Psychic Readings

Psychic Readings is a popular urban legend from Germany about two women who encounter a strange fortune teller. In Germany, it is known as “Die Wahrsagerin” (The Fortune Teller).

There were two young women in their 20s who were the best of friends. Since they were both still single, they decided to take a holiday together. They booked flights to Germany and decided to visit the city of Dresden.

On the first day of their holiday, the two women took a walk around Dresden’s Altstadt (Old Town) quarter, to get acquainted with the city’s history and visit all the familiar tourist spots. One of the women spoke German, so she was able to act as a translator for her friend, telling her the meaning of all the signs and place-names.

That evening, on their way back to their hotel, the women passed through the Neustadt (New Town) area. As they walked down the street, one of the women noticed an old cemetery nearby and asked her friend if they could go in for a few minutes and take a look around.

The sign above the gates read: “Alter Jüdischer Friedhof” (Old Jewish Cemetery). The women went inside and strolled around the quiet and deserted grounds of the graveyard. They were reading through a few of the ancient gravestones, when one in particular caught their eyes.

The inscription on the headstone read:

“Henriette Moosbach.
Verurteilt zum Tode durch den Strafgericht in 1776.
Geköpft wegen Mord an 11 Frauen…”

(Henriette Moosbach.
Sentenced to death by the Criminal Court in 1776.
Beheaded for the murder of eleven women.)

As it was beginning to grow dark, the two young women continued on their way back to the hotel. They had only been walking for a few minutes when they happened to pass by a market. The stalls were lined up on a side street, with vendors at each one selling a variety of food, drink, clothes and souveniers.

They also noticed a small tent that stood at the end of the alley. It was garishly decorated and there was an ugly old lady standing outside. The sign above the entrance read “Kostenlos psychische Messwerte” (Free Psychic Readings).

One of the young women was very interested in horroscopes, fortune telling and divining the future. She decided to take up the old lady on her offer of a free psychic reading and was quickly ushered inside the tent. The other woman didn’t speak any German, so she just waited outside and took a look at the products being sold at other market stalls.

After browsing through the wares for 10 minutes, she began to get impatient. After 20 minutes, she began wondering why her friend was taking so long. The woman bought some Bratwurst (fried sausage), Zwiebelbrot (onion bread) and Käsekuchen (cheesecake) at the market stalls. A quick glance at her watch told her that her friend had already been in the fortune teller’s tent for 45 minutes.

Bored and eager to return to the hotel, she decided to phone her friend and ask when the psychic session would be over, but when she called, there was no answer. When the woman approached the fortune teller’s tent, she looked down and saw a deep red liquid on the ground, running out through the tent’s flaps. She realized, to her horror, that it was blood.

The woman was paralyzed with fear. As she stood there, the pool of blood spread out around her feet. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that all of the vendors at the other stalls were staring at her with twisted grins on their faces.

Terrified, she dropped everything she had bought and fled as fast as she could. She ran blindly through the streets, dashing this way and that, shoving people out of her way. She didn’t know where she was going. She just wanted to get away from the horrible marketplace.

Eventually, the woman came to a stop, completely exhausted. To her surprise, she found herself standing in the Old Jewish Cemetery again. Looking at the gravestone in front of her, she was shocked to see the name “Henriette Moosbach”.

She couldn’t understand German, but as she stared at the inscription on the gravestone, the blood froze in her veins. It read:

“Henriette Moosbach.
Verurteilt zum Tode durch den Strafgericht in 1776.
Geköpft wegen Mord an 12 Frauen…”