Skinny Jack was a servant who loved to do pranks. One night Skinny Jack disguised himself as a ghost to scare the sexton in the church. When the sexton ran out, Skinny Jack wanted to follow. But on the way out, something seemed to grab him. Skinny Jack believed it was a ghost, or God himself, who wanted to punish him. The next day people found him. His blood was frozen to ice, so he was neither dead nor alive. He stayed in church for about a hundred years and nobody dared to get close to him, until a maid came to the town who was not afraid of anything. A rich man wanted to know if the maid was actually as brave as she said and offered her five crowns to bring Skinny Jack to him. The maid did so and got five crowns. However, she hadn't said that she would bring Skinny Jack back, so the man offered her five crowns again. The maid took Skinny Jack on her back again. But shortly before she arrived at the church, Skinny Jack put his cold ghost fingers around her neck. He forced her to carry him to the grave of the sexton. There he asked for forgiveness. The sexton replied that if God forgave him, he would forgive Skinny Jack. Skinny Jack immediately collapsed into a pile of ashes. From then on the maid was no longer quite right in the head.
