Tradition: Czech Mythology
Alternative Names: The Ghost of Simandel’s Wife
Category: Ghost
The Myth
Beneath an old oak tree in the Seewieser court lies the grave of the farmer’s wife known as Simandlin. She was a wicked and quarrelsome woman who gave neither her husband nor her neighbours any peace. Her sharp tongue was said to sting worse than thistles and thorns, making life miserable for everyone around her.
When Simandlin died, she refused to remain quietly in her grave and attempted to haunt the living. Her restless spirit proved so troublesome that a single clergyman could not banish her. It took a bishop and eight priests working together to finally force her into the grave and bring her peace underground.
Yet the haunting was not believed to be over forever. According to the legend, after a hundred years had passed, Simandlin’s spirit would return to trouble the living once more. The century was said to be drawing to a close, and people feared that the wicked farmer’s wife would soon rise again. Her tale survives alongside the warning that a wicked woman can be worse than bad weather in the sky.
Sources
“Das Fegefeuer.” In Hans Watzlik, Böhmerwald-Sagen. Budweis: Böhmerwalder Dorfbücher, 1921, Heft 5. Reproduced by SAGEN.at. https://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/tschechien/watzlik/fegfeuer.html