The Black Steward

The cruel local estate steward was already known by this name during his lifetime. Once, when a large stone had to be hauled from a clearing and the steward drove the labourers on with furious beatings, the Devil appeared in the guise of a huntsman. He fastened the steward into the harness and ordered him to pull the stone out. The chasm this made in the ground is still called Hell, the Pit of Hell, Hell Meadow or Lhotka Pit. One day the steward vanished, and from then on his headless ghost appeared here at midnight in a carriage drawn by black horses. The place lies between the old Terešov glassworks and Ostrovec, from the Ostrovec stream towards Lhotka. Enchanted spirits also appear here as a headless woman, a white duck, a black dog, a pig, a hare or a headless horse. They appear most often between eleven and midnight, accompany travellers and vanish into a nearby small lake.