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Munkholmen: Trondheim’s Island of Chains, Prayers, and Restless Dead

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The little island Munkholmen outside of Trondheim in Norway has had many haunted rumors for a long time. From an old Viking execution place to a state prison, who is still lingering there in their afterlife?

Rising quietly from the waters of the Trondheim Fjord, Munkholmen appears peaceful by day. Tour boats glide past its rounded shores, seabirds cry overhead, and the island seems little more than a picturesque landmark. But beneath this calm surface lies one of Norway’s darkest historical sites, a place shaped by execution, imprisonment, and spiritual isolation. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

For centuries, Munkholmen has carried a reputation as a haunted island where the past has never fully loosened its grip.

From Holy Ground to Place of Execution

Munkholmen’s troubled history began long before its stone walls were raised. In the early Middle Ages, the island served as a site of executions. Criminals and enemies of the crown were brought across the water and put to death, their bodies often left exposed as a warning to others on spikes. It is said that Olav Tryggvason had the heads of Earl Håkon and the slave Kark impaled here in the year 995.

Read More: Check out The Most Haunted Places on Mackinac Island in Michigan, Isla de Pedrosa – the Haunted Islandand The Haunting History of Spike Island for more ghost stories from haunted islands around the world.

Later, a Benedictine monastery Nidarholm Mariakloster was established on the island, giving Munkholmen its name as the country’s oldest monastery. The monks came seeking solitude and devotion, but even prayer could not erase the island’s grim legacy. Fires repeatedly destroyed the monastery, and many believed the land itself was cursed, soaked in blood long before the first chapel stone was laid.

The Prison Island

Munkholmen’s darkest chapter began in the 17th century, when it was transformed into a state prison and fortress. Political prisoners and criminals. Some were kept in damp underground cells where daylight never reached. Others were chained in small stone chambers, listening to the waves crash endlessly against the walls.

One of the most infamous prisoners was Count Peder Schumacher Griffenfeld, once the most powerful man in Denmark-Norway. Under Christian V he became the king’s foremost advisor and by far the de facto ruler of Denmark-Norway.

Peder Griffenfeld:Peder Griffenfeld (1635–1699) (original name Peder Schumacher ) was a Danish count and statesman, who was Chancellor of the Crown from 1673. He spent 18 years on the island in solitude and is believed to be haunting it.

Griffenfeld failed in his efforts to prevent war, and in 1675 Denmark-Norway entered into armed conflict with Sweden, the Scanian War . Various negotiations surrounding the beginning of the war and his friendliness to the French contributed to his being accused of treason and lèse-majesté .

After falling from royal favor, he was imprisoned on Munkholmen for nearly two decades. He spent his time reading, teaching children and writing small religious writings. After this, he was moved to Trondheim city, where he lived under guard for the last time, and died the following year.

Victor Hugo published the novel The Prisoner on Munkholmen in 1831 about Griffenfeld’s time in prison. Visitors and guards later claimed that his spirit never left, pacing unseen corridors long after his death.

Many prisoners died on the island from disease, exposure, or despair. Their bodies were buried nearby or cast into the sea. Over time, stories spread of anguished voices heard at night, echoing from empty cells and sealed passageways.

Ghostly Sightings and Unexplained Phenomena

Reports of hauntings on Munkholmen date back hundreds of years. Guards once spoke of shadowy figures moving along the fortress walls after sunset, disappearing when approached. Others described the sound of chains dragging across stone, even though no prisoners remained.

Some report sudden drops in temperature inside the fortress, accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of dread. Doors have been heard slamming shut on calm days, and footsteps echo where no one stands.

The story was popularized once again when the papers started to publish a picture, claiming to show the ghost roaming the island in 2008. 

Source: Tommy Skog

Tommy Skog and his son were visiting the island and was taking pictures of the prison towers where an oval hole in the wall on the first floor caught his attention. When looking at the picture, he was certain he had taken a picture of the ghost of a man, sitting in the opening. 

An Island That Never Truly Sleeps

Today, Munkholmen is a popular destination in summer, but its darker reputation persists. Locals often say the island feels different once the last boat departs and silence returns. As dusk settles, the fortress seems to watch the fjord, its thick walls holding centuries of suffering within.

Whether haunted by monks, prisoners, or those executed long before history was written down, Munkholmen remains a place where the past feels uncomfortably close. The sea may surround it, but it has never truly washed the island clean. 

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References:

Ser du spøkelset? – adressa.no

Peder Griffenfeld

Munkholmen

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The Curse of the Hítardals-Skotta

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After old friends clash after falling out, a curse is put upon the other. For generations, the Hítardals-Skotta is said to have haunted their family and village, sometimes even said to be behind their deaths. 

Once there was a priest in Hítardal called Vigfús Jónsson, the one behind the first Icelandic children’s book in the 18th century. This is a valley west of Iceland and there is a priest residence there with the same name. Hítardalur became a vicarage and was considered one of the best in the country. Many prominent priests served there, some of whom were well-known scholars. The town of Hítardalur is known for being the site of the deadliest fire in Icelandic history on 30 September 1148 where more than 70 people perished. 

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

One time, one of his closest friends from his schooldays who also worked as a priest somewhere east was accused of a crime and disrobed at the Althing parliament. It isn’t really said what kind of crime it was. 

Source

Vigfús was present in the courtroom and watched his friend be sentenced and in the end he attacked his former friend. Perhaps he was drunk, or just upset about the crimes of the friend he thought he knew. He grabbed his sleeve and the friend also became angry. 

He said: You, who was supposed to be my friend, were the first to grab my robe. You might be regarded just as well as me in the near future. 

With these words, he cursed his old friend and a Skotta was sent on his behalf as a vengeful spirit to haunt him and his family.  

Fylgur/Fylgja: The Old Norse Ghost

There were many different types of ghosts in Norse mythology and that the vikings believed in. One of them was the Fylgjur or Fylgja ghost, or Attending Spirits that we can find traces back in Iceland since the 12th century. These were originally a ghost of a very physical substance that interacted with the real world as if they were a part of it still. 

Read Also: Check out the Irish Fetch ghost, that has a huge resemblance to the norse Fylgja. 

Fylgja attached themselves to people that they haunted. They could also attach themselves to buildings or even entire towns. Many stories also talk about it being a generational haunting where the ghost decides to haunt all of the descendants of the original person it cursed. Most often the female line of the family. Perhaps because of its origin as a female spirit. 

Icelandic Ghosts and Ghouls: Fylgja or the draugr ghosts attached themselves to people that they haunted. They could also attach themselves to buildings or even entire towns. Many stories also talk about it being a generational haunting where the ghost decides to haunt all of the descendants of the original person it cursed. Most often the female line of the family. // An illustration to the Icelandic legend of the Skeleton in Hólar Church (Beinagrindin í Hólakirkju). From Icelandic Legends : Collected by Jón Arnason, illustrated by Jules Worms.

In the Fylgjur stories from the middle ages, the spirits could be a beneficial one, almost like a messenger to help with the person’s path of life, some sort of totem animal or guiding spirit. But when the folklorist of Iceland started collecting old oral tales from farmers in the 17th century, the Fylgjur ghosts had drastically changed from its pagan old norse roots, throughout time, religious belief and superstition. 

