A premature holiday meal turned out to be the undoing of a miller
Bohemian ghost stories sometimes are downright bizarre. The tale of the angry flaming turkey of Kampa stands beak and drumsticks above all of the others. The bird turns up on Good Fridays, but hasn’t been seen in more than half a century.
A mill owner in Kampa, an area in Prague’s Malá Strana district, loved to have roast turkey on holidays. He was raising three turkeys for Easter. But Good Friday, of course, was a fast day when faithful people were supposed to refrain from eating meat. The mill owner grew impatient, not having had a chance to eat turkey since the Christmas holidays. When nobody was looking, he killed one of the three waiting turkeys on Good Friday, thinking nobody would know the difference. He cooked it up while nobody was paying attention and secretly ate it in the mill.
Whatever the case, people were surprised to find his corpse on the ground on Good Friday. His relatives cleaned up the remnants of the meal inside the mill and never said a word about it to anyone. As far as onlookers were concerned, he died a mysterious death on the same symbolic day and hour that Jesus Christ was on the cross.
Slowly though, the real story leaked out, and people put a less than reverent spin on it. Some began to say his gallbladder burst, because of all of the gall it took to so cheekily violate the rules of fasting. Others say he choked on a turkey bone because he tried to pick a bone with the fasting rules.
Reports of sightings have dropped off over the years and there are no mentions of the flaming turkey of Kampa since the Vatican II reforms of 1965, which changed the rules relating to fasting on religious holidays. Like everyone else, the bird was likely confused by the changes. Perhaps the rules had been weakened so much, the bird no longer saw the point of his fiery protest.
But if you should see a flaming turkey in Kampa, approach it with caution. Those who have tried to subdue it have the burns to prove it.
Background
Kampa has its fair share of legends, many related to the waterfront and mills there. The stream that goes through the area is called Čertovka, or the Devil’s Channel, with several explanations as to why. There are also several mischievous water sprites, or vodníci, that are supposed to be along the waterfront, as well as the usual assortment of ghosts with romantic broken hearts.
Čertovka is an artificial waterway made specifically to provide power for mills, and two wheels remain, both popular spots for tourists’ photos and even for film crews.
Which particular mill is the focus of the somewhat obscure turkey legend is not clear. Mills have been in Kampa since at least the late 1300s.
In actuality, it is named for Václav Sova from Liboslav, who built up the property in the late 15th century. The large mill complex was owned by entrepreneur František Odkolek after 1850, and it had a fire in 1896. The part of the mill with the wheel, facing the Vltava river, was torn down in 1920 to allow for the construction of locks on the river. Odkolek is still a popular brand of baked goods.
Some mill owners also used to live in what is now called Werich Villa, after actor Jan Werich who used to live there in the first part of the 20th century. It is now under renovation to become part of the Museum Kampa complex.
The mill wheel at Velkopřevorský mlýn can be seen on the background of the Six of Swords in The Tarot of Prague deck.
The name Kampa comes from the area having been a tent camp for Spanish soldiers during the Battle of White Mountain in 1621.
Turkeys are native to the New World, but have been in Europe since at least 1550, when the English navigator William Strickland introduced them. Shakespeare mentions them in Twelfth Night, written around 1602. They became popular in Bohemia relatively late, in the 18th century. They are thought to have been introduced by way of Croatia, Slavonia and Banat, areas of southeastern Europe that have strong ties to Bohemia.
An article by Baba Studio with Raymond Johnston. Copyright Baba Studio, all rights reserved. Please contact us if you would like to syndicate or otherwise use this article.
Main image: Roasted turkey. Source: Wikimedia commons