I am trying to find the source for a story I read as a child.
The story took place in Russia, and the main character, a coward, was called "Ivan the Terrible", by the bullyish patrons of the tavern he frequented. He is persuaded to take a sword into the cemetery at night and drive it down into the earth at the base of a particular grave. He does so, and dies of fright when he inadvertantly drives it through his cloak, pinning himself to the ground.
Sound familiar?
It does. I believe there is an American version collected in "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark".
In this version, it is a little girl in a cemetery who on a dare, plunges a knife into a grave only to pin her dress to the ground. She dies of fright.
Sorry I do not know the Russian story name, but most of these folk stories can be found around the world in various forms.
I remember seeing a version of this story on TV when I was young. Pretty sure it was not Twilight Zone or Night Gallery, but it was something similar.
There's an episode of The Twilight Zone, titled, "The Grave" with Lee Marvin, that has a similar theme. Also, a story about a witch named "Bald Sheba" in either CREEPY or EERIE (maybe VAMPIRELLA) has the same basic plot. Not sure where the tale originated from, though. Must be a universal (no pun intended) story.
U P, you are right. I misremembered: it was a Twilight Zone episode. Thanks for the reminder.
And Gold Key comics used it as the ending of one of their stories:.
'Vampire Of The Schloss'
Ripley's Believe It or Not #10 (1965)
I knew it was a TZ episode, but I couldn't remember the name of it. I had to cheat & google it! Now, I have to find out which mag the "Bald Sheba" story was in!