on 28 July 1539, Mayor Hans von Polenz died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Andreas recognised the link only in hindsight.

Between 1539 and 2026 three drops of blood appeared 47 times on the sacristy floor. Each time a ruling or just-departed Berlin mayor died within three days. The pattern was recognised in 1612; since then a register is kept. The verger who finds the drops may (or must) warn the mayor at once. In 11 of 47 cases between 1612 and 2026 the mayor immediately updated his will and spoke with his family; in the other 36 there was no time or faith. In the 21st century the tradition has been partly secularly revived — since 1995 the verger calls the Berlin Senate administration on sighting. Twice in 2010-2026 it was a false alarm (DNA showed visitors’ nosebleeds). The real phenomenon still occurs; most recently in 2017 (two days before the death of a known ex-mayor). Tradition: «A death-sign is no curse; it is a warning. Three drops of blood do not say who dies, only that someone dies. Be ready. Three days are enough.»