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Local resident Michal Fried dons a white cloak each night and leads visitors through an after-dark ramble around the Old Town in search of some of Prague’s ghostly nightlife. To join the tour, look out for the ghoulish-looking man standing beneath the Old Town Hall’s Astronomical Clock.

Among the merchants who lived in the Týn settlement behind the Church of Our Lady (see Church of Our Lady Before Týn) was a Turkish immigrant. When his betrothed ran off and married another, he flew into a rage and chopped her head off. He is said to wander around the Ungelt courtyard carrying the decapitated head.

Rumour has it that a thief sought to steal jewels from a statue of the Madonna in the Church of St James), but the stony Virgin seized him by the arm and local butchers had to cut him loose. According to some, he still haunts the church asking visitors to help him fetch his arm, which hangs from the wall inside.

Rabbi Loew created his clay robot to help out around the house. When the creature raised a ruckus on the sabbath, Loew was forced to deactivate him and stashed him in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue (see Attic).

Believing his fiancée had been untrue, a knight called off his wedding. After she drowned herself in grief, he realized his mistake and hanged himself. Every 100 years he “appears” in Platnéřská Street, hoping to find a young woman to free him. His next appearance is due in 2009.

When the bicycle was all the rage in the late 19th century, young Bobeř Říma stole one and rode it into the river. If a soggy young fellow tries to sell you a bike near the Old Town end of Charles Bridge, just keep walking.

In an attempt to bedevil the monks at the Emaus Monastery, Satan took a job there as a cook and seasoned their food with pepper and other spices. To this day, Czech cuisine has few piquant flavours.

Apparently, Rudolph II’s gamekeeper became so enamoured of the wolves that roamed the castle’s Stag Moat that he became one himself. Nowadays, he takes the form of a large dog and tends to chase cyclists, joggers and tourists when the whim takes him, so keep looking over your shoulder.

St Wenceslas’s mother was, by all accounts, an unpleasant woman. She killed her mother-inlaw and might have done in her son, too, but the gates of hell swallowed her up before she could act. She sometimes wheels through Loretanská náměstí in a fiery carriage.

When a local barber foresook his home and family after he became caught up in alchemical pursuits, his daughters ended up in a brothel and his wife killed herself. He is said to haunt the vicinity of Karlova and Liliova streets, hoping to return to his honest profession and make amends.