The sight that caused the German Student to go insane. He had met the girl and invited her to his room. They spent the night together. The landlord and head waiter later heard the screaming and rushed in to find him stark mad and pointing at a headless corpse and a severed head. They quickly determined that the body was at least 2 days dead and he could NOT have killed her, esp. when he saw the student bring the girl to his rooms.
It was determined that the girl had been guillotined (The French revolution) and that a demon had animated the body ,securing the head by a ribbon. The student had asked her if she would take it off. She said "Of course" and did so, and her head - fell off. That's when the screams went off, alarming the whole building !
The student never regained his sanity, but, during a lucid period, told Mr. Knickerbocker the whole affair. It went into the book along with "Rip Van Winkle" and others.
The sight that caused the German Student to go insane. He had met the girl and invited her to his ro
