The Ghost of Berthe de La Roche

Some evenings, towards nightfall, just at the spot where she had met her death, the Countess Berthe de la Roche can be seen gliding through the ruines of her castle. But who can this Berthe be ?" The Lord de La Roche, having only his daughter Berthe to receive his enormous inheritance, organized a great tournament at his castle. The hand of the rich heiress would be given in marriage to the knight, who in a fair combat could defeat all his rivals. The first knight to appear was the Count of Montaigu, a giant, proudly strong, whom no adversary's lance had even succeeded in unseating. Accordingly, no other champion appeared.It was, however, to the Countess Alix de Salm that the Count de Montaigu was betrothed. When the time was nearly up, a horseman made his entrance in the courtyard. What a strange adversary ! It was a very small knight, almost a child, and at the sight of this puny champion, the Count of Montaigu was overcome by a great fit of laughter.In front of the knights and the Ladies, the unequal combat began.With a great clatter of iron, his heavy workhorse at the gallop, Count de Montaigu hurled himself at his weak adversary, the latter was only harmed with a light lance and his horse had no protective harmour.With marvelous skill, guided by a keen hand and with one leap, this mount evoided the violent clash of the Count. In a second the Count wheeled around and advanced again, more slowly and methodically this time, towards his skillfull rival.Controlling now the boundsing of his mount, the little knight stopped and waited with an alert and provocative stance.Taking advantage of this moment, the Count rushed forward; the sword of this giant smote through the air with a flash of steel and fell with a whistle on the imprudent youth…But already the little knight was no longer there, while, overcome by the momentum of his great weight, the Count lost his balance, was unseated and fell to the ground with great thud. The little knight, inserted the slender blade of his light sword under the joint of the helmet of the formidable count and cut his throat with one blow.A minute later, the happy father led the newly weds to the nuptial chamber at the top of the castle keep.The next morning early, anxious to see and share the happiness of the young couple, the father waited in the castle yard. But the sun kept on rising in the sky without any sign of their appearance. Tired of the long and hopeless wait, the father mounted the steps of the keep, ran to the door of the wedding chamber and knocked at the door. No reply...Unable to contain his paternal concern, the father pushed at the door, it gave, but the room was empty and the window open. With one leap, the dismayed father ran to it, gazing into the outside space with terror : at the bottom of the abyss, on the banks of the Ourthe, he saw two stainlike spots, one was black, the other white.The mysterious knight was no one other than the Countess Alix de Salm who, in disguise and after having made a pact with the devil, had taken her revenge on Count de Montaigu and the fair Berthe de La Roche...(text source by Si de la Roche).The ghost makes its appearance from Easter until the mid- september, on Saturdays with fallen the night. However, the ghost does not appear when it rains. Walk of the ghost , its and lights Of the 17/7 to 22/8 every evening with 22h00 - 22/8: final of the ghost