The mountain communities of the Alpes Vaudoises are replete with legends and folk tales, and Les Diablerets – its name meaning “abode of devils” – is no exception. To the south and east of the village rise the heights of Les Diablerets themselves, with their two huge glaciers, Diablerets and Tsanfleuron. Legend has it that in ancient times the latter (“Field of Flowers” in the local dialect) was a beautiful sunny meadow until the arrival, long ago, of demons and devils in the mountains. Soon after, the shepherds of Tsanfleuron and the Ormont Valley began to be troubled by boulders bouncing down from on high, as the devils played their games of skill, trying to hit a huge tower of rock – the Quille du Diable (Devil’s Skittle) – sticking up from the heights of the mountain. The shepherds, fearing for the safety of their flocks and themselves, moved away from the area, which lost its vitality and beauty and turned into the icy wasteland it remains today. The Quille du Diable still stands atop the mountain, close to the peak of the Scex Rouge (Ruby Mountain), so named after a local shepherdess discovered a fabulous cave studded with rubies and amethysts, home of the mountain spirit. In return for not telling a soul about the cave, the shepherdess was allowed to take away three large rubies; she kept her promise and left the valley. Since then, no one has been able to discover the entrance to the cave, but the story goes that when people have gone looking, the spirit has become angry and has started to shake the whole mountain.

Other tales abound of lost souls seen at night, drifting with lanterns alone or in groups through the woods, pastures and rocky defiles of the mountain; local people attested to seeing their lantern lights and hearing their moans just before the two terrible landslides of 1714 and 1740. The meadows and hills all around are also said to be inhabited by elves, goblins and a local brand of imp named a servan, one of whom, it is said, once mischievously turned himself into a fox and was seen sitting at night in a hay loft knitting with the hair of his own tail.