A man is charged with stealing his enemy’s shadow

A resident of one of the small towns in Romania is charged with the crime, which will surely be remembered in history. He was charged with stealing “the shadow” of his townsmate, who suddenly died afterwards.

The son of the dead person filed a lawsuit in the district court, claiming that his father was healthy and that he died because of the bewitching plots of their malevolent neighbor.

Stealing a human being’s shadow is one of the old legends, in which the local people still believe. As it is believed, if you put a rope in the base of a house that is being built, and if the length of this rope is exactly the same as the length of your enemy’s shadow, then a house will remain standing for ages. The rope length should be found out on a certain day and hour, secretly, otherwise the spell won’t work.

Everybody was aware of the hostile relations between those two families, and when one of the neighbors decided to move and started building a new house, there were some people, who saw him measuring the shadow of his foe, and putting that rope in the base of the house. The sudden death of the strong man, who has never been ill, only verified the rumors about black magic and hostile revenge.

The dead man’s relatives appealed to court, demanding the malefactor should be punished and his new house demolished. They also want the “instrument of murder” to be publicly burnt. People say that the shadow of the dead man still appears in those places, and his soul can not find peace.