Ghost story
The spring spook of Palupera
At the edge of Palupera manor's fields, about three versts towards Otepää church, a spring by the main road gave water so good that every traveller drank from it. Yet a spook lived in it. Two farmers once chased a hare there that turned into an old wheel hub, then into a crow, which dived into the spring. Another time a flayed ox rose out of it and trotted after children walking to the pastor's lessons, until they recited the Lord's Prayer backwards. A girl who had slept through church drank there and died. When people took to singing hymns as they passed, the spook hanged itself on a crooked spruce by the footbridge. Palupera manor stands in Elva parish.
Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today
Eesti keeles
Palupera mõisa põldude lõpus, umbes kolm versta Otepää kiriku poole, oli suure tee ääres allikas nii hea veega, et iga möödakäija jõi sellest. Aga allikas elas tont. Kaks peremeest ajasid kord seal taga jänest, kes muutus vanaks rattarummuks, siis vareseks ja kadus allikasse. Teine kord tõusis lättest nülitud härg ja sörkis õpetaja juurde lugema minevatele lastele järele, kuni need lugesid meieisapalve tagurpidi. Tüdruk, kes oli kirikus maganud, jõi sealt ja suri. Kui rahvas hakkas mööda minnes kirikulaule laulma, poos tont end Libasilla juures kasvava kõvera kuuse külge. Palupera mõis asub Elva vallas.
Source: Estonian Folklore Archives E 27291 (J. Kukrus, 1896), Rehepapp database ↗