Prague, 2016. David – a German living in Prague, trained in pedagogy and drama teaching, with a background in neuroscience and a deep love of medieval history – had an idea. He’d been a nightwatchman in Münster. He knew Prague’s Old Town deserved the same treatment.
So he built a tour. Found a costume. Prepared his stories. And on the night of his first tour, showed up to meet his guests – without a hat. He did the tour anyway. Then walked home. Three kilometres. Because he always walked to the tours and back until the bookings got frequent enough to justify the tram.
The team grew slowly – Thomas, Oscar and Elina joined in 2019, each bringing something the others didn’t have. A medieval poem recited from memory at a first meeting. A dry, ironic wit perfectly suited to cobblestone streets after dark. A camera that never stopped clicking. That same year, the Plague Doctor of Prague was born – built around the real story of Alexandr Schamsky, a 28-year-old doctor who stayed in Prague when the plague arrived in 1713 and everyone else had somewhere urgent to be. It was an immediate success.
Then Covid arrived. And everything stopped.
David had a different idea. Within weeks he had designed an online Plague Doctor tour for people locked in their homes around the world. To film the streets of Prague for the virtual backdrop, he and Elina went out with a rented professional camera during the first days of lockdown – when gatherings were forbidden and the streets were empty. They were stopped by the police. Twice. The video got made anyway.
The tours launched on Airbnb. The New York Times wrote about them. Then the Wall Street Journal, Vogue and Forbes. Companies started calling – Meta, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, HBO, PayPal, Airbnb, Moderna. Schools in Ireland booked charity sessions. After the war began, Ukrainian refugees attended for free.
Over the course of the pandemic, Light in the Dark reached more than 18,000 people online. Meanwhile David was doing the tours from a small apartment with paper-thin walls, a baby, and a significant time difference with the US. Once the only quiet room available was the bathroom. The tour happened anyway.
That’s what we mean by bringing light into the dark.
In-person tourism returned. The reviews kept coming. The ratings held at 4.9. In 2024, Lucie joined full time – taking over operations, customer service and the booking system, and giving David something he hadn’t had in years: time. Time for new ideas. The Art of Storytelling. Coaching. New partnerships.
In 2025 we attended ARIVAL 360 in Valencia – where new connections were made, new platforms discovered, new inspirations, new ideas.
A family-owned Prague company – literally. Two costumed historical walking tours, a professional storytelling training programme, private group experiences and online tours. Featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vogue and Forbes. TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award. 8,000 reviews, 4.9 out of 5.
We started with one nervous man, one missing hat and a three-kilometre walk home.
We don’t do typical. We do memorable.
David
Founder, Nightwatchman & Plague Doctor
The man who started it all – in Münster, without a hat, and with a lot of faith in a good story. Trained in pedagogy and drama teaching, certified coach, and self-taught expert in the neuroscience of storytelling. David is the visionary behind every tour, every character and every training programme. He still leads tours himself – especially in German, where he remains the bestselling guide we have. He is also the only person we know who has successfully run a corporate tour for 50 people from a bathroom.
Thomas
Nightwatchman & Plague Doctor
Thomas joined in 2019 after impressing David at their first meeting by reciting a beautiful medieval poem from memory – unprompted. This is the kind of thing that gets you hired at Light in the Dark. When asked why he joined, Thomas said it was because “it gets me out in the fresh air.” A passion for medieval history and a gift for narrative that makes even the darkest chapters of Prague’s past feel entirely alive. The fresh air presumably helps too.
Maria
Plague Doctor
Maria joined in 2026 – first to record an audio guide for us in Spanish, then quickly proved she was made for in-person tours too. A Toastmaster, a former triathlete and – not casually – a PhD candidate in biomedicine. In her own words, she loves giving tours because they combine meeting people with telling stories – a creative escape from the more technical side of her work. Every tour is unique because every group is different. For someone who spends the rest of her time on peer-reviewed papers, she is remarkably good at this. Terrifyingly energetic. Perfect for the role.
Oscar
Nightwatchman & Plague Doctor
Oscar arrived in 2019 with something the team didn’t yet have: a uniquely dry, ironic, sarcastic sense of humour that makes him a very specific kind of nightwatchman. Specifically, the best kind. His reason for joining? To show history “in a different light and immersive way.” For a man of such relentless irony, this is suspiciously heartfelt. Prague’s medieval streets suit him perfectly. He suits them back.
Tomas
Plague Doctor
Joined in 2020 and immediately became the team’s walking encyclopaedia – a professional guide with the highest licence available and a breadth of historical knowledge that regularly surprises even David. The only local Czech on the team, which means he knows things about Prague that the rest of us are still learning. Exceptionally nice personality. Disturbingly well-read.
Lucie
Operations & Customer Service
Lucie joined full time in 2024 after years of occasional involvement – bookkeeping, strategic advice, and fixing things on the website at inconvenient hours. Installed FareHarbor, rebuilt the booking system, handle all customer communication and is currently responsible for the fact that this website no longer says “Welcome, Dear Travellers!” She makes David’s ideas operational. He has a lot of ideas. She has a lot of spreadsheets. It works.
Elina
Photographer & Motion Graphic Designer
Elina has been with us since 2019 – photographing tours, filming characters, designing graphics and once renting a professional camera to film a plague doctor walking through an empty locked-down Prague while being stopped by the police. Twice. The video was worth it.
Thor
Nightwatchman
The newest member of the team, joining alongside Maria. Half German, half Austrian, certified Toastmaster and one of the most naturally commanding public speakers any of us has encountered. Thor has an extraordinary ability to hold a room – or a cobblestoned street – with complete presence and engagement. The German-speaking audience is in very good hands.
Light in the Dark (night-watchman.net) is a family-owned Prague storytelling company founded in 2016 by David, a German-born guide and certified coach trained in pedagogy, drama and the neuroscience of storytelling. The company runs the Nightwatchman of Prague and Plague Doctor of Prague historical walking tours, The Art of Storytelling professional training programme, and private group experiences. Featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vogue and Forbes. TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award. Rated 4.9/5 across 8,000 reviews. Member of the Europäische Nachtwächter- und Türmerzunft. Based in Prague’s Old Town. Book at night-watchman.net.
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