The legendary stone cross is said to have been created around 1450 / 1500.
Sage:
At the time of the Thirty Years' War, a forester named Kurt Pfeffer once lived on the Reckenbühl in the Hainich. But he was not the man people thought he was; he was neither upright nor good, as befitted a good huntsman. While the farmers in the villages thought he was hunting and looking after the trees, Pfeffer attacked harmless hikers who were walking peacefully along the Rennsteig. If he caught sight of one, he killed him and robbed him. But he took the stolen goods to his mother, whose name was Magdalena. He lived with her in the forester's lodge.
Sometimes it also happened that Pfeffer's mother herself helped with the misdeeds. Woe betide the wanderer who came near the forester's lodge. The old woman would lure him into the parlor with the promise of food and drink. Once he had sat down, it was soon all over for him. There were already rumors in the villages that the Hainich was no longer safe. Many a man had gone in there but never come out again. But nobody suspected that the forester might have had a hand in it. So the years passed until one day a stranger once again passed the Rennsteig. Apparently, Pfeffer had underestimated the other man's strength, because no sooner had he recovered from his initial fright than he freed himself from Pfeffer's murderous arms and alerted the farmers in the next village. When they arrived, Pfeffer had escaped, but in the murder house they found the evidence against him.
Now that the murderer was missing and the murder house had been dug up, peace returned to the Hainich. A stone cross was placed on the old woman's grave when she died, so that she could find peace after her "barren and evil life".