Haunted Places in Prague

Old Town Square and the 27 Crosses

In the pavement near the Old Town Hall, 27 crosses record the spot where 27 Bohemian nobles were executed after the Habsburg victory at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. The executioner was Jan Mydlář. A plaque naming all 27 victims dates from 1911, and the crosses themselves were laid into the pavement during post-war repairs. Legend adds that the executed men haunt Charles Bridge, where their heads were once displayed. The crosses are free to see at any hour, and the square is the first stop on the route of the Prague Ghosts and Legends Nighttime Guided Walking Tour at $21 and on the nightwatchman walk from the Powder Tower at $27.49, which covers the 1621 executions.

Sources: Wikipedia on Old Town Square, expats.cz on Prague ghost stories

The Astronomical Clock

The Old Town Hall's Astronomical Clock is first recorded on 9 October 1410, built by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and the mathematician Jan Šindel. It is the third oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest still working. The dark legend belongs to the clockmaker Hanuš: the story says councillors had him blinded with a hot poker so he could never build a second clock, and that the blind master tore a vital part from the mechanism and died. Historians call this a misreading of the records and point to Jan Růže around 1490 as the likely source. The clock can be seen from the square. The Prague Ghost Walking Tour Where Legends Come To Life includes the clock for $26, and the costumed storyteller tour at $25 also lists it on its route.

Sources: Wikipedia on the Astronomical Clock

The Old Town Hall and Its Underground

The building that houses the clock also holds one of the strangest interiors in the Old Town. The cellars keep the layout of the original merchants' houses, with Gothic ribbed vaults from the 13th and 14th centuries and a Romanesque ground floor from about 1200. Tower admission is 350 CZK basic, 230 CZK reduced, 280 CZK for youth 16 to 26 and 750 CZK family, and guided tour surcharges are 150 CZK for the circuit covering chapel, state rooms and underground or 100 CZK for the underground alone. The hall is open 10:00 to 19:00 from January to March and 9:00 to 20:00 from April to December. The Prague Medieval Underground of the Old Town Hall Guided Tour at $28 includes entry to two undergrounds, the Old Town Hall underground and the Angels College underground.

Sources: prague.eu on the Old Town Hall

Týn Church and the Tomb of Tycho Brahe

The twin towers of Our Lady before Týn rise 80 metres over the square, and the southern tower was finished in 1511. Inside, at the first southern pillar of the nave, lies the tombstone of the astronomer Tycho Brahe, who died in Prague on 24 October 1601 aged 54. Kepler recorded that Tycho held back from leaving a banquet out of etiquette and died eleven days after urinary trouble began. Poisoning theories circulated, but Czech and Danish researchers working from 2010 to 2012 concluded the mercury levels were too low and murder was impossible. The church stands on the route of the Prague Ghosts and Legends Nighttime Guided Walking Tour at $21 and McGee's Old Town evening walk at $23.

Sources: Wikipedia on Týn Church, Wikipedia on Tycho Brahe

Ungelt, the Týn Yard

Behind Týn Church sits the Ungelt, a medieval merchant courtyard with 18 historic houses, reopened to the public on 18 December 1996. Archaeology from the 1980s and 1990s dates the yard to the medieval period, and the Granovský Palace inside it was granted to customs officer Jakub Granovský by Ferdinand I in 1558. The story says a Turkish merchant engaged to a Czech girl returns to find her married to another, she vanishes and is found decapitated, and his ghost now offers passersby a look into a box that holds her head. It is a stop on the Prague Ghosts and Legends Nighttime Guided Walking Tour at $21.

Sources: prague.eu on the Týn Yard, expats.cz on Prague ghost stories

Kinský Palace and the Girl in White

On Old Town Square stands Kinský Palace, and the legend attached to it is one of the saddest in the city. A clerk's teenage daughter, trying to find help for her father, fell into the palace's unfinished basement and her body was hidden in the foundation. Since then, the story says, a girl in white appears and asks visitors whether they can help her father. There is no charge to look at the palace from the square, which is where the Prague Ghosts and Legends Nighttime Guided Walking Tour at $21 begins and where the ghost walk from Charles Bridge at $26 finishes.

