The Ghostly Donkey of Vimperk

According to an old Šumava legend, a strange ghost appears at Vimperk Château every midnight. It is neither a knight nor a White Lady nor the spirit of an ancient nobleman. A donkey supposedly wanders through the corridors—but no ordinary animal. Beneath its shape, the legend says, hides the soul of a former Vimperk clerk who once became involved in a fateful dispute.

The story begins with two farmers from the settlement of Kosmo. They supposedly swore falsely against the clerk, accusing him of extorting money from them. Their testimony led to charges, and he faced trial.

His fear of judgment gradually grew. According to legend, he finally became so desperate that he sought help where no one should turn. In his distress, he appealed to the Devil himself.

And the Devil answered.

He supposedly caught up with the two accusers on the Zdíkov road and strangled them. But that was the end of his help. The infernal service demanded its price.

The clerk escaped human judgment but not punishment. The Devil supposedly turned him into a donkey and condemned him to wander through Vimperk Château as a ghost.

Since then, strange footsteps are said to sound in one corridor at midnight. A ghostly donkey emerges from the darkness and slowly passes along it, as though still seeking a way out that no longer exists.

It is neither a cheerful nor a comic sight. In this legend the donkey is above all a sign of humiliation and punishment. The former clerk, who hoped to escape injustice through dark forces, ultimately became their victim.

The tale thus has a double meaning. It tells of false accusation and human injustice, but also warns that an alliance with the Devil never ends well.

Josef Váchal also recorded the story in his Enchanted Šumava, helping the legend of Vimperk's ghostly donkey survive to this day.

And so Vimperk Château supposedly receives its unusual visitor every midnight: a man who wanted to escape trial but, instead of freedom, gained eternal wandering in the form of a donkey.