There is a legend about the old guards at the Vysehrad fortress, according to which a restless ghost would appear at night and choke to death soldiers standing guard. The ghost was supposedly a French major who had come to Prague during the wartime against Austria, under the reign of the well-liked Maria Theresa. He was the first soldier to fall during the French attack on the Vysehrad fortress. After the French were forced out of Vysehrad during the war and local soldiers had returned to the stronghold’s galleries, the ghost started his pestilent work. He would appear in front of soldiers, scare them and he would often strangle them to death or break their neck as if it was a dry
twig. The legend about the ghost spread outside the walls, preceding him, and many a soldier tried to ambush and overcome him. But it was all useless, bullets would go through him as if through mist and only once was a French tricorn hat found near the corpse of an unfortunate guard.
Later, the ghost slackened his frenzy and would only just scare the soldiers, although the true reason for it remained unknown. It is said that peace will come back once no stone will be left standing on the round chapel built by the French during their occupation of Vysehrad. The last memory of the presence of the French will thus have gone and only then will the restless ghost disappear too.