Sources: expats.cz on the most haunted places in the historic center

The Iron Man

An iron knight figure stands in a niche, and the tale behind him is a story of guilt. In the legend the knight is Jáchym Berka, who killed his innocent fiancée, a blacksmith's daughter, and was turned to stone for it. He can be freed only once every 100 years, by a kiss or a word from a young woman, and nobody knows the date. Guides name two separate places: an iron knight figure in a niche on a house in Platnéřská street near the Clementinum, and a separate iron knight of Jáchym Berka at the New Town Hall on Mariánské náměstí. Both spots are free to seek out, and the Clementinum and Mariánské náměstí both fall on the route of the Prague Ghost Walking Tour Where Legends Come To Life at $26.

Sources: bestpragueguide on Prague legends, expats.cz on the most haunted places

The Headless Templar

The Templar order was dissolved in 1312, and one of its knights is said never to have left the Old Town. The story says a headless Templar rides a flaming horse on Friday midnights, from midnight to 1 am, and that he can only be freed if someone stabs his horse with the knight's own sword. Versions disagree on where he rides: one ties the legend to Liliová street, another places the rider near St James. The streets are free to walk at any hour. None of the tour listings names either spot as a stop.

Sources: expats.cz on the most haunted places

St James and the Mummified Forearm

Inside the Church of St James the Greater at Malá Štupartská 6 hangs one of Prague's most concrete relics, a mummified forearm over 400 years old, hooked just inside the entrance on the right. The story says the arm belonged to a thief who tried to steal jewels from the statue of the Virgin around the year 1400, and the Butchers' Guild cut it off. Fact and legend are hard to separate here, but the arm is real and on show. Check the church's opening times before you go.

Sources: bestpragueguide on Prague legends, Atlas Obscura on the arm of Prague

The Karolinum and Vincenc

The Karolinum, Charles University's Karolinum at Ovocný trh 541/3, dates its story to the university's founding in 1348 and keeps an oriel window from around 1400. The ghost is called Vincenc. In the legend a servant sold his own skeleton to the anatomy professor Dr Spurný for gold, was then killed by cutpurses, and now begs for coins on the nearby Uhelný trh from midnight to 1 am, trying to buy his skeleton back. The building and square are free to walk past.

Sources: expats.cz on the most haunted places, Wikipedia on the Karolinum

The Golem and the Old New Synagogue

The legend places the clay giant made by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th century rabbi of Prague, in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, ready to be restored to life if the community needs him. The attic was renovated in 1883 and searched again in 2014, and no trace of a golem was found either time. The lowest three metres of the outside stairs were removed, so the attic door sits about twelve metres above ground and can only be reached with a ladder. The synagogue was completed in 1270 and is Europe's oldest active synagogue. The full legend, its literary history and the ending belong to the Golem of Prague guide, and the night walk to the Old Jewish Cemetery at $21 at $21 at $21 passes the synagogue on its route.

Sources: prague.eu on the Old New Synagogue

The Old Jewish Cemetery

Beside the synagogue lies one of the most atmospheric burial grounds in Europe, in use from the first half of the 15th century, with its oldest gravestone dated 1439 and the last dated 1787. Because Jewish custom forbids disturbing graves, the community stacked burials in layers, and sources disagree on whether the layers reach ten or twelve. Some 12,000 tombstones are visible today, including the graves of Rabbi Loew, Mordecai Maisel and David Gans. The cemetery is administered by the Jewish Museum, entered at Široká 3 inside the Pinkas Synagogue, and a visit usually takes about 30 minutes. Entry is by the Jewish Museum circuit ticket. For layers, stones, prices and opening hours in detail, see the Old Jewish Cemetery guide.

Sources: Wikipedia on the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Jewish Museum

Charles Bridge

The bridge was begun in 1357 under Charles IV and finished in 1402. It is 516 metres long, nearly 10 metres wide and stands on 16 arches, and it was the only crossing of the Vltava in Prague until 1841. Legend says the first stone was laid at 5:31 on 9 July 1357, a palindromic date, and that egg was mixed into the mortar.

