Prague is truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. But hidden behind the baroque architecture and pastel facades are mysterious stories and locations that dive into Prague’s darker side. Any city as old as this is bound to have more than a few ghost stories. Walking the streets of Prague at night, the city will change before your eyes. What was once a stunning bridge of old statues becomes and haunting silhouette. The statue’s eyes even seem to follow you as you walk. But there is something about being a little scared that is also so exciting. And a ghost tour is one of the best ways to spend an evening. This self-guided walking tour will take you through Prague’s old town streets to discover the ghosts and spirits that may still haunt these spots today.
At the end of Národní street, on the edge of the old town, is the Church of St. Martin in the Wall. This site was the location of many medieval executions. One of the most famous stories is of the careless burgomaster. The burgomaster was the chief magistrate of Prague. One day, the burgomaster left Prague’s town seal on the floor where his young child picked it up. The child then dropped it into his bath. Once the child was done bathing, his wife unknowingly dumped the water into the gutter. The seal falling out the window.
A citizen walking home discovered the seal thrown away into the trash. People were outraged, as doing this was seen as an insult to their great city. Their anger was so fired up that the burgomaster was executed on this very spot. Today, his ghost can be seen scolding people who suffer from the same carelessness, which brought about his death. So be sure not to drop anything while walking on this site! Or you might just get a fright from the burgomaster himself.
If you find yourself on Liliová Street around midnight, keep your eyes peeled for the Headless Horseman. Once a highly regarded templar knight, the man was executed for being a traitor to the realm. But somehow, his spirit latched itself to the labyrinth of streets around the old town. Specifically on Liliová Street, near the Monastery of St Lawrence, where he was beheaded.
The headless horseman rides a magnificent white steed and carries his head in his hands. Legend has it that the knight is doomed to roam the streets of Prague. He will wander until a brave soul can stab the knight through the heart and end his suffering for good. Keep an eye out for him as he has been known to kick drunken tourists as he rides by.
The Charles Bridge is undoubtedly the most famous location in Prague. Thousands of tourists walk across the cobblestone pathway every day. But upon the stones, they tread on some of the city’s darkest history. The Charles Bridge is perhaps most infamous for being the place where St. John of Nepomuk was martyred. John of Nepomuk had been the confessor of the queen of Bohemia. When the king demanded John divulge her secrets, he denied the king. Nepomuk could not break the sacred nature of holy confession, even for the king. The king was furious and condemned Nepomuk to death for his audacity.
Nepomuk was thrown from Charles Bridge into the Vlatava River, where he drowned. Ever since that moment, the bridge was thought to be cursed by the Kings evil doings. The bridge would continually collapse into the river. Even with the most modern construction technology, any attempt to prevent destruction ended badly.
The Kings of Bohemia didn’t know what to do. The bridge connected the two sides of the city together. It was a crucial access point for travellers, they couldn’t simply ignore this problem. One day, an ambitious young stonemason came forward, saying he could remedy the issue. But with all of his best efforts, the bridge continued to collapse. At his wit’s end, the stonemason was worried his failure would prove fatal. He had promised the King he would be the only one to finally solve this problem.
One night while at the construction site, the Devil appeared in front of the stonemason and offered him an exchange. He would ensure the bridge would never collapse if the stonemason would sacrifice the first soul who crossed the bridge to the devil. The stonemason carefully agreed.
Once the bridge was complete, the stonemason wanted to ensure no unsuspecting soul was lost. And he certainly didn’t want the soul to be his own. So, thinking he could trick the devil, he went to the market to buy an animal. He hoped to force the animal to cross the bridge, so the devil would take the animal’s soul instead.
But the devil wasn’t so easily fooled, and he saw what the stonemason was plotting. The devil disguised himself as an old woman and went to the stonemason’s house where his pregnant wife lived. The devil, dressed as the old woman, told the stonemasons’ wife that the mason had been severely injured on the bridge. In terror for her husband’s life, the wife ran to the bridge. Seeing him on the other side, she crossed it. When the stonemason looked up to see her running across the completed bridge, he knew it was too late.
The wife went into labour early, but the child would never see the light of day. She died in childbirth, and both the mother and son’s souls would have been lost forever to the devil. In horror and riddled with guilt, the stonemason threw himself into the river and committed suicide. But after that day, the bridge never collapsed again. The contract with the devil having been fullfilled.
