Prague is rightfully called one of the most mystical cities in the world. And in Europe it even ranks first in this rating … It is believed that many ghosts live in Prague, and among them there is a special category - “headless”.
Prince and trumpeter
In the 7th century a trumpeter named Ruprecht lived in Prague. He often boasted that no one could play the trumpet louder than him.
Once, one of the court musicians of the then ruler of the Czech Republic, Prince Waldstein, bet with Ruprecht that he would not be able to trumpet ten minutes without stopping. In fact, the colleague decided to get rid of the competitor. To make the bet, he chose the moment when the prince was just suffering from a toothache … Hearing the roar of the trumpet, Waldstein went into such a frenzy that he grabbed his sword and, jumping out of the palace into the street, cut off Ruprecht's head with his own hand!
In honor of the prince, the square in front of the palace was later named Wallenstein. And street musicians usually gathered there. More than once they talked about the ghost of a man who held a trumpet in one hand and his severed head in the other … As soon as the musicians began to play, the ghost began to trumpet his instrument …
The murdered Ruprecht seems to appear on Wallenstein Square even today. According to legend, he will stop appearing only after a patient suffering from inflammation of the periosteum is found and asks him to trumpet right above the ear. But so far no one has been found …
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Actress and Count
Once upon a time in one of the Prague theaters an actress named Laura played. She was called one of the most beautiful women in Prague. Laura was married and her husband was also an actor. He was terribly jealous of his wife, especially of a certain count who constantly showed signs of attention to the actress. He attended all the performances with Laura's participation, gave her flowers and gifts …
One day Laura returned home wearing a very expensive and beautiful gold necklace. The husband, seeing the jewelry, went mad - he had no doubt that it was a gift from the count, who, in his opinion, was his wife's lover. Having chopped off Laura's head, her husband-murderer wrapped her with a curtain and sent her to the count by messenger.
It is not known how this story ended and what happened to the jealous man and the count, but for some reason Laura's spirit wanders in the corridors of one of the destroyed Prague monasteries in search of the lost head.
Turk and the unfaithful bride
A young Turkish merchant kept warehouses in the Prague district of Ungelt. He fell in love with the daughter of a local shinkar. The bride's father agreed to the wedding, but made a condition that the young stay in Prague.
The merchant left for his homeland to ask his family for consent to the marriage. In those days, travel took a very long time, and while the Turk was traveling back and forth, his bride married a merchant's son who lived next door.
Returning to Prague, the Turk begged his former beloved for the last meeting. He asked her to come to his inn where he was staying. She never returned alive from there.
Deciding to punish the infidel according to the customs of his country, the Turks killed the girl, buried the body in the basement, and put the severed head in a casket and took it home. However, he constantly fancied that muffled crying and words of reproach were heard from the box. Unable to bear it any longer, the merchant secretly returned to Prague and buried his head next to the body of the former bride.
For a long time no one knew anything about the fate of the unfortunate girl. But one night some late tailor met on the deserted street of Ungelt a ghost of a Turk with a turban on his head and in wide silk robes.
The phantom's eyes shone brightly, and in his hand he held a girl's head with a long, light braid. Before the eyes of a frightened passer-by, the ghost disappeared in the basement of one of the nearest houses … When he later told this story to other people, there were those who were not afraid to go down to that very basement. There the remains of the murdered woman were found.
The girl was buried, but the Turkish murderer still wanders the streets of the Old City, finding no rest for his atrocity.
Pastry chef and knight
Once there was a house at the corner of Karlova and Seminarskaya streets, which was called "At the Golden Well". There was indeed a well next to it, and the water in it glittered like golden scales. It was rumored that there was indeed gold at the bottom of the well.
Once one of the maids who worked in the house went to the well and stared at the water for so long that she felt dizzy and fell down … The dead body was pulled out, and at the same time gold coins were actually found at the bottom.
After that, for some time the ghost of a maid drowned in a well lived here. True, no one saw him - they heard the creak of the steps, and then wet footprints remained on them.
Subsequently, instead of the servant, the ghosts of the decapitated knight appeared with his wife, who also had no head. Their history, however, no one knew.
Over time, a pastry chef became the owner of the house, to whom the headless knight and his wife appeared at night. He began to make cakes in the form of figurines of a headless couple, but in order not to frighten customers, he attached heads of marzipans, nuts and grapes to them.
Once the ghosts appeared to him again, but this time with their heads on their shoulders. The knight told the pastry chef that he and his wife didn’t like that their images had faceless grapes instead of heads, and they decided to show the owner of the house their real faces. Then the pastry chef sculpted copies of the heads presented to him from dough and showed them to the ghosts. They calmed down, but before leaving, they said that they would stay in the house until the pastry chef found their remains.
The next morning the owner took a shovel and went down to the basement. Excavating the earthen floor, he did find the remains of a headless man and woman, as well as a gold treasure …