One thing that really changed was the Fylgjur’s purpose of haunting the living, and it was rarely to be of any help. Many stories talk about how they were wronged and it caused their death. They then came back to take revenge and were dangerous, even deadly. 

The Haunting Begins

After this it went all downhill for Reverend Vigfúsi who ended up not taking care of his children as they were promised to die young because of the ghost haunting them. Together with his wife,  Katrin Thordardottir, they had at least five sons and a daughter. One by one they died at the hands of the curse, materializing as a female figure with a spear on her head and a hook looking at them as they died.

This caused Reverend Vigfús and his wife a lot of grief, but nothing could be done about it as the ghost they named Skotta harmed both men and beast in Hítardal where she followed the people of the village with bright lights and ill intentions.

Female Icelandic Ghosts

One of the popular names for the female ghosts was Skotta that really means to dangle, like hair or a tail. This comes from the traditional Icelandic headwear women wore together with the Faldbúningur dresses worn since the 17th century. Except the ghosts are said to have the headgear on backwards so it streams behind her like a tail. 

The Skotta Ghost: Icelandic woman in the 18th century faldbúningur with the spaðafaldur cap that the Skotta often are described wearing.

Skotta falls under the Old Norse Mythology of a Fylgja, that were supernatural spirits that followed or latched onto people. They could be animals, they could be goddesses or come in dreams. 

But the tales of the Fylga evolved and when we read about Skotta, they were not like totem animals or someone coming with your prophecy like in the old sagas. Icelandic ghosts are often described as being not like apparitions, but in real flesh that interacted with the living. And when we read about Skotta, the female version, she was highly dangerous and also deadly.

People Chosen to be Haunted

In Reverend Vigfús’s home they had a son named Eiríkur. He grew up and never had Skotta with him and it was never noticed that Skotta followed him or any of his descendants

Eiríkur later became a clergyman at Reykholt and seemed to have been at peace. But Hítardal and the home of the priests seemed to be forever haunted. After Reverend Vigfús Jónsson’s death at 69 on 2. January in 1776, the ghost followed the place throughout time of the next tenants like Reverend Halldór and Reverend Björn, and then Reverend Björn’s sons, Ólafi in Ferjukot and Reverend Benedikt 

Especially the farmer Hannes at Hamrend in Miðdálar seems like he was particularly bothered by the ghost. Hannes was suffering from a terrible illness for a long time, which led to his death, and the Scots were supposed to have played various pranks on him. Then when Hannes died, blaming the ghost, his brothers were invited, but they left immediately and the funeral was outside, mostly at the urging of Ólaf’s wife Sigríða. 

As the funeral procession for Hannes happened, there was a worker in Hamraendi at the time called Þórhalli. He suddenly felt that his hand was being taken, and this was accompanied by such a strangeness that he became very uncomfortable and ill. From then on it seems that Þórhalli didn’t fare well, although when the first written stories about this ghost were collected, he was still alive. It seems that by then, she is starting to fade and that she has almost nothing to wear.

The Ghosts Teams Up

Once both names, Hítardals-Skotta and Hvítárvalla-Skotta, came together at a wedding. One of the invitees who was there saw that they took the food from the plates of the guests during the party without them being aware. But because the man had something with him, he wounded them both outside the door and left them standing there and you could see, but none of the few dishes were finished, and on top of that he made them spit in front of each other for mockery and laughter in front of the guests. to others. In the second time, they fought names for tricks, but it is not mentioned how that game ended.

Read also: Hvítárvellir-Skotta comes to Haunt a Family for over 120 Years

The Last Story from Hítardals-Skotta

Another live witness to this story when it first was written down was from a Margrét in Selárdal. Apparently, when you ride south from Hítardal over the so-called Bjúg, you go right by the meadows in Selárdal. Now it so happens that when one rides south from Hítardalur over the so-called Bjúgur, one passes right by the meadows in Selárdal.

One summer Benedikt, as so often before, was mowing the meadows with his people, while the livestock grazed just in front. Then he says: “Now soon someone will be coming from Hítardalur,”—something he had often been in the habit of predicting, and it had always come to pass. Immediately after he says: “I wish that she, that wretch over there, wouldn’t kill my sheep,” and at that very moment he flings away the scythe, and the sheep are startled, with one ewe leaping into the air. Benedikt runs to the river and drowns her in the stream that flows nearby, and then mutters a little over her. Did he finish the ghost off? Or perhaps she is still roaming the rugged hillsides and wanders along the windy shores?

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References:

Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri/Draugasögur/Hítardals-Skotta – Wikiheimild

Bryan—Icelandic Fylgjur Tales and a Possible Old Norse Context

Rev Vigfus Jonsson (1706–1776) • FamilySearch

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The Haunted Underground of Bern

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Have you ever noticed the underground world of the old town in Bern? Now fancy cafes and shops, there are also tales of secret passageways, hideouts and ghosts beneath the cobbled stoned city. 

When you stroll through the winding lanes of Bern’s UNESCO-listed Old Town, it’s easy to be enchanted by the medieval charm of the sandstone arcades, glacial-blue Aare, and clock towers whispering of centuries past. But beneath this orderly beauty lies a netherworld of darkness: an ancient network of tunnels, cellars, traditional wine cellars called carnotzets, and hidden passages riddled with tales of murder, sorrow, and spectral unrest.

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Most visitors to Bern barely notice these curious doors nestled flush against the cobblestones, or small hatches tucked beside storefronts on Kramgasse and Gerechtigkeitsgasse where every building has one.  Today, many serve as fashionable boutiques and cozy bars. But for every shop that thrives underground, there’s another tunnel sealed shut, padlocked, or lost to memory.

In the 20th century, some of these medieval spaces were reinforced into fallout shelters, reflecting Switzerland’s Cold War-era policy of preparing bunkers for all citizens. Some bunkers, like the massive Sonnenberg facility in Lucerne, could shelter thousands. But in Bern, the older structures hid not only from bombs—but also from the eyes of the living.

And with such hidden depths come stories, and most of them ghost stories. These are some of them penned down mostly by Hedwig Correvon by her collection of ghost stories from 1919 Gespenstergeschichten aus Bern.

Ghosts of the Buried: A House That Breathes the Past

In one Bernese residence, a long-disused underground gallery once served as a macabre burial corridor. The tradition, never officially sanctioned, was whispered only among trusted neighbors: if you had a body—a murder, a shame, or a secret—you took it to that house. Although it mentions the house was in the old town, it never specifies which streets the house was in. 

Over time, the dead grew restless.

Tenants have long complained of phantom footsteps above and below, even when they’re alone. Children whisper of pale faces at the windows. One boy, unable to sleep, claimed he could feel tiny hands pulling the covers from his bed. 

Kornhauskeller Bern: Yves Merckx/Source

A young woman reported being comforted by a blonde-haired girl during a bout of toothache, only to watch her melt away behind a stove. This blonde girl is said to have appeared to more than one tenant of the house over the years. Once, the ghost of this woman was said to have sat down in a chair to listen to a young girl practicing her piano. 

The ghosts are said to walk the galleries and courtyards, creeping through cracks in locked doors and disturbing the peace of even the most rational guests. And when a tenant dares move out because of these hauntings, the spirits rage—doors slam for days, pots fall from shelves, and windows fog with icy breath.

