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Wednesday, February 22, 2023

The Fiery Turkey of Kampa

 The Fiery Turkey of Kampa

By Cole Herrold

When people think of the Czech Republic and the Fortean they often think of the Golem of Prague. Which to be fair is perhaps one of the most important stories to come from the region due to the cultural importance of the figure. Yet the Czech Republic is a place full of history and legends. In fact, the capital Prague is perhaps one of the most haunted places on earth. The area has countless legends from vampires to werewolves and colossal begging skeletons to River Spirits and sprites. There are several books dedicated to the subject yet perhaps the masterwork of cataloging all the paranormal entities in the city is Prague Full of Ghosts by Miloslav Svandrlik in which he cataloged 140 unique entities claimed to reside in the city. All of these apparitions and entities are interesting but of them, all one stands out due to the comical appearance of the entity. This bizarre entity is known as the Fiery Turkey of Kampa. While stories of this bizarre bird were recorded albeit rarely in sources I first came to find out about it through an unlikely source namely a reprinted book of Hellboy Artist and Creator Mike Mignola’s Sketch Book which appeared in the back of the Hellboy The Troll Witch and Others graphic novel. I instantly became drawn in by the design of the creature and had to find out more. Unfortunately, Prague Full of Ghosts by Svandrlik which Mignola cites as the book which he got the story from is out of print and decently expensive for someone with a limited paycheck. PDFs are rare yet screenshots and some of the illustrations have made their way online. It's from this as well as other online sources that recounted the tale that I was able to get the full story.

The story of the ghost begins in an old mill on Kampa Island which is located in Prague’s Malá Strana district. It was getting close to Easter and the miller was a huge fan of eating roast turkey on holidays it was here that the man to prepare for the day acquired three turkeys for the sole purpose of raising them and fattening them for a bountiful Easter feast. The man was certainly salivating at the thought of the glorious banquet and it was well known that even without a holiday the man loved the taste of turkey. Now the day was approaching closer, and the man grew more impatient as the last time he had a nice drumstick or piece of breast meat was on Christmas. This maddening craving finally reached a crescendo on Good Friday. Now Good Friday is a day that practicing Christians are told to refrain from consuming meat of any kind as on this day Jesus allegedly offered up his flesh as a sacrifice for all of humanity so long as you believe. This proved however to be too much for the miller who proceeded to kill one of the turkeys secretly. The man while the rest of his family were preoccupied with other Good Friday traditions proceeded to cook the bird and then took the feast to his mill where he ate the whole bird in secrecy. The man completely full and seemingly content was sitting on the floor when suddenly he felt an incredible pain in his chest and stomach. The man proceeded to run out the door where he stumbled and fell to the ground dead. When his body was found it was discovered that his gallbladder burst and people joked that this was because of the gall it would take for someone to violate fasting on Good Friday. The fact that he died in such a mysterious way on the day associated with the death of Jesus led many to believe that there was indeed some mysterious force that was at work. The miller's family simply cleaned up the turkey bones from the mill and never spoke about it again. Those of a less religious mindset felt that the man’s gallbladder bursting so suddenly was unlikely and that he probably just choked on a bone. After the holiday the family buried the miller and that was seemingly the end of the story until the next Good Friday came about.

On the next Good Friday, the town was surprised to hear and see at the mill a strange sight of the supernatural. There running around and making countless gobbles was a large turkey that was engulfed in flames. The entity was noticeably angry and would chase people around the area seemingly protecting the mill. The entity also had a physical effect to its nearby surroundings for as it moved it left burning footprints. For fear of what would happen to buildings and people, there were then several attempts to remove the turkey. Many tried to grab the bird but whoever tried only got burned in the process, but the bird was seemingly physical in form. The citizens then tried to get dogs to chase the bird away but the bird in turn ended up attacking the dogs causing them to turn and run with their tails between their legs. These attempts to capture the bird then were upgraded as men tried to snare and cage the entity however the ropes the bird would become entangled with would singe away. Seeing that this was fruitless and that it was just making the bird angrier some townsfolk sent for members of the military to come and try to shoot the bird dead. Several snipers showed up and they proceeded to take shots at the bird however again there was no noticeable effect and that they refused to get closer to the animal for fear that their gunpowder would ignite and explode.

Mike Mignola's take on the Fiery Turkey as well as some of the other ghosts of Prague

Realizing that conventional methods would not work the frightened towns folk proceeded to get the local priest to see what he could do. The priest seeing the flaming bird decided that he would attempt to exorcise the creature. The priest tried every incantation in the book and rang bells all in the attempt of making the apparition leave yet none worked. The flaming apparition however would soon disappear on its own. For as Good Friday ended the apparition suddenly disappeared. The priest and the people soon realized just what this being truly was. It would seem that this angry fiery bird was the condemned and transmogrified form of the miller. Its appearance is both evidence of his afterlife fate and also a warning for anyone else willing to break the holy laws. The ghost turkey would make its appearances over and over for years and would occasionally be heard gobbling on days other than Good Friday. Reports of this entity according to the article by Magic Bohemia seemingly started to die down after the Vatican II reform which occurred in 1965 which they noted changed many of the rules and laws regarding fasting and rituals with holidays. The turkey of Kampa, however, is still a focal point for many of the Prague Ghost Walks and many still claim that while full-on manifestations of the bird are nonexistent the gobbling of the bird can still be heard coming from the mill.