Another dark story from the bridge’s past relates to the great Bohemian revolt of 1612. During this period, the Bohemian people fought against the Habsburg rule, which ended up starting the Thirty Years War. During the uprising in Prague, 27 leaders organized a rebellion against the Habsburg Emperor. Once their plot was discovered, they were executed; twelve were beheaded, and fifteen were hanged.
This was a shocking event for the Czech people. These executed men were not just any old thief or murdered, but were men of high importance; professors, noblemen, scholars, and businessmen. Their heads were placed in iron baskets on the Old Town Bridge Tower. They supposedly remained there for over a decade. This scene would undoubtedly have been one of the grimmest sights to see over ten years. And souls seemed to latch themselves to the bridge itself. Today, when crossing at night, see if you can spot any ghostly figures of these brave men.
At #7 Řetězová street, now the Café Montmartre, look at the middle of the building’s facade. Up there you can make out a significantly faded mural painted in the center. See if you can make out the image of two men dressed as “savages”. This mural gave the building its nickname, the “House of the Savages“.
In the late 18th century, the story goes that the building was a famous cabaret theatre. It was known for their obscure, sometimes macabre acts. The most notable performance at the time was the “two savages.” A famous Czech producer had found these men in the Americas and called them “savages.” He claimed they had been cannibals in their home country, and he would bring them onstage where, dressed in native feather headdresses and rags, where they ate live birds and animals on stage. As disgusting as the acts were, they were popular with the rowdy crowds.
They were one of the most popular acts in town until one day, while the show was going on, a man in the audience stood up and shouted at the so-called “savages.” The man recognized the two, not as savages, but as two petty thieves who had been run out of his town for their crimes. The audience began to laugh at the two men, seeing how depraved they had to sink to get work with their low reputation. They ran out of the theatre, but they were cursed to be laughed at in humiliation for eternity for their crimes against man and animal. Some people say walking along this lane if you listen on a quiet night, you might still be able to hear the laughter.
At #12 Husova Street, you’ll find a building with the image of three flag-carrying soldiers painted on the facade. This building goes by the name ‘The House of the Three Standard Bearers.’ The story of the three soldiers is a sad tale. The three men were best friends who all got assigned to a different regiment in the war of 1730. They all agreed to meet back here at this pub after the war was over.
Two of the men returned and waited for the third. But after the first day of waiting, they assumed the worst. They were good friends and continued to wait for the third man, until one day, they saw him walking down the street, but this time, he looked much different. He had returned to them indeed, but not as a living creature, but as a ghost, damned to walk eternally on the earth as he had wanted to keep his promise to his friends.
But he came with a warning. He told the two men that they would follow him to the grave in less than a year. Thinking the ghost was warning the men of another war, they left the army and became monks at Our Lady of the Snows Church near Wenceslas Square. But, there is no running from death, and the two monks later died that year from causes unknown. They are immortalized here on The House of the Three Standard Bearers, reminding citizens there is no escaping your fate.
On Karlova road where it forks into two diverging streets, stands the old Hotel Aurus. This was once better known as the ‘House at the Golden Well‘. It was called this because the well at the bottom of the building always seemed to have a strange golden glow to it. The golden hue seemed to suggest that there might be some treasure down just below the surface. But anytime someone went to check, they came up empty-handed.
Although no treasure was ever found, the glowing water brought to the surface humanity’s greed. One day, a housemaid was down in the basement, and the glow seemed to draw her in, and before she knew it, she had fallen into the water. Her cries drowned out by the stream, and there she died. The master of the house found her body and was forced by law to drain and clean the well as cholera and plague were rampant and dead bodies floating in well water was a great way to spread disease. While cleaning out the well, he found a few gold coins and rejoiced at his good fortune.
But little did he know, by keeping these coins he would be haunted by the ghosts spirit for eternity. The maid would haunt his hallways every night, dripping wet, wailing and the sound of her cold chattering teeth echoing through the halls. They say that until one of those original coins is placed back into the well, her ghost will remain here forever. People say you can still hear her cries on silent nights echoing across the street.
A book was written about this very house in 1891, called the “Witch of Prague,” and tells the tale of a witch whose search for immortality lead her to the city. The book claims she was the one who controlled that unnatural glow of the water and would seduce men to its brilliance, drowning them and claiming their souls for her own. Using their souls to feed her immortal life.
