During the period when the Besht lived in the city of Talusk, the local gentiles decided to make a blood libel. On the first night of Pesach, they killed a non-Jewish child and threw the body into the basement of the Besht’s house.
When the Besht got home from shul, he entered his house and told the Rebbitzen, “I sense the smell of a body in this house.” They searched until they found the body in the basement. The Besht then ordered for the body to be dressed in fine clothes and to sit it down by the table as if it were alive. The Besht then sat down and waited. Suddenly, a group of non-Jews burst in, accompanied by policemen. They searched the basement and the rest of the house but they Found nothing. They didn’t think to look by the table. Finally, they gave up and left.
The Besht then asked for the body to be thrown into the woods, and he then began his Seder.
