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Stones Inscribed With Ominous Messages Have Emerged in Czech Republic Riverbeds as Drought Drives Water Level Lower
The so-called "Hunger Stone" is pictured in Decin, Czech Republic on August 29, 2018, by the low water level of the Elbe river. - Once an ominous harbinger of low water and hard times for rafters on the Elbe river, this summer a massive boulder known as the "Hunger stone" in the Czech city of Decin has warned of the record drought spanning much of Europe. (MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)

Hard times are coming for Europe, according to a century-old rock in the middle of the Elbe River in the Czech Republic. Known as a “hunger stone,” the rock is inscribed with the words, “Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine” or"If you can see me, then weep."

The stone, roughly the size of a van, was inscribed in 1904 by a boatman whose work dried up that year when the river bed became too shallow to support boat traffic. About 20 such boulders, engraved with markers and dates going back to 1616, lie under the waters of the Elbe, a major central European waterway running from the Czech Republic through Germany to the North Sea. Plummeting river levels have exposed them.

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