Many years ago a deacon served in the parish of a small town near a beautiful valley. He was in love with a girl named Gudrun who lived on the opposite side of the valley on a farm. They were so much in love that they were to be engaged to be married in the spring. His horse, Shadow was a dark horse with gray mane that he rode every.
Before Christmas, the young man rode to Gudrun's's house safely across the frozen river, the ice was very thick. and invited her to a Christmas feast held at the church. He said that he would come for her on shadow so they could arrive together. She was delighted and said that she would watch out for him the night of the celebration. Then they sat down to enjoy tea and cakes while talking about their future together.
On the way back the deacon was so full of happy dreams that he did not notice that the river had unseasonable thawed alittle. The river became a flood, the ice broke up and was whirling downstream in huge drifts. As soon as the young man noticed the situation he searched for a way of crossing the stream.
He spotted a bridge of ice the still spanned the river and he urged Shadow onto it. But when they had reached the middle, the bridge crumbled beneath them and the horse along with the rider tumbled into the stream.
The next morning a search party was sent out when they found that he had not returned home. They did, however, find Shadow running freely across the frosty meadow. Later that day, the men found the corpse of the deacon washed away on the shore. The flesh had been torn off the back of his head and the skull was shinning through.
The men brought the body back to town, and the deacon was buried a week before Christmas. The river continued to flood so badly that no one could pass the river to get to the other side, meaning that there was no one to tell Gudrun about the death of her beloved fiancé.
Having no idea what happened, Gudrun was still happily looking forward to Christmas Eve when her lover would come for her and take her to the Christmas celebration. On Christmas Eve, Gudrun was dressing in her finest clothes she heard a knock at the door. One of the maids opened the door but saw no one standing there. Gudrun went to get a light, and she also held the lamp high over her head still finding no one. Puzzled, she went back to her work.
A short while later the knock was repeated, and just as Gudrun was putting on her cloak she called out "it is someone waiting for me." She pulled the door opened and saw the figure of the deacon, his hat pulled over his eyes standing next to Shadow. She hurried over to him, and without a word he lifted her up high on the horse and they rode to the direction of the river.
When they reached the river, it had frozen over again, except for a narrow patch of black water, which the current kept the frost from hardening. The horse trotted onto the ice and leaped over the stream, but at the same time the horse landed the deacons head was thrust forward and his hat slipped over his eyes for a moment, revealing the patch of bare skull gleaming white in the middle of his hair.
"What happened to your head, my love?" Gudrun asked.
"Ride a little farther, and you will understand." was all he could say. Troubled, Gudrun looked anxiously towards the lights of the town just up ahead. But instead of heading the direction of the church the deacon turned Shadow towards the church yard beside it. Without speaking he hopped off Shadow the helped Gudrun down.
"Why have we stopped here?" Gudrun asked, shivering.
The man put out his hand, which felt as cold as ice and led her through the hedge gate. "Walk a little farther with me and then you will understand." He said.
He led her to the snow-dusted tombstones, and Gudrun wondered what strange thing had happened to him? When they reached the center of the cemetery she saw that they were walking towards an open grave, frozen earth was piled up all around it.
"My love, why are you showing me this?" She has asked.
"Just rest beside me here, and you'll understand."
Gudrun broke free and sick with terror started to run towards the church porch, screaming for help. She felt her cloak snatch from behind and for a desperate moment she was held prisoner, but then she loosened the clasp and ran toward the church, where she saw that people were coming to help her.
Just as she stumbled into the arms of her rescuers she looked back to see the deacon jumping into the open grave with her cloak still hugged to him. The piles of the earth that were set on the side of the grave tumbled in after him and it filled the grave once again.
Still, the troubled ghost of the deacon came night after night to try and drag Gudrun away with him. Gudrun had to be guarded from sunrise to sunset. Even the priest from the parish tried to lay the spirit to rest, but nothing had worked.
A man from the North, who knew something about ancient spells had to come to the town and drive the demon who possessed the man's body out. After that, the deacon remained peaceful at rest, never to haunt Gudrun again.
