Whether the victims be nobility or beggars, the common thread is that the perpetrators are exposed and condemned for eternity by the phantom’s appearances.

Second, there are tales of ghosts that are the spirits of evildoers. They tell us that even if someone commits evil deeds during his lifetime and avoids prosecution by the authorities, he will still face retribution in the afterlife. Third, some stories are echoes of history. They recall days of past glory or traits of character that may be treasured by the populace as national cultural legacies.

Ghostly children. Some of the stories Vanis records are poetic tributes. Take the story of the haunting of Podskalská Street. This street is visited by the ghosts of innocent children. According to tradition a monk named Nicholas lived there, and he did everything that he could to help poor children, particularly those who were homeless.

Nicholas found food and shelter for these unfortunates and always offered them encouragement. Like his namesake, Saint Nicholas, he became the benefactor of the most desolate. “Even today,” Vanis writes, “you can meet groups of children there, ghosts gathering at the home of the man who looked after them. Even in the snow you can see the tracks of little feet.”

Shadows and unquiet imagination

But why the resurgence of this tradition of folklore in one of Europe’s sophisticated cities? Why should supernatural tales be popular in a place where people take particular pride in their intellectual class and whose president, Vaclav Havel, is a playwright and philosopher?

One reason may be that haunted places embellish the attraction of a city that is marketing its heritage and mystique for the sake of tourism. Another, more satisfying, reason may be that the stories are a continuing tradition of legends told in past ages when open criticism of the authorities was dangerous.