The dark side comes from 1621. After the Battle of White Mountain, 27 Bohemian nobles were beheaded on Old Town Square by the executioner Jan Mydlář, and their heads were displayed on the bridge. The story says the executed men haunt the bridge to this day.

The ghost walk from Charles Bridge to the Astronomical Clock starts on the bridge side at Křižovnické náměstí for $26 and runs 1.5 hours in six languages. The nightwatchman walk from the Powder Tower also finishes at the bridge, for $27.49 in groups of up to 15.

Bruncvík

On the Kampa side of the bridge stands the Bruncvík statue, made by Ludvík Šimek in 1884 on the spot of an older Roland statue of 1502. The legend says Bruncvík walled his magic sword into Charles Bridge, and that the sword will leap out when knights ride over the bridge to save the land. It costs nothing to look for it.

The plinth is easy to miss among the 30 baroque statue groups on the bridge, most of which date from around 1700 as replicas of the originals.

John of Nepomuk

John of Nepomuk was thrown from Charles Bridge into the Vltava on 20 March 1393 on the order of King Wenceslaus IV. The tale that he died for refusing to reveal the queen's confession grew later, and he was canonised in 1729. His bronze statue was placed on the bridge in 1683 and was the first baroque saint there, cast in Nuremberg from Brokoff's wooden model.

Two things to find today are free. A bronze cross with five stars marks the spot on the parapet where he was thrown in, and visitors touch the plaques under the statue for luck and a return to Prague.

Čertovka and the Water Goblin

The Čertovka, the Devil's Stream, is a 740 metre canal on Kampa island, probably dug in the 12th century by the Knights of Malta for their watermills. It was first called the Rosenberg Race in 1585. The devil in its name is traced to the House of Seven Devils, home of a sharp-tongued woman, not to anything horned in the water.

The water creatures are a separate piece of folklore. Czech vodníci are said to lure people to the water with coloured ribbons and keep the souls of the drowned under pots, and Prague folklore says 40 of them live in the Vltava, with 9 on the Čertovka. Kabourek, the water goblin of the Grand Priory Mill, got a statue by Josef Nalepa in 2010. You can walk the canal free at any hour.

Nový Svět

Nový Svět in Hradčany dates to 1320. There is no sourced ghost legend attached to it, so treat any claim of haunting with care. What is documented is that Tycho Brahe, who died in Prague on 24 October 1601, lived at the house U Zlatého noha on this street according to a local guide.

The alchemy legends night walk of Nový Svět and Malá Strana covers the street, Tycho Brahe's residence and Edward Kelley's alchemy tower for $20.61 in 105 minutes, with a 30 minute public transport ticket included.

Černín Palace

Černín Palace stands opposite the Loreta in Hradčany. It was designed by Francesco Caratti in 1668, building started in 1669, and two whole streets were demolished to make room for it.

The legend is about Countess Černínová, who is said to have worn slippers made of bread to a ball during a famine. Her ghost is said to walk the palace in remorse. This is a look from the street, free of charge. The castle district mysteries walk covers hidden corners of the castle district in the evening for $20.61 in 90 minutes, though its listing does not name Černín Palace.

The Hunger Wall

The Hunger Wall on Petřín was built from 1360 to 1362 under Charles IV, originally 4 to 4.5 metres high and 1.8 metres wide. It took its name from a famine in 1361 and gave paid work to the poor. The folklore that Charles IV laid stones himself is myth.

There is no entry fee to walk along it, and the slope above Malá Strana makes it a dark, quiet spot after sunset. No tour on record lists it as a stop, so visit it on your own before or after a walk such as the Malá Strana alchemy tour at $20.61.

Golden Lane

Golden Lane sits in the northern part of the castle between the White Tower and Daliborka. The tiny houses were built into the arches of the northern fortification around 1500 for Rudolf II's castle guards, and the lane was first called the archers' lane before goldsmiths working there in the 17th century gave it its name. The alchemists of Rudolf II lived elsewhere in the castle area, not on the lane, whatever the souvenir shops suggest.

Fortune teller Matylda Průšová lived at No. 14 before the Second World War, and Kafka wrote in No. 22 for about a year after his sister rented it in 1916. The full guide with hours and tickets lives at Golden Lane Prague.

