 By that time, German (Walser German, brought by the Walser migrations) is spoken locally.Between the 16th and 18th centuries, several major avalanches hit the village but the inhabitants rebuilt it each time.During the early history of tourism in Switzerland, a number of notable guests visited Leukerbad, including Isabelle de Charrière (1776 and 1777), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1779), Guy de Maupassant (1877) and Mark Twain (1878).