Black Hanuš

The ghost of a violent Moor called Black Hanuš also appears here, supposedly cursed by Long-Eared Radouš himself. With a wheelbarrow, he circles the castle ruins along their highest battlements, unseen at noon but visible at midnight, and may utter only: “Buy, buy axle grease!” One version makes him the son of a Black man and a white woman. He lived in the woods, felled trees and boiled axle grease in a cauldron, then delivered it to villages in exchange for food. Beckovský already mentions Radyně’s ghosts in his Messenger of Old Bohemian Tales: “Various spirits inhabit the castle, and whoever enters must suffer some trouble at their hands. There is also a great treasure in the castle, for in times past a black dog was often seen lying on an iron chest.”