Fiery Ghost Turkeys are not the usual types of entities one thinks about when it comes to the Fortean but this just shows how incredible the Fortean truly is and that it knows no bounds. While this story is truly based on Christian mythology and serves as a warning for those wishing to break its dogmatic practices there are elements of this case that could point to it being an authentic encounter. In Fortean circles, ghost birds are incredibly common many of these apparitions are similar to Banshees as they are reported to warn or cause the deaths of those who encounter them. Yet less supernaturally significant ghost birds are also reported such as the Highgate Ghost Chicken or the Ghost Chickens of Chicken Alley, Wisconsin, or the Ghost Goose of Yorkshire that ghost hunter Elliott O’Donnell described. So, ghost birds are not unheard of in the Fortean and therefore something like the ghost turkey of Kampa is not unique in that way.

Something I else feels need to be brought up is the fact that this apparition while heavily believed to be the ghost of the miller could also be the ghost of the turkey killed on Good Friday. This animal was killed on a “holy” day and could be because of this damned to wander the earth or could even seek revenge on the community or the millers family. Obviously the overly supernatural qualities of this apparition kind of point against this it is still a possibility. Perhaps the roasting could have caused it to garner some supernatural fire in the same way that the Highgate Chicken ghost is constantly reported to be shivering and cold due to how it was stuffed with snow in its legend. The preparation used on the remains could explain the form it takes this could be why cremation is supposed to release ghosts and stop them from manifesting there may be some sort of link. An eerie thought too, is that perhaps the miller’s death was caused by the ghost of this bird as a form of revenge either granted by some higher power or through some supernatural rage of its own. Of course, all of this is mere speculation but it's something that in each telling of the story that never seems brought up and that most of the focus or identity is pointed to the miller. 

Another more direct similarity to the fiery turkey and other Fortean cases is the story. Transmogrified ghosts are surprisingly common. In plenty of older ghost books and in myths and beliefs from around the world once a person dies depending on the quality of their character they can become either through some religious damnation or through a curse or preset condition an animal ghost with strange abilities. There are two entities that I can think of that are extremely similar to the Fiery Turkey. The Roaring Bull of Bagbury is a large malicious and angry spectral bull from Bagbury, England. This apparition was in life a farmer who was exceedingly cruel and down right evil in life (the details however are sketchy as to just what he did) yet after he died the ghost would enter the farmhouse in its colossal bull form and stampede and throw objects around with its horns and kick furniture. Things got so bad that 12 parsons were called who led the bull to Hyssington Church where in they were able to shrink the bull through prayers to fit inside a snuff box. They then sent this box to the Red Sea for 1,000 years. Alternatively, there also was the spirit of a blind leper that was extensively covered in the works of Elliott O’Donnell. This leper who was killed by a tiger later would come back as a ghostly white tiger who had the ability to spread leprosy to whomever he scratched or bit. The ghost sought revenge for its death as the blind leper’s fate could have been prevented but more on this case in the very near future. The point of these other accounts was merely to demonstrate that similar ghosts to what the Fiery Turkey is have occurred at least in legends and Fortean literature.

The question we have to ask ourselves as well is that does our dogma cause phenomena to fluctuate. With the Fiery Turkey it is claimed that sightings and manifestations were rampant until the rules regarding meat consumption and fasting were changed. Is this an example of some sort of spell in action as many of these traditions and rituals could be something akin to that and by changing this all phenomena associated or bound by this are either released or forced to change behavior or simply obliterated from existence. One has to wonder such things if this is not some sort of parable or folk tale. There over the years have been countless cases of animal ghosts or strange supernatural entities that suddenly vanish or as some of the witnesses to hauntings claim to apparitions seem to fade over time. Some ghosts seem almost physical when first sighted then as the years go they turn into that grey or white or see-through apparition that is so associated with the phenomenon and then suddenly the ghost is seemingly gone with only maybe noises left. Some associate this with the stone tape hypothesis and that ghosts reflect the home conditions or environments in which they are reported. Yet it seems that now these less defined more ethereal ghosts are more common than the bizarre cavalcade of entities reported from the 1500s-1800s. It makes me wonder just what happened. Yet Im certain we may never find the answer and the same goes for the truth about the Fiery Turkey.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Transmogrified Human Spirit

Location: Kampa Island, Prague, Czech Republic

Works Cited:

Hellboy The Troll Witch and Others By Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, and P. Craig Russell

Prague Full of Ghosts By Miloslav Svandrlik

“The flaming turkey of Kampa” Magic Bohemia. November 17, 2016. https://magicbohemia.com/the-flaming-turkey-of-kampa/. Accessed February 22, 2023.

“Free Ghost Tour Of Prague’s Famous Mala Strana District” The Creative Adventurer. September 24, 2020. https://thecreativeadventurer.com/free-ghost-tour-of-pragues-famous-mala-strana-district/. Accessed February 22, 2023

“The Fiery Turkey” Prague Stay. https://prague-stay.com/lifestyle/review/176-prague-legends-myths-and-ghosts/177-haunted-prague-and-czech-legends/852-the-fiery-turkey. Accessed February 22, 2023. 

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