The Phantom Bear
In the olden days, before modern laws on hygeine, meat was sold from wooden huts. These were fly-infested, foul-smelling places over-run with dogs. Sometimes wild animals would approach the huts to steal meat. A large bear began to frequent the crude butcher's shops, cleaning up bits of old meat. It did not seem agressive and no-one really worried about it. As it turned out, the creature had not come out of the forests but was owned by a man who lived in Prague.
One day the 'tame' bear turned on a scribe and ate him. The authorities demanded that the bear be destroyed but its owner fled, taking the bear with him. He made money by displaying his man-eating bear in the towns of Cesky Krumlov, Strakonice and Klatovy. He was never caught.
Back in Prague a totally innocent bear was used to take the man-eater's place and was beheaded. Its ghost is said to haunt the areas were the butchers' huts once stood at Klarov. It will only pass over when it commits the crime it was executed for and eats a person.
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