Continue down Karlova street to the building, which now houses Tourist Information. This was once the home of the Mad Barber. The barber lived here with his wife and two daughters. Being a barber on Karlova street meant lots of customers came through on their pilgrimage to Prague Castle.
But the barber was greedy, and his hunger for money was unsatiable. He turned to black magic and occult practices to achieve his final goal, of discovering the Philosopher’s Stone. This substance could turn any base metal into gold and therefore produce unending riches! The barber, who had previously been pretty well off, wasted all his savings into the study of black magic, only to be conned by charlatans. His daughters were forced into sex work to pay the rent. Their mother jumped from the roof of the house after seeing the dissolution of her family pride. The barber went mad from the loss of his family and, after his death, was said to have been damned to walk the streets of Karlova for eternity as punishment for his sins of greed.
The Klementinum is a large complex of buildings with a Baroque library, observation tower, courtyards, churches and a Mirrored Chapel right beside the Charles Bridge. Initially, the building was a Jesuit college built in the 16th century. When Pope Clement XIV came to power, one of his first orders was to dissolve these orders and take the wealth they had amassed.
The Jesuits at the Klementinum had a considerable wealth of gold and treasure. They hoped that perhaps after the reign of Clement XIV passed, the Jesuits could come back to power. So they came up with a plot to hide their treasure behind a false wall in the Klementinum until their return. The Jesuits hired a bricklayer to get the work done as they were not skilled in construction.
In order to ensure the bricklayer didn’t steal the treasure for himself, the Jesuits blindfolded the man and put him in a carriage which drove him for miles are town to confuse him. He was blindfolded up until the point he reached the place where the walls were to be made. The Jesuits paid him more than handsomely for his work and told him that he would be cursed if he ever were to reveal where the treasure was hidden.
Many years went by, and soon rumours of the Jesuits’ treasure were floating through the city. A considerable reward was posted for anyone with knowledge of the hidden chamber. Seeing an opportunity to make more money, the bricklayer went out and told the city council about what he had done that night. The council rushed the man to the now-abandoned Klementinum, but they couldn’t find anything even with the bricklayer’s help. Soon after, the bricklayer went blind, and when he died, his soul was cursed, just as the Jesuits had warned him it would be. Today they say he still walked the halls of the Klementinum, blindly searching for the treasure.
On the corner of Prague’s City Hall is a vast black statue, called the “Iron Knight.” In reality, his name was Jáchym Berka, who served King John of Luxembourg. He was known as the Iron Knight because of the black armour he always wore. The knight was a rageful man, which made him a great fighter, but not a great lover. After a long stint away at war, he came home to rumours that his fiance had been unfaithful to him. In a jealous rage, he tore through the streets of Prague to find her.
She lived here on Platnéřská street with her father, the blacksmith, who made the knight’ iconic black armour. When the knight found her, he stabbed her to death without a word. The woman, who had been entirely faithful and only subject to unproven gossip, cursed the knight as she lay dying in his arms. The knight turned to stone after she closed her eyes for the last time. For years, the stone statue stood in this square as a warning to anyone who would seek to murder someone based on rumour alone. Legend has it that the knight’s soul is still trapped within the stone, and once every hundred years, if a virgin pure of heart bestows a kiss upon the knight, he will finally be freed from his stone prison.
Above the touristy Hard Rock Cafe is one of the most beautiful exteriors in the Old Town Square. The name “V. J. Rott” is painted on the facade surrounded in the most elaborate vegetal patterns. The building dates back to the second half of the 12th century when a wealthy merchant lived here with his three daughters, represented by the three white roses on the top of the building.
The three daughters were pure as white roses and goodly children. But they were sheltered from the world, as most girls were in medieval times when finding a man to marry was their only duty. But before the daughters could be married off, their parents died, leaving them with a large inheritance but no common sense as to how to spend it. They bought clothes and jewels and became arrogant and vain. No one in town had any interest in marrying them, for they had the awful personalities.
One day a man from a far off land arrived and wooed the eldest daughter. He told her he was a prince of the far off country, where she could rule by his side in his mountain top castle. The eldest daughter agreed, and they were married. She left with the mysterious man and took her share of the inheritance with her. The other sisters didn’t hear anything from her again, but that was not that odd for the time as communication across long distances was difficult and unreliable.