Father Nägeli’s Treasure: A Crypt That Tests the Brave

Many in Bern know of the treasure hidden beneath the Münzgraben, but only a few dare pursue it. To reach it, you must descend into a tight, damp passageway lined with ancient stone underground in the city. Eventually, a faint bluish light glows ahead. That’s when he appears: a snarling, spectral dog, as large as a bear and twice as angry.

Only those who know the sacred password may pass and only the ghost of Father Nägeli is said to could give the key. He is said to haunt the Frick Stairs in the old town. Read More: 

If you survive, you’ll find a gate that opens into a radiant chamber, its light casting eerie shadows over three mysterious sacks. Reach into the sacks and take a handful of earth. Then turn and leave.

But do not look back. 

Read More: The Restless Spirit of Hans Franz Nägeli: The Ghost of the Fricktreppe

Those who hesitate to find their golden treasure have turned to ash. Those who follow instructions return to the surface clutching coins of pure gold—or so they say. Most who go searching for Father Nägeli’s treasure never speak of what they find… if they return at all.

The Locked Away Girls: The Ghost in the Locked Chest

Many of Bern’s old houses once had secret tunnels leading to the Aare River, useful for transporting goods from the river banks into the city, as well as smuggling or darker deeds.

One such tunnel bore witness to an unspeakable tragedy: a young servant girl seduced by her master, then lured into a hidden chest under the kitchen and dropped into the abyss. Her body was carried away by the river. He wanted to cover their affair from his parents. The only witness was the cook who hid in a cupboard, paralyzed by fear, and haunted for life. She had suspected something was going on. She didn’t tell anyone, but waited all day for the girl to return from the tunnels. She never did, and the cook waited all her life. 

Ever since, the house remains tormented and the chest is still there, locked underground. At midnight, groans and moans can be heard throughout the house, like a ghostly wail and a cry for help.

The Children Who Dance in the Mist: The Kindlifresser’s Fountain

Few sights in Bern are more chilling than the Kindlifresserbrunnen—the infamous “Child-Eater Fountain.” Locals call it grotesque, comical, or bizarre. But its true history may be darker than art historians admit.

Legend says the fountain marks the site of a hidden tunnel between two medieval monasteries where one was for monks, one for nuns. Children born in shame, secrecy, or sin were said to be led into this tunnel and lost forever.

The Mysterious Underground Tunnels: All around Bern, it is said underground tunnels down to the Aare river is built, some more hidden and secret than others. This is especially prominent on Kornhausplatz. // Source: Image from 1939:FORTEPAN / Ebner

Some say their cries can still be heard in the fog of Kornhausplatz, especially when the mist wells up between the stones at midnight. And then… they emerge.

Read More: Kindlifresserbrunnen and the Ghosts of the Discarded Children Beneath Bern 

Dressed in flowing white, the ghost children dance—flitting between fountains, pausing by shuttered shopfronts, or sitting silently on cellar steps. For an hour, they play and laugh, seeking one another in joy. But when the final bell tolls one, they vanish back beneath the ogre’s feet—to wait for next time.

Witnesses speak of tiny handprints on cellar windows, giggling voices in empty corridors, and chills that have nothing to do with the weather. Are they still haunting the underground though? The Kornhauskeller at Kornhausplatz 18 is Bern’s most magnificent vaulted cellar and a popular restaurant and bar. 

The Françaisbad: The Aare’s Mourning Wind

High above the bends of the Aare, near the former spa and bath house called Françaisbad, the wind howls in a peculiar way. Where this Françaisbad was exactly is a bit uncertain. Those who listen say it cries out the names of men seduced, robbed, and murdered by the enigmatic Frenchwoman who once ran a decadent spa here.

The bathhouse was rumored to be a haven for crime: gambling, trysts, and betrayal flourished behind closed doors. But it ended in blood. The Frenchwoman  disappeared herself in the end, her body pushed through a secret trapdoor into a tunnel that led straight to the river. Her victims, many of them noblemen, now weep in the wind, some say.

At night, shadows move across the river’s surface. Lights appear in rooms that have no electricity. And when the Aare floods, locals say it’s because the dead cannot rest.

Echoes in the Underground Stone

Bern’s tunnels and cellars may now hold boutiques, wine bars, and galleries. But their walls are thick with centuries of silence, punctuated by shame, cruelty, and sorrow.

Some stories serve as warnings. Others linger as memory. All of them remind us that beneath every step on Bern’s clean, cobbled streets, there is a shadow. Beneath every cellar arch, a whisper. As Above, so Below. 

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    Where the Nydegg Church is today, there once used to be a castle. Tales about ghosts lingering around the old Nydegg Castle and the stairs leading up to it still roams. And one of the more infamous and feared ghosts of Bern is the Burgträppe-Balzli.
  • The Wailing Spirit of Old Beaupre Castle
    The Haunted Ruins of Beaupre Castle in Wales is one of the places in Wales said to have been haunted by the wailing spirit and deadly omen of the The Gwrach y Rhibyn, also known as the Hag of Mist.

References:

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11873/vergrabene-gespenster

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11883/der-unterirdische-schatz

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11871/von-unterirdischen-gaengen

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11866/der-kindlifresserbrunnen

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11847/vom-francaisbad

https://bern.com/en/news/stories-and-recommendations/the-most-beautiful-vaulted-cellars-in-bern?srsltid=AfmBOoqBellWKTWIbHqcg8XIrd6WHyln1yyoe2F9TGm2HH2AhxnOgkAo

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The Ghost From the Mounds of Finnbogastaðir

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Buried in the mounds of the Icelandic landscape, a murdered shepherd came back from the dead as a Draugr or perhaps a Haugbúi ghost to haunt the people living at Finnbogastaðir farm.

The ghost story was published in the book Icelandic Folktales and Adventures (1862) and supposedly it all happened 40 years prior to publishing. 

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

The author had heard mention of various ridges and mounds here in the district where people say that something “unclean” or haunted lingered in them, and it was thought to show itself most of all in the farm mound at Finnbogastaðir about forty years ago (the mound on which the farm stands). 

Finnbogastaðir is a farm in Árneshreppur, Westfjords, a remote place of rugged coastline, dramatic mountains, and picturesque bays. Finnbogastaðir is a farm of considerable historical importance that traces itself back to the first settlement of Iceland during the Viking Age.

A farmer named Halldór once lived at Finnbogastaðir, but later moved his household to Reykjarfjörður. While he lived at Finnbogastaðir, in a fit of anger he once killed a shepherd boy who was with him, and buried him in the farm mound. Few stories went around about how the boy had died, since people did not press much after such small matters in those days. 

The Nordic Draugr Ghosts and the Haugbúi (mound-dweller)

The Draugr of Icelandic folklore is one of the most feared undead beings in Norse tradition, often described as a malevolent ghost or revenant that clings to its burial mound or roams the living world with violent intent. Unlike the pale, ethereal spirits of later European folklore, the Draugr is corporeal—corpse-like, bloated, and often imbued with supernatural strength. Legends tell of Draugar (plural) crushing their victims, shapeshifting into monstrous animals, or spreading death through pestilence and madness. They were thought to guard treasures buried with them, punishing grave-robbers with terrifying force. Some tales even describe them as growing larger with every breath, an unstoppable presence embodying the fear of restless death and the corruption of the grave. Their origins lie in the belief that those who were greedy, cruel, or unwilling to leave the mortal world could rise again to torment the living.

