E. Cobham Brewer 18101897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
in Switzerland. The similarity of the word with the name of
Pontius Pilate has given rise to the tradition that the Roman
Governor, being banished to Gaul by Tiberius, wandered to this
mount and threw himself into a black lake on its summit. But
Mont Pileatus means the hatted mountain, because it is
frequently capped with clouds. The story goes, that once a year
Pilate appears in his robes of office, and whoever sees the
ghost will die before the year is out. In the sixteenth century
a law was passed forbidding anyone to throw stones in the lake,
for fear of bringing a tempest on the country. There is a town
called Pilate in the island of Hispaniola, and a Mont Pilate in
France.