The spirit Hlehlehel and Long Bárta

According to legend, Jan Žižka once wished to flay a man named Bárta who had betrayed the castle. Bárta was rescued by Hlehlehel, the castle’s guardian spirit, but only so that the spirit could punish him itself. It enchanted him into the castle cellar, where he must drink beer without ceasing. Only once a year, at Carnival time, may he go outside. He then walks around the ruins with a tankard of beer, endlessly crying: “Drink, drink, drink!” During his rounds a White Lady accompanied by a black dog throws stones at him. He will supposedly not be released until he has drunk the last beer in the castle cellar. After the Passion service Bárta’s spirit comes out of the cellar and lies across the road below the castle, along which people used to walk from Zálesí to the church in Horšice. He is said to be as tall as the road is wide. Anyone who steps over him on their way back from the Passion service will die within a year. Hlehlehel’s friend Vzehlehel also runs around the castle with him. They appear in various forms: sometimes as priests, sometimes as dwarfs wearing tall caps, as bears, and in other guises.