Soon, another man from another foreign land arrived and promised a similar fate to the middle daughter. She followed her eldest sister’s fate, married him and took her money with her. Finally, it was the third daughter’s turn. When a third foreign prince came to greet her at the House of the Three Roses’, she jumped at the opportunity to not be alone inside this big mansion, having been abandoned by her other sisters. The youngest daughter sold the house and took the money from the sale with her as she left Prague with the mysterious prince.
No one ever heard from the girls again. But soon, local merchants began telling the tale of one trickster who had married three daughters from Prague. The same man returned to this house three times, fooling each simple sister into marrying him. But there was no castle or far away land. After they married him, he whisked them out to the forest, where he murdered the girls and kept their money. The girls are known to return to the house as ghostly figure. Wishing they had never left, coming back to repent their sins of vanity.
The House of the Two Golden Bears on Kožná Street dates back to 1403. Today, this house is filled with bricked up archways and walled up rooms. Where did they once lead? And what is hidden behind them? No one knows…
The two bears’ image on the building’s front entrance is thought to represent the big and little dipper, as this building was once a place where dark magic was practiced. The representation of the stars refers to the astrology practiced here, a popular practice for members of the occult. It was a commonly known rumour that there were underground passageways all over the city of Prague. But what dark accesses were so evil they needed to be locked away, behind brick walls? Or what were they trying to hide? In 1930 a journalist ventured down into one of the blocked tunnels and didn’t reappear for over a week. He had gotten lost in the labyrinth below. When he finally resurfaced, he wouldn’t speak of what he saw, but his dark hair had turned bright white from freight.
Kinský Palace stands in the Old Town Square and is one of the largest
and most ornate buildings in the area. But its construction came at a high price. The rich count building Kinsky Palace wanted to build a mansion as large as possible. But the site upon which he had decided on didn’t allow for the massive floorplan he had devised. The count went about bribing several city councillors to allow the house’s foundation to creep into the town square, which was unheard even for the time. The councillors agreed to the bribe and thought that would be the end of the story.
The size of the construction was hidden behind a scaffolding wall. Until one curious townsperson peaked through and noticed how close the building would be to the square. He went to the city hall to complain about the huge house which would encroach on the towns square, which belonged to the people and not the count!
The mayor and other angry councillors summoned the count to court. But the count simply provided the signed permits he had received from the councillors he had bribed. Furious at their misuse of their office, the three councillors were sentenced to death. The count, however, suffered no punishment.
One of the councillors’ daughter ran to the town hall to plead for her father’s life but found no one there. She ran to the construction site to perhaps talk to the count and see if he could save her father’s life. But, in her haste, as she entered the construction site, she fell into the pit dug for the foundation and died.
Conscutrion workers were terrified to find her dead body and ended up burying her in the basement to cover up the story. The construction job had been plagued with problems until the young women’s death. The workers recalled an old legend stating that if you sacrificed a soul to the devil, your building’s construction would be effortless and stand the test of time. Perhaps without knowing it, this girl had fallen into the hands of the devil. Still to this day, people have been known to see her ghost running through the Kinský Palace halls, begging for her father’s life.
If you visit Prague in the winter and see a snowfall being cleared away on the Týn Church’s steps, you might have spotted the Old Woman of Tyn‘s ghost! Years ago, an old sexton was in charge of the maintenance and care of the Týn Church and its priests. He was a dedicated sexton, who was beloved by all those in the city. To save an old spinster who had been caught up in a scandal from being cast out of the town, the sexton married her. But shortly after they were married, he realized she was worthy of many of those scandals and wasn’t the nicest woman. But he was so busy with his job he, for the most part, took no notice.
Years later, when the sexton grew old and feeble, he fell ill and could not care for the priest or maintain the church. He asked his wife to handle his duties, as she had up until then had a life of nothing but ease and for this once, could she simply help the sexton out? She agreed, but instead of doing her duty, she pocketed the money for the church maintenance and food for the priest. She fed the priest nothing but old dishwater and scraps. When it snowed, she would ignore her duties to sweep the front steps and let it ice over.
When the feeble priest was walking into the church one morning, he slipped on the ice, hit his head on the ground and died. Soon after this happened and knowing the excellent sexton was too ill to work, the public knew it was the old spinster who was responsible. She was thrown out of town and died years later, homeless yet repentant for what she had done. These days; her ghost is still seen sweeping the snow off the church steps in the winter, endlessly trying to repent for her sins.
On the corner of Celetná, look for two ghostly figures, one an old monk, the other a sultry woman of the night. Years ago, Celetná Street was a popular spot to find sex workers. One such woman would stand on this corner and flash passers-by, hiding her naked form under a large coat, in the hopes of seducing them to take part in some fleshy delights.