The Main Circuit covering Golden Lane, the Old Royal Palace, St George's Basilica and St Vitus costs 450 CZK for adults and 300 CZK discounted on the official price list from 2024, with tickets valid two days, so check the current list. Building hours are 9:00 to 16:00 from November to March and 9:00 to 17:00 from April to October. Prague.eu says the lane is free to walk after the paid hours, though the houses are closed, but one other guide says free access is unavailable, so confirm at the castle. The three hour castle alchemy walk covers the lane as an exterior stop for $32.07.

Daliborka

Daliborka tower, at the end of Golden Lane, was built in 1496 by Benedikt Ried as a prison and named after its first prisoner, Dalibor of Kozojedy, jailed in 1498 for sheltering rebelling serfs. It stayed a prison until 1781. You can still see four basement cells and an oubliette reached by a pulley.

The legend says Dalibor learned the violin in his cell and Prague people lowered food to him in baskets. Prague.eu notes the violin is an anachronism, since violins reached Bohemia about a century after his death, and suggests the tale grew from a saying that necessity taught Dalibor to sing, meaning torture drew a confession. Smetana made him the hero of the opera Dalibor, premiered in 1868. Check which castle ticket covers it.

Mihulka, the Powder Tower

Mihulka is the rounded 44 metre tower with a 20 metre diameter on the castle's north side, reached from Vikářská street. Built at the end of the 15th century, it held an alchemist's laboratory in Rudolf II's time, then served as a gunpowder store until 1754 and as a dungeon. It now houses a Castle Guard exhibition. Check which castle ticket covers it.

The castle myths and legends walk tells the alchemist stories from the outside for $20.61, since interiors are not included on that tour.

The Defenestrations

Prague had three defenestrations, in 1419, 1483 and 1618. The third, on 23 May 1618 at Hradčany Castle, saw Martinic, Slavata and secretary Fabricius thrown from a window. All three survived, and the Protestant claim that they landed on a dung heap appears to be a later invention. The event started the Bohemian Revolt that led into the Thirty Years War.

The reckoning came in 1621, when 27 Bohemian nobles were executed after the Battle of White Mountain. Their crosses on Old Town Square are covered in the Old Town section, and their heads, the story says, still walk the Charles Bridge where they were displayed.

Faust House

Faust House, officially the Mladota Palace, stands on Karlovo náměstí and dates to the 14th century. The name comes from the building's alchemical reputation rather than from the historical Johann Georg Faust, who probably never visited Prague. Edward Kelley and the astrologer Jakub Krucinek are listed among its residents, and Ferdinand Antonín Mladota ran chemical experiments in the basement.

The legend says Faust was dragged through the ceiling to hell. The house is closed to the public and belongs to the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, so this is strictly an outside look. It costs nothing to stand on Karlovo náměstí and find the facade.

The Devil's Column

In Vyšehrad park stand three broken stone pieces that once formed a column in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. They were moved to the park in 1888.

The legend says a priest bet the devil he could finish Mass before the devil fetched a column from Rome. The priest won, and the angry devil threw the column down, leaving it in three pieces. Prague.eu keeps a dedicated article on the tale. The column is free to visit, and the fortress itself, just over 3 km southeast of Prague Castle and dating from the 10th century. Libuše is said to have prophesied from Vyšehrad a great city whose glory touches the stars.

The Vyšehrad Casemates

Under the fortress lies a network of casemates leading to Gorlice Hall, described as the largest underground hall in historic Prague, which today holds original baroque statues from the Charles Bridge. The casemates can only be visited on a guided tour starting at the Brick Gate.

Admission is 330 CZK full price, 295 CZK online and 165 CZK reduced, daily 10:00 to 17:00. Tours run on a schedule, so confirm start times on site. Also on the hill, Dvořák and Mucha are buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery.

The Full List from the Bridge to Vyšehrad

Where a site sits inside a paid circuit, the circuit price is shown rather than a separate fee. Most of the evening ghost walks include no building entry, so budget for any interior you want.

Tickets and Official Prices

The table sets each sight's official adult price beside a link to book the entry online. Reduced and family rates still apply at the gate where the site offers them, so check them before you pay.