One of the most ancient and mysterious fortress refuges on Middle-earth, Dunharrow was a part of Rohan during the War of the Ring. It was one of the main refuges during various wars for those in the vale of Harrowdale beneath it. Dunharrow appeared to be almost impossible to attack successfully as it was approached by a switch-back road up the steep cliffs of the mountains. Each switchback doubled sharply back on the lower one, and at each road-side turning were huge round stones in the shape of squatting pot-bellied men. It was a monumental piece of engineering, and snaked back and forth in a high pyramid of roads until it reached a wall of rock at the top through which a gap was cut and an incline leading onto the Hold of Dunharrow. This was a high, broad and well-watered alpine meadow on which many thousands could encamp themselves in times of war. Upon this plateau was a great corridor in the form of a long line of unshaped black standing stones which marched across the plain in a straight line toward the Dimholt, the "Haunted Mountain", and a black wall of stone pierced by a tunnel called the Dimholt. This led to a secret glen that was haunted by the spirits of the dead who prevented living men from crossing to the far side of the White Mountains by the abandoned pass. Dunharrow was built during the Second Age by the Men of the White Mountains who were ancestors of the Dunlendings, but who inhabited the land before the coming of the Men of Gondor. Although they later swore allegiance to Gondor, these people had already been corrupted by Sauron, and so in time of war betrayed their new allies. For the breaking of this oath, the spirits of these people were never allowed to rest and for all the years of the Third Age the ghostly army known as the Dead Men of Dunharrow haunted this part of Dwimmorberg above Dunharrow which was called the Paths of the Dead. It was not until the arrival of Aragorn that the Dead Men were allowed to make amends and Dunharrow's haunting spirits were at last laid to rest.

Source: Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia by David Day
Copyright: 1991 by Mitchell Beazley Publishers