A Ghost does a Haircut

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Geographic Coordinates: 53° 50' 19.02" N, 12° 25' 40.11" E

In an inn along the country road, there was a chamber in which nobody wanted to stay overnight, as everyone who rested there had been found dead the following morning. One evening, a noble gentleman arrived at the inn and wanted to stay for the night. But every room was occupied other than this particular one. The innkeeper told him that this room was haunted in some manner; but the guest only laughed and told the innkeeper that he should prepare a bed for him.

This was done. The stranger left the light burning and fell asleep. Suddenly, the door opened, he woke up, and saw how a fat, strong man entered the room who was dressed in a short jacket and was wearing a black velvet cap on his head. He had a shaving kit in a bag under his arm and opened it, taking the shaving razor and running it alongside a leather strip. Every time when he reached the end of the strip, he looked at the stranger and waved at him, indicating that he should allow himself to be shaved. The guest regained his countenance and silently sat down on a chair in front of the fat man. The man silently whipped up foam, covered the guest’s face with soap, and shaved him in an orderly manner. Once he was done, he thanked him and said that he was now released from his turmoil. He had once been the innkeeper in this house, and, out of greed, cut the throat of a guest in this very room. He had been doomed to eternally wander until someone was willing to let himself be shaved by him. No one had agreed to this, and thus he had killed them all. Now he had found peace. Then the light went out and the ghost had vanished. The stranger, however, appeared the next morning hale and hearthy to the astonishment of everyone.

From Pogge in Pölitz.

Source: Bartsch - Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg Band 1, p. 220f.

Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles 1E Note: This story was published in the book Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles: Commentaries on German folklore. Get the book for further context and explanatory commentary!