Closely related, though often portrayed as less aggressive, is the Haugbúi, or “mound-dweller,” a type of ghost bound to its burial site, often mounds in the wild. Unlike the roaming Draugr, the Haugbúi typically remains within or near its grave, emerging only to guard its resting place and treasures. These beings were often seen as the lingering spirits of chieftains or warriors, bound to their burial mounds through strong ties of pride, greed, or unfinished duty. Farmers and villagers avoided disturbing such mounds for fear of awakening the spirit within, which could strike with sudden, spectral fury. The Haugbúi embodies the deep Norse respect for the land of the dead—where burial mounds were not merely graves but thresholds between worlds. Together, the Draugr and the Haugbúi reveal a haunting aspect of Norse belief: that death was not always a peaceful passage, and that the restless dead could remain tethered to the living, their presence a chilling reminder of mortality and vengeance beyond the grave.

The Killed Shepherd Comes Bach to Haunt

Many years later, Magnús Guðmundsson, the district officer who died four years before the publishing of the collection of ghost stories this legend featured in, lived at Finnbogastaðir. Magnús was the son of Guðmundur Bjarnason and did not originally believe in magic and ghost stories but changed his mind after his experiences. 

He built a smithy close by the farm and cut out some sods from that mound in which the boy had been buried. His mother, who was with him then, old and very feeble, was greatly alarmed when she heard of these actions of her son, and said that some evil would come of it, for nowhere could he have cut sods in a worse place.

The very next night a ghost came to Magnús where he lay in his bed, and it seized so firmly on his feet that he was hurt by it and was half-ill the next day. The following night the ghost came again to Magnús and was then still stronger; it seized him by the thighs and elsewhere so that Magnús fell sick afterward. The night after that the ghost came once more to Magnús, seized him by the throat, and was nearly finished strangling him where he lay in bed above his wife. He lay long sick after this and was never the same in voice again, for when he spoke it always sounded as if someone were pressing lightly on his throat.

When these three nights were past and Magnús had fallen sick with fear and dread, people began to think badly of it. But fortunately there was a man in the household named Jón, who was somewhat skilled according to everyone’s report. He was then asked to drive this apparition away, and he was very willing to try it, though he said it would be most difficult. He had the house closed, every door signed with a cross, and planned to seize the ghost and press him so that he would leave the farmer in peace. But the ghost was so quick that Jón could by no means seize him. Then Jón took the plan of opening a window in the living-room and was able to drive the ghost out through it, then ran outside after him and meant to attack him there. But by then the ghost had become so afraid of Jón that he fled before him, and Jón chased him out past the land boundaries of the farm, and there they parted. The ghost has not since been seen at Finnbogastaðir.

But as for the ghost, it went straight to Reykjarfjörður, where the descendants of old Halldór were then living, and that very night went into the cowshed there and killed a cow. After that he has done no great harm, but until recently he has followed people of that family.

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References:

Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri/Draugasögur/Draugurinn á Finnbogastöðum – Wikiheimild

Family of Magnús GUÐMUNDSSON and Guðrún JÓNSDÓTTIR 

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Kindlifresserbrunnen and the Ghosts of the Discarded Children Beneath Bern

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Around the terrifying statue of the Kindlifressenbrunnen devouring children, young ghosts are said to haunt like a misty night. Said to be the unwanted babies taken out of the city through the underground tunnels, they return to the scene of the crime. 

In Bern’s Old Town, at the bustling Kornhausplatz, looms a fountain so macabre it stops tourists in their tracks. The Kindlifresserbrunnen, or “Child Eater Fountain,” is not a modern shock piece as it was sculpted in 1546 by Hans Gieng and has towered over the city ever since. The grotesque ogre atop the fountain devours a helpless infant, while three more terrified children peer from a sack slung over his shoulder. He is not merely hungry, but also ravenous, mythic, and perhaps, haunted.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

The grotesque statue has long puzzled historians. Was it a cautionary tale, an ancient anti-Semitic symbol, a grim representation of Kronos the child-eating Titan, or even a mad royal brother driven to cannibalistic fury by envy? None of these theories fully explain the disturbing permanence of the Kindlifresser. And the legend doesn’t end at the statue’s base. Beneath this horrifying figure lies a deeper darkness, etched not in stone, but in whisper and shadow.

Ogre Fountain: The Kindlifressenbrunnen literally means the Child Devour Fountain. There are many legends surrounding it, one being that the area around it is haunted, // Source: Andrew Bossi /Wiki

The Underground Tunnels around Kornhausplatz

Long before Bern’s medieval walls rose around it, the site of the Kindlifresserbrunnen was an open meadow, bordered by monasteries. One for men, another for women. There were in fact many places where both nuns and monks lived and worked throughout the city. According to local legend, a hidden tunnel once connected the two. But this passageway around the Kornhausplatz, locals say, was also used for a far grimmer purpose.

Read Also: The Haunted Underground of Bern

In the early days of the city, unwanted children, those born in secret or shame were led or left into the darkness of the tunnel, never to be seen again. It’s said that they were the children of the monks and nuns and those brought to them as well as those that were brought to them. 

The Mysterious Underground Tunnels: All around Bern, it is said underground tunnels down to the Aare river is built, some more hidden and secret than others. This is especially prominent on Kornhausplatz. // Source: Image from 1939:FORTEPAN / Ebner

Over time, the stories grew: that the cries of these forsaken little ones echoed beneath the cobblestones, and that their spirits still lingered, trapped between life and death.

The Children Who Dance in the Mist

As Bern’s mist thickens and the bells chime midnight, these ghost children are said to emerge from the earth. For one fleeting hour, they are no longer shadows. Locals speak in hushed tones of ethereal figures dancing in the swirling fog, their laughter mingling with the creak of old shutters and the murmur of the river and around Kornhausplatz.

A fine, white mist wells up between the stones, spreads gently, quietly over the ground, begins to billow, to undulate, gathers into tiny cloud formations, and dissolves again into a thin veil. And little by little, small human figures in flowing white dresses emerge from it. Like white butterflies, they flutter up and down, landing now on this spot, now on that, seeking in playful play to catch one another, to flee.

Then, as the final bell tolls one, they vanish—drawn back into the cold stone below the ogre’s feet.

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References:

Geisterstadt Bern – SWI swissinfo.ch 

Der Kindlifresserbrunnen | Märchenstiftung

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The Ghost of the Deep: The Legend of Blåmannen at Blaafarveværket

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The haunting of the Blue man, or Blåmannen at the cobalt mine, Modum Blaafarveværk in Norway has been told for ages now. What truly lies inside the darkness of the mines?

Blaafarveværket was Norway’s largest mine and also Norway’s largest industrial enterprise in the first half of the 19th century and is the largest and best-preserved mining museum in Europe. Could it be that it’s also one of the most haunted ones?

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

Far inside the old cobalt mines of Blaafarveværket in Modum, a figure has been reported for nearly two centuries. The tunnels once rang with the strikes of hammers and the clatter of ore carts as workers extracted the cobalt-rich stone used to make the famous deep blue pigment. But beneath the sweat and industry lurked a story every miner knew: the warning spirit called Blåmannen.

Roger Pihl.