One day, the woman saw an old monk walking down the street and thought it would be amusing to flash him as he went by. When she did so, the monk was so shocked at the sight, never having seen a naked woman before, and attacked her with his crucifix. He bludgeoned her so severely she died right there on the spot. Shocked at what he had done, the monk gave himself such a freight, his heart stopped, and he died alongside the very woman he had killed. This odd couple, somehow bound together in death, is still seen wandering the street together, hand in hand.
If you plan on seeing the next ghostly figure, you might need to stop into one of Prague’s famous beer halls before you do so as this ghost only appears to those who are drunk! Many years ago, a very tall young man worked near the Karolinum, which was a medical facility. The man was almost inhumanly tall. A professor of anatomy who worked in the medical hall became obsessed with the young man.
One day, the professor asked the young man, named Vincent, if he could purchase his skeleton – after his death, of course. He paid Vincent upfront a considerable sum for the rights to his skeleton after his death. Vincent, being a poor man, who hadn’t ever seen this amount of money before, set out right away for the pub and drank himself to death. The professor happily collected his body the next morning, surprised at how fast the deal had been done but happy to get the specimen he desired. The tall skeleton is now seen walking the street around the Karolinum, begging for money to repurchase his skeleton from the professor, which would perhaps release his soul from his eternal torment.
While visiting the Basilica of St. James, be sure to walk inside and look up to the right upon entering. There, hanging from the ceiling is a petrified arm bone. The legend goes that one day, a thief snuck into the church and waited until the priests left for the night and locked up. Now, alone in the church, he went about stealing all the precious items inside—everything from the priest’s vestments and sacred relics were placed inside his bag.
Approaching the Virgin Mary statue, to steal a piece off her alter, the figure of Mary came to life and grabbed onto the thief’s hand. She would not let go. The thief tried and tried, but couldn’t pry the stone hand off of his own. With dawn approaching and knowing he would be caught once the priests returned, he cut off his hand and fled the scene. When the priests came in in the morning, they discovered the thief’s severed hand on the flood of the church, beside the statue of Mary. Who curiously had a drop of blood on her stone fingers. Ever since the arm bone has been put on display to dissuade any potential thieves. With his one missing arm, the thieves’ ghost still wanders the street outside, in the hopes of retrieving his lost arm.
Dlouhá třída is an old street in Prague, which was once one of the city’s most high-class residential areas. It was established in the 10th century, and its curving path led right into the Old Town square. Although the place is now possessed by tacky tourist bars and souvenirs shops, there is a real haunting to be found at #923/5 Dlouha.
One day a wealthy couple moved into the house to start their family. They gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and were thrilled upon his delivery. One day, the maid had left the window in the boy’s nursery open, as it was an incredibly hot day and she wanted to get some fresh air for the child. When the mother came inside she saw that the baby was gone! They looked all over and had disappeared, stolen from the open window. The mother ran to the city guards, who had been alerted to a group of vagabonds who had been causing trouble in the marketplace nearby. A search group was sent out, even supported by the city’s army, but the child was never found.
The father of the child died young, perhaps of a broken heart. Years wore on, and one day, the mother, now a widow, was renting out the large house to help with expenses. A young man, new to Prague, moved into the house. Soon, a romance developed between the two, despite their considerable age difference. The boy had come to Prague in search of his family. He had found out he had been kidnapped as a young child and was in Prague searching for his kidnappers, in the hopes they would reveal to him the identity of his parents.
Well, you might see where this is going, but once he found the kidnappers, they revealed to him that his mother was, in fact, now his wife. At the time, incest was one of the most reviled sins, and even though they had married unknowingly, both of them were executed right in front of the house. For years, a painting of the event was etched above the door, no doubt making it hard to rent out. In 1680 a man moved into the haunted house. He soon became the first patient to die of the plague that ravaged Prague’s city, killing one-third of their population. Was it just random happenstance, or did the house itself, damned to hell by evil spirits, bring about the plague? You decide.
This brings us to the end of the tour! Hopefully, you’re not too rattled by the stories we heard tonight and enjoy the rest of your evening exploring the incredible night-life Prague is known for. Nothing soothes the nerves like a glass of pivo!
Let me know what your favourite ghost story of the night was and if you were lucky enough to spot a spirit for yourself!
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