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.
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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