A Shadow in Uniform Haunting the Deep Mines

Blåmannen (The Blue Man) was said to appear wearing a miner’s uniform, his lamp burning with an uncanny, bluish glow. He never spoke. He simply showed himself before the disaster. Miners claimed he emerged from the darker shafts just moments before a collapse, his presence a silent signal to get out while there was still time. Those who saw him whispered that he looked more resigned than frightening, as if burdened with a duty he could not escape.

According to Kai Hunstadbråten’s article, “The Blue Man in the Rock at Modum“, the Blue Man is also said to have been called “Hans med knappene” (Hans with the buttons), due to the Blue Man’s uniform. Hunstadbråten also claims that the miners called one of the open pits at Nordgruvene “The Blue Man’s Mine”.

The Miner’s Demon: The element cobalt got its name from a mythical rock demon, a kind of gnome-like creature, who terrorized miners in German mines. German miners traveled to Norway in the 15th and 17th centuries to work in Norwegian mines. Agricala described, among other things, a rock demon from the silver mines of Annaberg in present-day Germany, with “wild eyes and a long neck like a horse.” This demon is said to have killed 12 miners simply by breathing on them. The German mining demons probably joined the crossing, but had difficulty gaining a foothold among the Norwegian workers. Norway had its own traditions of underground mines, plots and pits.

Another miner who claimed to have met the Blue Man was Hans Simen Røtter. He also worked in the cobalt mines in the 19th century. One story goes: 

“Once when Hans Simen Røtter was burning a log at Norsgruva […] a blue man came to him […] and asked him to go out, because the mine was not safe. But Røtter now wanted to set the fire first, and would not go. Then the blue man came back one or two more times and almost threatened him to go, and no sooner had he come out than the log collapsed.”

The Christmas Collapse of 1854

The most chilling encounter came in December 1854. Seven workers entered a narrow tunnel, unaware that the supports had grown dangerously unstable. Deep inside, Blåmannen appeared before them, striding toward them with urgency. Only when he pointed toward the exit and shoved the lead worker backward did they grasp the danger. The men fled in a panic, but the last of them was buried under the collapse. The sole survivor was the one who had been pushed away first.

It was December 13th and Christmas was coming. Miner Ole Torstensen noticed that a fox was following him on his way to the mines. This omen could mean a sudden death, but what was he to do? The boss was not going to give him the day off just because of superstition. Legend has it that several workers saw the Blue Man that day, and that birds pecking ominously at the windows of the sugar house where the workers slept. Ole Bøenstøa was also going to work that day, and perhaps he and Ole Torstensen mentioned the omens to each other as they set off down the mine shaft to work. It was so narrow that the eight workers had to walk in a single file.

When they had gone a little way in, a shadowy man suddenly came towards them. He was dressed in a blue miner’s uniform and held an oil lamp in his hand. The blue man looked at them and pointed towards the exit, which if he wanted them to turn around. But the miners didn’t stop. The blue man disappeared, but it wasn’t long before he reappeared and wanted them out. This time they couldn’t be persuaded either.

The miners were now restless. For the third and final time, the Blue Man appeared in the darkness. This time he went straight for the first worker in line and tried to push him out of the mine. They realized that this was a warning they had to heed, but by then it was too late. The mine began to collapse around them.

People outside heard the terrifying roar. The oldest miners quickly realized what had happened. A landslide! When the masses of rock had settled, they could hear the trapped workers’ desperate cries for help. They managed to pull three men alive from the landslide, but one of them died afterwards. Five men were found dead. One of them was Ole Torstensen. Ole Bøenstøa came out of the incident unharmed, even though the two were standing right next to each other when the landslide came. Was it the Blue Man who saved Bøenstøa, while the encounter with the fox made Torstensen’s fateful day?

From that day on, Blåmannen was no longer seen as a guardian spirit. He became a grim omen, a ghost tied to death and ruin whether he wished it or not.

Where Did Blåmannen Come From?

After the Napoleonic Wars, the enterprise was taken over by the private owners Benjamin Wegner and Baron Benecke with Wegner as director, and their ownership period from 1822–1848 is known as the works’ heyday, and possible when the rumours about Blåmannen emerged. 

One of the oldest written sources though, sets the emergence of Blåmannen to the late 1840s when a man retold a story in a newspaper called Buskeruds Blad from 1903, only signed O:

Mother often told me about an incident that happened at one of the Blaafarveværket’s pits at Modum in the late 1840s, when a man by the name of Røtter, who worked in the so-called Nordpit, was alerted in a miraculous way, so he avoided being crushed by the collapsing pit.

At night he was busy in one of tunnels burning “Stull”. The fire blazed bright and cast its shine through the dark Tunnels. Røtter stands with his back to the fire and warms himself, when a young man comes up to him from one of the side passages of the pits and says: “You must get out quickly”.

Røtter was amazed at the young man’s appearance, when he knew that there was not a human being besides himself in the pit that night.

He replied: “No, I cannot do that.” The figure disappears, but comes back after a few minutes and says to him: “Yes, now you must go”. Røtter then replied again: “No, I can’t; I have to take care of the fire and can’t leave my post”.

The figure disappears, but immediately comes back, goes right up to him, follows him to the ladder and says: “Now get up”.

He ran up the ladder as fast as he could, and then went into a nearby chair room and sat down on a bench. But he had hardly sat down before he heard a huge bang, and the ground shook. Right after there is another bang, more violent than the first, the door bursts open, and he thought the mine was collapsing.

Now it was quiet. He began to wonder what had happened, but did not dare to go out; he wanted to wait until morning. Then he came down to my parents and told them what had happened that night. When people came to the mine in the morning, the whole tunnel where he had been working had collapsed and were the banging sounds he had been hearing.

Who was the mysterious young man who made him leave the pit, so that his life was saved at the last moment? In the mines, as mentioned before, there was no one but himself. The figure was a handsome, young man, wearing blue clothes with a cut, which was not used around there.

When I read some pieces in your magazine about “Visions and Omens” some time ago, I thought of writing down what Mother has told me so many times.

Was it a Warning?

– O.

The Warning Still Stands

Even now, visitors to Blaafarveværket sometimes speak of a dim blue light flickering deep within the closed tunnels or the sound of footsteps pacing in shafts that have been empty for generations. Guides tell the old legend quietly, and with a gravity that suggests they believe every word.

One thing remains constant in the stories. If you ever glimpse Blåmannen standing in the dark with his lamp raised, do not hesitate.

Run.

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References:

Buskeruds Blad, fredag 25. desember 1903

Halloween spesial – Blaafarveværket

DØDENS BUDBRINGER i koboltgruvene på Modum – Issuu

Blaafarveværket – Wikipedia

Ukategorisert

Móhúsa-Skotta and her Haunting Companions in the Cold Winter Nights

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After dying a cold winter night, a young girl died and rose as the terrifying ghost now known as Móhúsa-Skotta. Together with her companions she was said to be behind terrible accidents, and even deaths.

A ghost said to have plagued Iceland for ages as well as teaming up with other ghosts to create havoc, the legend about the Móhúsa-Skotta has become one of the more well known ghosts in Iceland. 

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

Móhús is a small farm in the Stokkseyri district of Eyrarbakki on the south coast of Iceland. Jón ríki Þórðarson (Jón the rich) lived close to the small fishing village. He was famous in the South for his wealth in the late 18th century, and also being the target for the haunting said to be going on in the neighborhood. 

