La Ramée and the Phantom is a French fairy tale collected by Achille Millien and Paul Delarue.
He came to a town all hung in black and heard that ever since the king's daughter died, a phantom has smothered, every night, a soldier left on guard in the church.
The first night, he hid behind the altar, during the quarter-hour while the phantom walked; it spotted him just before midnight, and vanished when the clock struck.
A woman spoke to him, knowing he was running away, and gave him a pair of scissors, telling him to pare the nails of the phantom's hands and feet.
The third night, he did not hide, but as soon as the phantom arrived, it threw its arms about him, and he pared the nails.