Most Haunted Live : Gothic Prague – Evil Within

Yvette Fielding and her ghost-hunting team travel to macabre Prague for their darkest investigation yet.

Over four nights they uncover the horrifying paranormal phenomena that have built up over millennia in one of Europe’s most haunted cities.

The Czech capital, Prague, is known as a popular tourist destination and the city of 1,000 spires, but behind the stunning architecture and charming winding streets, lies a gruesome history of witchcraft and blood-soaked tyranny.

Legend says that Prague was once besieged by flocks of witches, forcing the city’s terrified residents to light huge bonfires to drive away the evil invaders. In modern times, this ancient ritual is marked each year in April on Witches Night, but what other more sinister traces have centuries of black magic left in the Czech capital?.

The city is also the site of several ancient castles, which are renowned not only for their architecture but also for their grisly past. The gothic splendour of Karlstejn, for instance, was home to the infamous Katerina Bechynova in the 16th century. The sadistic lady, it is said, murdered fourteen innocent people and even had a cat that dared to tear the lace of her dress skinned alive for its crime.

25th March 2010 : Night One

The hunt begins with a night at the Old Town Hall, which was once used as a prison and execution site.

After King John of Luxembourg accorded the citizens of Prague the privilege of having their own district council in 1338, they decided to build a Town Hall, paid for by a duty levied on wine. The almost 70 meters high tower was completed in 1364. Due to continuous expansions, the building now is a colorful collection of gothic and renaissance-style façades. During the 2nd World War, the building was severely damaged when the nazis suppressed the Prague uprising, but it is now thoroughly restored.

26th March 2010 : Night Two

The team venture into the city’s underground maze of waterworks where mysterious noises have terrified local workers.

27th March 2010 : Night Three

The team leave the comforts of the city and spend the night in the mysterious Castle Krivoklat.

Krivoklat Castle is located about 40 km west of Prague. It was built in the late 13th century as a hunting lodge, a weekend getaway for the Premyslid Princes and the seat of the royal master of hounds. Later, Wenceslas I built a stone castle on the spot and Charles IV used it in the 14th century.

Krivoklat Castle is located about 40 km west of Prague. It was built here in the 13th century during the rule of Premysl Otakar II as a summer seat and hunting lodge for royalty. In 1422 the Krivoklat Castle was damaged by Hussites and later, in the years 1493 – 1522, restored by King Vladislav Jagiello, who built the vaulted Gothic hall that has many resemblances with the famous Vladislav Hall at the Prague Castle.

Czech King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. spent his early childhood here before being sent off to France. Habsburgs used the Krivoklat Castle as a prison. In its round tower English alchemist Edward Kelley was incarcerated for two and a half years for failing to reveal the secret of the philosopher’s stone to Rudolf II.

Current appearance of the Krivoklat Castle dates from 1826, when the Furstenberg family extensively restored it after a fire. The reconstruction was made by Czech architects Joseph Mocker and Karel Hilbert.

28th March 2010 : Night Four

Castle Houska. Why the castle was built or its main purpose is still a bit of a mystery in itself but it gets the nickname of “Gateway to Hell”.

Houska Castle is an early Gothic castle, 47 km north of Prague, in the Czech Republic. It was built by Ottokar II of Bohemia during his reign (1253–1278) and became an important royal abode. It later passed to the hands of the aristocracy in which it remained until 1924, the times of the First Republic.

Houska castle (most specificaly the chapel) has been constructed over a large hole in the ground that is supposedly so deep no one could see the bottom of it. Half animal half man creatures were reported to have crawled out of it, and dark winged creatures flew in the vicinity of it. When construction was begun on the castle, all the inmates that were sentenced to death were offered a pardon if they consented to be lowered by rope into the hole, and report back on what they saw. When the first person was lowered in, after a few seconds he began screaming “pull me back up”, and when they did he looked as if he had aged 30 years in just a few seconds. He had grown wrinkles and his hair had turned white, as old folklore tales state. He was admitted to a insane asylum and died within 2 days. The castle was built with no fortications, near no trade routes, built with no water, no kitchen, and no occupants at its time of completion. Houska castle was not built to keep inhabitants or as a protective sancuary, it was built because they thought the hole was a gateway to hell. Thus, by constructing the Gothic building, they were able to keep the demons trapped in the thickest walls (the lower level walls closest to the hole) of the castle. The people who work there are said to know this, and they are just as spooked as you would expect them to be.

During the Nazi occupation of this area in the early 1900’s many physics experiments where done by the Nazi Reich in the castle and most specifically in the chapel where the Nazi’s made attempts at opening dimensional portals and other physics/science experiments.

Matt Barlow

A self confessed super fan of Most Haunted and editor of GhostMag.com. Matt’s passion for ghost hunting began when he moved into a haunted house in his second year of university in Leicester! His favourite location is the Niddry Street Vaults in Edinburgh.