When Jón was young, he was very poor, but grew incredibly rich with little money when he managed to buy land at a very low price only a year after coming to Stokkseyri. Because of how quickly he went from rags to riches, people started to think he had made a deal with the devil to get rich and there is a completely separate legend about some magical pants made of human skin that gave him the money.

But let’s focus on the night the haunting started. Jón first lived in Refstokkur near Ferjunes (Óseyrarnes). At the time when the story was written down in the 19th century, it was deserted. 

One night, a young girl came to him and asked for a place to stay the night. No one knows who she was, where she came from or where she was going. The wind was howling, the night was black and she was both hungry and cold. Jón turned her away and she had to spend the night outside in the cold. She died this night, but although her mortal life was ending, another haunted one was just about to start. After her death, she walked back to Jón’s house and followed him for a long time as a ghost haunting him known as Móhúsa-Skotta.

Female Icelandic Ghosts

One of the popular names for the female ghosts was Skotta that really means to dangle, like hair or a tail. This comes from the traditional Icelandic headwear women wore together with the Faldbúningur dresses worn since the 17th century. Except the ghosts are said to have the headgear on backwards so it streams behind her like a tail. 

The Skotta Ghost: Icelandic woman in the 18th century faldbúningur with the spaðafaldur cap that the Skotta often are described wearing.

Skotta falls under the Old Norse Mythology of a Fylgja, that were supernatural spirits that followed or latched onto people. They could be animals, they could be goddesses or come in dreams. 

But the tales of the Fylga evolved and when we read about Skotta, they were not like totem animals or someone coming with your prophecy like in the old sagas. Icelandic ghosts are often described as being not like apparitions, but in real flesh that interacted with the living. And when we read about Skotta, the female version, she was highly dangerous and also deadly.

Icelandic Ghosts and Ghouls: Fylgja or the draugr ghosts attached themselves to people that they haunted. They could also attach themselves to buildings or even entire towns. Many stories also talk about it being a generational haunting where the ghost decides to haunt all of the descendants of the original person it cursed. Most often the female line of the family. // An illustration to the Icelandic legend of the Skeleton in Hólar Church (Beinagrindin í Hólakirkju). From Icelandic Legends : Collected by Jón Arnason, illustrated by Jules Worms.

The Ghost that Followed

She was called Móhúsa-Skotta because of the place where she haunted, and spent her time tormenting him and playing tricks on him as revenge. After Jón moved west to Móhús, she spoiled everything for him as much as she could and killed livestock both for him and others right in front of him. 

She was so close to him that she gnawed apart one by one the socks on his hamstrings and the laces of his shoes, and it was to such an extent that even though he put on new socks in the morning, they were in pieces by evening. 

At the same time, Jón only wore short ties or strings around his neck as it was said that he did it so that Móhúsa-Skotta would be less likely to strangle him because she would grab the string, not his throat.

It was also attributed to Móhúsa-Skotta that she had made a man go insane in broad daylight in Ranakoti in Stokkseyri. He was found dead and strangled there in a well nearby. Still, they thought of her as tolerable until she teamed up with Sels-Móri, another local ghost that was sort of said to have been her husband.

The Sels-Móri Teams upp with Skotta

In Eyrarbakki in Árnessýsla there is a ghost called Sels-Móri.A Móri is a male ghost in Iceland. When a male is raised from the dead for such a purpose like vengeance, he is not called a ghost, but a Móri. Often the term Fylgja ghost was used interchangeably with the Draug ghost. The female version of this vengeful ghost was called Skotta. Móri means rust brown in Icelandic and the ghosts were named so because of the color of their clothes.

A man named Einar lived in Borg in Hraunshverfi in the late 18th century. He used to give shelter to boys who had come wandering like many other people at that time from the east of Skaftafellsýsla after the Skaftá Fire raged there. This is a multi-year eruption of the volcanic system that began on June 8, 1783. 

It was winter, but when one of the boys asked for lodging, Einar turned him away, just as Jon had once done to the little girl. The boy was both hungry and poorly clothed and stayed outside during the winter night not far from Borg. The next morning he was found dead in a pond or ravine called Skersflóð. 

Although the boy was properly buried, it gradually became clear that he followed Einar and his descendants. It is said in particular that he followed Þuríð and Salgerði, Einar’s sisters’ daughters who lived in Efraseli for a long time. Because he was there the longest, he is called Sels-Móri. 

Read More: Sels-Móri in this story has the same name as another unfortunate soul who ended up haunting for generations. Check out The Sels-Móri or Ghost of Þorgarður Haunting for Generations for the whole story.

Who became a ghost first is uncertain, but when they found each other and teamed up, havoc and unrest ensued. It is not mentioned that he killed any men while he was alone in the heat before he came to the throne of Móhúsa-Skotta as mentioned earlier. 

Sels-Móri and Móhúsa-Skotta Takes Tomas With Them

One winter a man named Tómás in Norðurkot on Eyrarbakki went east to Stokkseyri for Christmas. For the feast he bought smoked meat and by nightfall he was heading home, but stopped somewhere along the way for some reason. 

The next morning he was found dead, dismembered, blue and bloody. He was found in Arnhólma, not far from where Sels-Móri had originally died from exposure. Because he was found ripped to pieces, all blue and bloody, the villagers thought that Sels-Móri and Móhúsa-Skotta had made up their minds to make him like them. 

After that, people saw the three ghosts traveling where before there were only the two, Sels-Móri and Móhúsa-Skotta, and people believed that Tómás had become their third companion. People of Stokkseyri never wanted to go out after twilight in fear of encountering one of the three ghosts that were tormenting the living. Besides, no one wanted to become the fourth ghost. 

Móhúsa-Jón felt the need to intervene in this as far as Móhúsa-Skotta was concerned, who was always considered the worst of the three and was haunting the place because of his actions. He had to get rid of them somehow. 

The Exorcism of the Ghosts

That winter Móhúsa-Jón wrote to Jón Magnússon who worked as a farmer at Þykkvabæjarklaustri, a 10th century cloister. The monastery, which was of the Augustinian order, survived until the Reformation and was long wealthy and influential.

Although the monastery was closed off for centuries already, Jón Magnússon tended the land and knew a thing or two about these kinds of hauntings and how to get rid of them. He was offered thirty government rigsdaler to come from the farm at Eyrarbakki and end the haunting. 

Móhúsa-Jón paid him half of the prize in advance when he arrived and Jón Magnússon set out to vanquish the ghosts. During that trip, it is believed that Cloister-Jón managed to destroy or exorcize Móhúsa-Skotta and Tómási, because they were never seen on Eyrarbakki after that. 

However, some say that Cloister-Jón took Móhúsa-Skotta east with him, and she almost drowned him and all the crew members who at that time were being transported across the Þjórsá on the Sandhóla ferry. But Cloister-Jón claimed that Móhúsa-Skotta really had been eradicated during his mission. 

But he didn’t manage to do anything about Sels-Móri and because of this, Móhúsa-Jón did not initially want to pay him the remaining half of the salary. According to Cloister-Jón, Sels-Móri was nowhere to be found and that his good name should be enough to believe his words. Móhúsa-Jón didn’t care about all of it anymore, or at least wanted it all over and paid him, although they parted with it no more than contentedly and never reconciled.

