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Ghost tour entertains with legends, spirits Posted
August 1, 2004
By ERICKA J. MILLER PRAGUE– I drew my sweatshirt closely around me and pulled the zipper higher up on my neck. Though the temperature outside didn’t have the slightest hint of a chill, something inside me was making me shiver and struggle to stay warm. The slight evening breeze rustled the trees next to the group and I took a look around us. There we were, standing alone on a deserted street, somewhere in the city, listening to a mysterious tale of witchcraft and lovers betrayal.
That night, on the Ghost Tour, our guide had taken us off the beaten tourist paths and we were about to discover what hidden legends and spirits the city had to offer us that night. As I walked through the middle of the square shortly after dusk this is what I had pictured—and hoped—would be my experience on the city’s ghost tour. I pictured an older gentleman, with a black coat and top hat, carrying a lantern and telling us several gruesome and horrific tales, while we stood in the place where the events took place. But, as it turned out, the creepy crawlies of legendary Prague were missing in action that night and our guide was a slim woman in her mid twenties who spoke to us through a microphone and was about as far from mysterious as you could get. So, while the mood of the tour wasn’t all I had imagined, I did learn some interesting—and yes, I’ll admit it, some scary—stories of the city where I had now spent almost an entire month exploring and calling my own. Our guide that night was a nice woman named Denisa, who, ironically enough was also pursuing her journalism degree. The tour began promptly at 10 p.m. at the famous Astronomical Clock. I had chosen the latest possible ghost tour offered that night, hoping to get the most spine chilling experience by doing the entire walk under the cover of darkness. And, about 15 minutes into the tour, I found myself thankful I had taken every measure to make the experience as eerie as possible. We began the tour with a bit of background about Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock. Built in 1490, the clock was one of a kind due to its intricate design and complicated carvings that adorned its exterior and put on a show every hour from nine to nine each day. The owners of the clock were very proud of the creation and wanted to make sure that the designer would not make another more extravagant one for anyone else. So, to ensure their status at the top, they took a searing iron poker and blinded the creator. To get his revenge, he climbed to the top of the tower and dismantled his clock. Despite numerous attempts, it was more than a hundred years until someone was finally able to fix the clock and restore it to a working condition.
With that small introduction to one of the busiest spots in the city, we were off for an hour of mysteries and legends. We wove our way through the narrow, dimly lit cobblestone streets and I found myself walking through sections of Prague I never knew existed. We suddenly stopped in front of a restaurant where only a few stragglers were left sitting at red checked tables, sipping at the last drops of their wine. The scrolling handwriting on the outside of the building told me that this was Vecchia Moderna, a seemly cozy Italian restaurant. “This is our first dangerous stop,” Denisa told our group of twelve. “There once lived a very happy, young married couple just over there on the second floor of that building.” As she pointed out the location she was talking about, the story unfolded. The couple had just celebrated the birth of their first child and was very much in love. One day the woman decided to take the baby out to pick up a few things at the market while her husband was at work. There was construction around their home and on her way an accident occurred. People were rushing to see what had happened and in the confusion the women forgot she had set the baby down in the market. As soon as she realized she had forgotten the baby she began to search. After hours of looking she returned home crying, to tell her husband. Her husband flew into a fit of rage and stabbed his wife to death. Then he killed himself.
The legend says that even today their unsettled spirits roam the streets of Michalska and Vejvodova, after midnight, searching for their lost child. “If you encounter the couple— which you’ll recognize by a weeping young women and a man with a bloody knife— they may even ask you to help them. "But, beware, years ago, three men tried to assist the couple and all disappeared. Only one returned months later, but could not recall where he had spent his missing time,” Denisa finished. She motioned us to follow her and we continued winding through more unfamiliar city streets. We stopped next at our second stop; a crossroads with a little café under a white awning to one side and in the middle of the intersection an older hotel advertising several rooms open for the night. Here, our guide told us of another couple who had lived in what was now the small hotel. The pair had been murdered by their partner, who wanted to take over the business. He beheaded them both, locked their bodies in the cellar and threw their heads over the Charles Bridge into the Vltava River.
After news of the deaths spread throughout the city, no one would stay in the man’s hotel and soon he was forced in bankruptcy. The couple’s unsettled spirits continued to haunt hotel, scaring away all possible occupants, until one day, a young baker bought the hotel. On his first encounter with the two headless ghosts, the young man was not afraid and the couple convinced him to give them a proper burial so they could rest. After he agreed, they told him to make headless cakes and that would lead him to fortune. He began to make the cakes shortly after the burial and they quickly became a huge success. The man became very wealthy from the cakes and tips the two ghosts had given him. As the night proceeded, we heard two more stories about love gone wrong and distressed spirits that haunted the streets of Prague until their wrongs had been righted. The most comically story of the night came on our fifth stop. We came to rest in front of a majestic church a short stroll away from Old Town Square. Here, our guide climbed the steps and began to tell us about Tycho De Brahe, a famous astronomer.
In this well-known legend, Brahe attended a dinner with the Emperor and during the course of the evening a drinking contest ensued. After drinking many beers, Brahe had to use the restroom, but, being a man of great manners, refused to stand before the Emperor. Finally, his bladder filled so full, it exploded and Brahe died. Legend has it that to this day, if you walk by the church after midnight, there Tycho De Brahe sits drinking a cold beer on the church steps. Our final story of the evening led us to the Ebel Bazar—a small, hidden restaurant just off of the hordes of Old Town Square. It was there we learned of a young couple who quickly fell in love and planned to marry. He groom to be went back to Turkey to gain his father’s permission and did not return. Months after he left, the girl met a German trader and they too fell in love. On the eve of their wedding, the Turkish man came back to marry the women and found her betrothed to another. However, once he saw the girl again he decided he did not want to marry her. Meanwhile the German had come to the same conclusion and the girl found herself with no one to marry. She became so angry she locked the two up, but somehow the two escaped and left her. “Each night, the girl wonders these streets after the stroke of midnight looking for a groom to marry,” our guide finished up. “So, if you are a single young man and would like to marry this girl, come back here after midnight and she will come to you. Good luck.” Then Denisa took us to a neon lit tavern and there we made our final tour stop. “Please enjoy a drink on behalf of the ghosts from this city,” she told us. “I thank you for joining all of us this evening, happy haunting.” With that we were left to enjoy a glass of the ever famous Czech beer— included in our 250 kc price tag ($8.50 US)—with the spirits of the old city all around us.
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