Aldebert Baufort is a character who appears in the Johan And Peewit comic book story "The War Of The Seven Springs" and its animated adaptation "The Haunted Castle". He was the ruler of Baufort Castle, whose lands were kept fertile by seven springs.
In the original comic book story, Aldebert was a drunkard who loved wine, and was upset that one season didn't produce any good grapes and his reserves turned to vinegar. A witch named Sara visited Aldebert during his private meditations by one of the springs and offered to grant him one wish. Aldebert wished that his springs would produce wine instead of water, and so Sara granted him the wish, which made Aldebert happy until all the people in the castle became so drunk all the time that life became impossible. When he sought out the witch to have the springs produce water instead, Sara told him that she could only grant one wish. Aldebert then became forceful and demanded for her to restore the springs, which made Sara become so upset that she cursed the springs so that they would produce neither wine nor water. After all the springs dried up, the people of the castle moved out, and Aldebert was left all alone calling out the witch's name in vain until the day he died.
At the time of the story, his ghost appeared unto Johan and Peewit at midnight, telling them that he cannot join his ancestors in peace until the seven springs have been restored. As the two humans sought out who can help restore the seven springs, they were eventually led to a witch named Rachel, who in the original comic book story couldn't help them even with her magic, though in the cartoon show episode was able to give them a magic divining rod that would help them find and restore the springs. (In the original comic book story, it was Papa Smurf who gave Johan and Peewit the divining rod.) However, Aldebert reveals that restoring the seven springs isn't enough; they must now find "the one true heir" that carries the family seal so that the curse can be broken.
As the restoration of the springs brought about various descendants of the Baufort family to claim the castle as their rightful inheritance, things became ugly as a representative of John Baufort showed up, claiming to have the family seal. As the descendants conspired to get their hands on the seal by tricking John with a message written by his representative, the Bauforts had Johan and Peewit put into the dungeon. Adelbert then appeared at midnight and became a scary apparition that haunted the Bauforts that were gathered together. Johan and Peewit used that to their advantage to get a guard to free them from the dungeon. However, as Johan and Peewit tried to make their escape from the castle, the ghost of Adelbert vanished and would not reappear for a time, leaving the two humans to use bedsheets to masquerade as ghosts in order to make their escape.
With Johan and Peewit returning with John Baufort to the castle, keeping the other Bauforts at bay until the ghost of Aldebert would reappear at the set time, the situation was eventually resolved with John being the rightful heir, and Aldebert would pass on to join his ancestors while the other Bauforts were confined to the dungeon, spurred on by Peewit into fighting among themselves.