Haunted Prague

Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, and often known as "the city of 1000 spires," is said to be Europe's most haunted city. This reputation isn't surprising, considering that Prague has a violent and sinister past that still haunts it to this day. Throughout its many narrow alleyways, winding cobblestone streets, ancient castles and Gothic buildings, various tales of ghosts, spirits and witches abound. These eerie stories have been passed down through the ages, and still fascinate and intrigue the many thousands of tourists that visit the city every year. In fact, the ghosts of Prague past often collide with the ghosts of Prague present.

Visitors to the city usually take in Charles Bridge as their first port of call. The bridge is lined with the stone statues of saints, making tourists feel that they are being watched as they make their way to the other side. But according to local legend, one of these saints wasn't dead at the time he was changed into a statue. The story goes that in the 14th Century, St. John of Nepomuk had just taken confession from Queen Johanna, King Wenceslas's IV's wife. When the saint refused to divulge to the king exactly what was confessed, the king had the priest tortured before he was thrown off the bridge and left to die. His ghost is said to have walked the bridge for 300 years, until the 17th century, when it was frozen and placed into a statue. Touching the statue is said to keep any secret safe and secure.

Although St. John's ghost no longer haunts the bridge, people familiar with the story are extremely wary of crossing the area at midnight, for the ghosts of ten lords, executed in the Middle Ages, are said to appear singing sad songs, possibly aiming to scare anybody away from the bridge if they happen to be in the vicinity around midnight. A water goblin is also said to haunt the area under the bridge. This entity has a terrifying propensity towards eating the souls of those who jump off the bridge and those that drown in the Vlatva River.

Prague Castle is the city’s most popular tourist attraction. It was once the home of Emperor Charles IV and his four wives in the 1600’s, and is still occupied to this day. The Castle is like a labyrinth connecting several buildings, cathedrals and courtyards. The crypts in the castle are still open today for those willing to venture into the deep, dark, and dusty lower levels where the ghosts of the wives are said to argue amongst themselves during the night.

Not far away from Prague Castle is the Old Royal Castle, where two Catholic governors were thrown out of a high window to fall to their deaths in 1618 by a Protestant leader. This incident sparked off the Thirty Years War. The angry ghosts of the governors are said to haunt the area, seeking vengeance for the offences committed against them.

Josefov, the former Jewish Ghetto area of Prague, and where the great writer Franz Kafka once lived, is reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of Rabbi Loew and the Golem of Prague. In the early 16th Century, when the Jews incurred a notorious reputation for murdering Christian children, Rabbi Loew decided to create the Golem - the so-called "Jewish Frankenstein" - a figure moulded from the clay of the Vltava River, to help save the Jewish population. Rabbi Loew bought the figure to life by reciting Hebrew incantations, and then let the figure loose into the local community. The Golem grew bigger and bigger, until finally the Emperor pleaded with the Rabbi to destroy him. However, the Rabbi was reluctant to do so, as it had saved the Jews from many attacks. Instead, he placed the figurine in the attic of the New World Synagogue where it still stands. Loew forbade anybody from ever going into the attic, and even the Nazis could not penetrate this area of the Synagogue.

Strahov Monastery has two picturesque gothic towers that dominate the city skyline. It is also said to be haunted. The ghost is reported to be that of a poor woman who resided in the area around the time of the plague. As her children died, one after the other, from the pestilence, she used what few coins she had to ring the chapel bells. When she died, the bells continued to ring out, and on dark, moonless nights a hymn dedicated to Mary is said to be heard long after everyone has left the chapel.

Prague offers some walking 'Ghost Tours' of its haunted attractions. It is the perfect place for some haunting weekends. Among the scary stuff on offer are evening tours under the cover of darkness to tourists looking for ghostly sightings, or just wanting to experience the somewhat spooky history of Prague. These tours concentrate on Prague's most haunted area of the Old Town. You will wander through the streets and narrow alleyways learning all about the mythical and ghostly beings that are said to haunt the city. The Old Town is thought to date back to the 11th century and has many ancient churches and buildings in the location. Many residents and tour guides will be able to regale you with various spooky stories about the ghosts that are said to wander through the haunted places of this beautiful Eastern Europe city

If you ever take a trip to Prague, you will probably feel some kind of spiritual force as you travel through its quaint gothic streets. Some people might say that there is a very good reason that Prague is almost always depicted as a city of baddies in action movies – the city has a mysterious and extremely violent past, and they do say that some things never change!