But what happened with Sels-Móri? There are those that say that he didn’t get cleansed from the earth and people say that he is alone wandering around Bakkann, howling in the cold wind that killed him, knocking on doors, asking if anyone is willing to let him in. .

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References:

Móhúsa-Skotta – An Icelandic Ghost Story | Your Friend in Reykjavik 

https://cleasby-vigfusson-dictionary.vercel.app/word/skotta

Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri/Draugasögur/Móhúsa-Skotta – Wikiheimild

Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri/Draugasögur/Sels-Móri – Wikiheimild 

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The Haunting of the Frick Stairs: Bern’s Processions of Death and Ghosts of Murderesses

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There is not a single ghost story about the Frick Stairs in Bern, there is a plethora. Tales of women murdering their children and horrible funeral processions that left the spectators in shock is said to have walked up and down the steps for centuries. 

Between the Matte district and the cathedral heights, the old and wooden Frick Stairs in Bern appear to be nothing more than another steep passageway of stone steps, worn by centuries of footsteps. By day, they are ordinary, a shortcut for locals overlooking the Aare River coming down to the river from Münsterplatz. But when the city quiets and the cathedral clock strikes midnight, the stairs reveal their darker legacy. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

Where Munsterplatz turns into Herrengasse, at number 1, is the Fricktreppe, a covered wooden staircase, connecting the upper town with the Matte district. The staircase, with its 183 wooden steps, dates back to the 14th century. Ghostly processions, murdered children, and restless spirits are said to haunt this narrow stairway, where Bern’s sins of cruelty and bloodshed play out again and again.

Source

The Funeral Procession of the Mutilated

Perhaps the most told ghost stories from these particular stairs is about The Restless Spirit of Hans Franz Nägeli, so check out the legend about him and who he was in life. He is certainly not the only ghost said to linger on the steps however, although the others remain nameless and largely forgotten. . 

One of the most chilling stories tells of a laundress returning home at midnight after a shift of ironing. As she climbed the Frick Stairs, she was suddenly surrounded by a silent funeral procession. A policeman led the way, followed by six bearers carrying a black coffin. Behind them came four children with horribly mutilated heads, and then followed an endless line of what she described as twisted dwarves and cripples, limping and staggering forward in silence. 

The parade of the grotesque seemed to go on forever, filling the stairway with a suffocating terror. The laundress let out a scream and collapsed, later falling into a fever that consumed her for months. And although there are stories about strange funeral processions that have been seen around Bern, this certainly 

The Woman With the Severed Head

Another tale tells of a poor musician making his way down the stairs at midnight on his way to his lodgings. There, he encountered a young woman in peasant dress, but her head was gone. Instead, she carried it tucked beneath her arm, while bats whirled and screeched in the bloody space where her head should have been. Horrified, the musician fled to an inn in the Matte and told his story. A story that was according to these sources, a well known one for the locals. 

They told him that the woman was the ghost of an executed murderess who was convicted of infanticide, condemned to roam forever with the souls of her slain children, who took the form of bats. But as the story would have it, she was apparently not the only woman haunting the stairs because of murdering children. 

Source

The Woman in White Murdering her Child

On other nights, witnesses have reported seeing a pale, slender woman in white, drifting up the steps with a child by her hand. Both child and mother are said to wear dresses trailing behind them. Could this be the same woman said to wander the stairs with her head under her arms? The two stories have certainly the same reason for the haunting. 

The two move in silence, the hems of their long dresses brushing the stone. They vanish through a doorway in the old monastery wall, but just before disappearing, the woman stops. She turns to her child, gazes at it for a long, dreadful moment, and then twists the child’s head until it snaps. A scream echoes through the night, followed by silence. When horrified onlookers rush to the spot, nothing remains. 

Some claim the woman was the disgraced daughter of a nobleman, cursed to reenact her unspeakable crime for eternity. Could there be two separate ghosts accused of infacide? Or is it the root of the haunting based on the same horrible tragedy? Truth will perhaps never be known completely, and all we have to speculate on are stories and rumors. 

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References:

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11865/ein-schauerlicher-leichenzug

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11490/ein-leichenzug

P. Keckeis, M. Waibel, Legends of Switzerland. Bern, Zurich 1986.

Hedwig Correvon, Ghost Stories from Bern, Langnau 1919

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Skinnpilsa Haunting Miklabær

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The deep and northern valley and fjords of Skagafjörður is said to have been haunted by more than one ghost. One of them was called Skinnpilsa and was sent to torment a man after he broke a promise. 

Hallur, the father of Dean Jón Hallsson of Miklabær, lived for a long time at Geldingaholt farm in Skagafjörður, a deep fjord and valley at the north of Iceland. The Sturlunga Saga mentions a bloody battle there in 1255 during the power struggle between the alliances of the chieftains of the country, which led to the loss of independence in 1262. The place is said to be haunted, perhaps even to this day by a female ghost called Skinnpilsa. 

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

He had earlier been betrothed to a young woman in the West, but broke his promise to her. Because of this, her relatives sent Hallur a female ghost. She wore red stockings and a leather skirt, and for that reason she was called Skinnpilsa (“Leather-Skirt”).

Fylgur/Fylgja: The Old Norse Ghost

There were many different types of ghosts in Norse mythology and that the vikings believed in. One of them was the Fylgjur or Fylgja ghost, or Attending Spirits that we can find traces back in Iceland since the 12th century. These were originally a ghost of a very physical substance that interacted with the real world as if they were a part of it still. 

Read Also: Check out the Irish Fetch ghost, that has a huge resemblance to the norse Fylgja. 

Fylgja attached themselves to people that they haunted. They could also attach themselves to buildings or even entire towns. Many stories also talk about it being a generational haunting where the ghost decides to haunt all of the descendants of the original person it cursed. Most often the female line of the family. Perhaps because of its origin as a female spirit. 

Icelandic Ghosts and Ghouls: Fylgja or the draugr ghosts attached themselves to people that they haunted. They could also attach themselves to buildings or even entire towns. Many stories also talk about it being a generational haunting where the ghost decides to haunt all of the descendants of the original person it cursed. Most often the female line of the family. // An illustration to the Icelandic legend of the Skeleton in Hólar Church (Beinagrindin í Hólakirkju). From Icelandic Legends : Collected by Jón Arnason, illustrated by Jules Worms.

In the Fylgjur stories from the middle ages, the spirits could be a beneficial one, almost like a messenger to help with the person’s path of life, some sort of totem animal or guiding spirit. But when the folklorist of Iceland started collecting old oral tales from farmers in the 17th century, the Fylgjur ghosts had drastically changed from its pagan old norse roots, throughout time, religious belief and superstition. 

One thing that really changed was the Fylgjur’s purpose of haunting the living, and it was rarely to be of any help. Many stories talk about how they were wronged and it caused their death. They then came back to take revenge and were dangerous, even deadly. 

Female Icelandic Ghosts

One of the popular names for the female ghosts was Skotta that really means to dangle, like hair or a tail. This comes from the traditional Icelandic headwear women wore together with the Faldbúningur dresses worn since the 17th century. Except the ghosts are said to have the headgear on backwards so it streams behind her like a tail. 

The Skotta Ghost: Icelandic woman in the 18th century faldbúningur with the spaðafaldur cap that the Skotta often are described wearing.

Skotta falls under the Old Norse Mythology of a Fylgja, that were supernatural spirits that followed or latched onto people. They could be animals, they could be goddesses or come in dreams. 

