So, I was thinking about what to write about for Halloween. At first I was thinking “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” but I’ve ready that story and it’s actually kind of boring. Then I saw a series of videos by a Tik Tokker called cosbrian that spoke about a story by Washington Irving: “The Adventure of the German Student.” So let’s talk about that one.

And yes, this is going live on November 1. However I’m actually writing the post on Halloween and that’s when patrons are going to see it, so I’m still counting it.

Let’s begin by talking about our eponymous German student: one Gottfried Wolfgang. Gottfried was a student at Göttingen, but started delving a little bit too much into the supernatural. This had a negative effect on his mental health, so they decided to send him off to continue his studies in Paris. During the French Revolution. Surprisingly, this doesn’t help, and he ends up as a recluse who only leaves his house to go to the library. It should be noted that during this time, he starts having dreams about the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. This will become very important in a moment.

He’s on his way back from when of these excursions when he comes across the Place de Grève, aka the public square where beheadings took place. Because this place is incredibly creepy in the middle of the night, he starts to hurry away when he’s stopped by the sight of a young woman weeping near the guillotine’s steps.

Being a gentleman, he goes over and tries to comfort her. He asks if there are any place that he can escort her to when this exchange happens:

“I have no friend on earth!” said she.

“But you have a home,” said Wolfgang.

“Yes-in the grave!”

That, my friends, is what we call foreshadowing.

Anyway, being the kind young man that he is, Gottfried decides to take her home with him, at least for the night. Upon arriving back at his apartment, he takes a closer look with her and realizes that she’s actually the woman from his dreams. He also notices the ornate black choker that she’s wearing, which is also something that will be very important in a bit.

The two get to talking, and Gottfried tells her about his dreams. Instead of being creeped out by this, the woman decides that he’s clearly the one for him. They pledge their souls to one another, which would be really sweet except for what happens next.

The next morning he decides to take an adoring look at his sleeping love before heading out to the library, but realizes that she’s looking a lot deader than she did last night. He freaks out, calls the cops, and the officer who comes out to his home recognizes her. As someone who’d just been executed the night before. He pulls off the choker and the woman’s head just falls off onto the floor.

This proves to be a bit much for Gottfried, who gets taken to an asylum.

This story is really interesting, not just for the spookiness, but how it’s kind of entered the realm of folklore. The “ghostly woman whose head is only held on by a choker or ribbon” is something that pops up quite a bit in ghost stories. This particular story has been adapted a few times by other writers like Alexandre Dumas in 1851 and Anne McGovern in 1970. That last one was a compilation of children’s stories, by the way.

Because nothing screams “child appropriate” more than the French Revolution.