But the tales of the Fylga evolved and when we read about Skotta, they were not like totem animals or someone coming with your prophecy like in the old sagas. Icelandic ghosts are often described as being not like apparitions, but in real flesh that interacted with the living. And when we read about Skotta, the female version, she was highly dangerous and also deadly.

The Haunting of Skinnpilsa

She roamed widely through Skagafjörður, but had her main dwelling place at Geldingaholt, where she tormented Hallur badly night and day, and no one was able to get rid of her. That is also the main reason she was named after the place Hallur was from, and not where she mainly haunted like most other Skotta’s

Read Also: Another ghost story set in Miklabær, Skagafjörður and named after the place is The Tragic Tale of Miklabæjar-Solveig

She also haunted his people working for him and especially one girl had it worse. She came to her mostly in dreams though. Once she told her that she wanted to see the poet Níels but that it would not be easy because she was afraid of him. The girl said that she could see him somewhere where he could not see her.

Then Níels, who was called “the poet,” undertook a journey and visited Hallur at Geldingaholt. There isn’t really much information about who this poet actually was, or if he actually existed though. 

He stayed there three nights without any sign of her. On the fourth evening, around sunset, Níels sat opposite the entrance to the main room and saw Skinnpilsa come into the passage. He began to recite verses, and Skinnpilsa slipped into the wall, with Níels following after her. No one ever knew how that struggle ended, but Níels returned, and Skinnpilsa was never seen again.

Some say that the poet managed to place her in a pit below the farm, but it has been haunted ever since.

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References:

Ísmús | Skinnpilsa

Skinnpilsa II

Geldingaholt – Wikipedia

GELDINGAHOLT – NAT

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The Restless Spirit of Hans Franz Nägeli: The Ghost of the Fricktreppe

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An old staircase in Bern, Switzerland is said to hold an old legend. Hans Franz Nägeli, a former leader of the city is said to haunt the Fricktreppe in the Old Town, appearing to those calling out his name thrice. 

High above the winding banks of the Aare River, in the heart of Bern’s storied Old Town, stands the Fricktreppe, a picturesque, covered wooden staircase that leads from Münsterplatz down to the river’s edge. 

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

Hidden among the cobbled streets and steep medieval passageways, the Frick Staircase feels like a place suspended in time. And for some in Bern, the stairs are reportedly haunted by one of the city’s most infamous spirits: the ghost of former city leader, Hans Franz Nägeli.

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A Mayor, a Warrior, a Tormented Soul

Hans Franz Nägeli was born around 1497 and rose to great prominence as a military commander and politician. His most famous accomplishment was the 1536 conquest of Vaud, expanding Bernese territory deep into French-speaking lands. But despite his victories and public service, something seems to have followed him beyond the grave.

Hans Franz Nägeli: (c. 1497 – 9 January 1579) was a Swiss politician, military leader and diplomat who was a prominent force in Bern for four decades. He was the Schultheiß, or the chief magistrate, of Bern from 1540 to 1568.

When Nägeli died in 1579, his name was already legendary. Yet, in the centuries that followed, whispers began to spread that his spirit never found rest. Locals say that Nägeli, once a man of power and control, is now a restless presence wandering the Fricktreppe where his soul is said to still be bound to the city he ruled and fought for. 

The Haunted Fricktreppe

Where Munsterplatz turns into Herrengasse, at number 1, is the Fricktreppe, a covered wooden staircase, connecting the upper town with the Matte district. The staircase, with its 183 wooden steps, dates back to the 14th century.

Though the Fricktreppe is charming by day with its covered wooden roof, age-worn steps, and atmospheric views of the river below, it takes on an entirely different air at night. The creaking boards, the rustle of wind through ancient timbers, and the eerie silence of the Aare below all contribute to a deep sense of unease. Locals have reported feeling watched when passing through after dark, and a few even claim to have heard boots pacing steadily above them, echoing down through centuries.

As the legend goes, Nägeli’s ghost appears to those bold enough to summon him. According to an old urban legend passed through generations of Bernese youth, if you stand at the base of the Fricktreppe at precisely midnight and call out “Vater Nägeli” three times, the mayor’s spirit will descend the stairs from the top, cloaked in darkness.

A story tells of two women who were in great need once, desperate to try anything. As they had heard, they called out his name three times to ask for help. Suddenly, a wall opened, and a tall, bright figure stepped out of it. “What do you want?” asked a grumpy voice. Then one of the women summoned all her courage and told the man about their shared misfortune. “Just go home,” the voice replied. But as the women looked, they saw that the figure became darker and darker and finally disappeared completely.

When the women returned to their rooms, a bright light burned on the table. A pile of gold lay beside it, along with a large loaf of bread. And although the women took some of the gold every day, some of the pile still remained.

The Ghost of Hans Franz Nägeli

This ritual has become a rite of passage for daring locals. Young boys, in particular, are said to try their luck by shouting the ghost’s name after the witching hour. Some do it for fun, others to impress their friends—but few are prepared for what might actually happen.

Witnesses have claimed to see a tall, stern figure in 16th-century attire appear at the top of the stairs. Even more chilling are the tales of those who say they felt an invisible hand strike them—slapped by the ghostly mayor himself for mocking his name. It’s said that Nägeli will only tolerate respectful summoning; those who jeer or tease may find themselves with a bruised cheek or a shaken spirit.

The Treasure Underground

The city’s underground passages conceal a treasure; everyone knows that. But not everyone knows that Father Nägeli can give the key that leads to it. Near the Münzgraben, the passage leads deep, deep underground, and after feeling your way along its walls for a while, you notice a small, bluish light in the distance. You approach the light – and suddenly a larger-than-life, snarling dog blocks your way. If you know the password, it lets you through. And if you are allowed to continue on your way, you come to a gate through which a light-filled room sends a sea of rays out into the dark passage.

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Once you’ve become accustomed to the intense light, you’ll see three sacks on the floor of the crypt. From these, you must take a handful of earth and then leave the place immediately. Woe to those who cannot pause in silence or cannot bring themselves to look back once more. The earth turns to ash in their hands. But whoever leaves the corridor as he was commanded will hold bright gold in both hands at the exit.

Other Ghosts Haunting the Stairs and Street

The ghost of Hans Franz Nägeli is certainly not the only ghost said to haunt the area. From time to time, at midnight, an old man walks from the Frick stairs toward Junkerngasse. Some claim he walks on goat’s feet, others say he has no feet at all. On his way, however, he moans and complains loudly: “Put shoes on every dead man’s feet in the grave.”

Perhaps this story has a connection with the ghost of the butcher apprentice said to haunt Rathausgate after being cursed. 

Read the whole story: The Cursed Butcher Apprentice Haunting Rathausgasse in Bern  

Others claim to see a young woman wandering around. She died in childbirth, they say, and now has to search for her child again and again because no one had put shoes on her in the grave.

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References:

Geisterstadt Bern – SWI swissinfo.ch 

Diese Geister spuken durch die Gassen und Häuser der Stadt 

Greeley Daily Tribune from Greeley, Colorado – Newspapers.com™ 

Hans Franz Nägeli – Wikipedia

Die Fricktreppe – Historisches Bern

Von Vater Nägeli | Märchenstiftung

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11830/schuhe-ins-grab

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11883/der-unterirdische-schatz