Is Cell Number 11 in the former prison for the criminally insane haunted? The attic of the Norwegian Justice Museum in Trondheim, Norway has had many who come out, claiming so.
High above Erling Skakkes gate in Trondheim in Norway, beneath the slanted roof of an old and imposing building, lies a place many claim they will never forget. The former criminal asylum, now known as the Norwegian Justice Museum, is steeped in legal history, human suffering, and quiet despair.
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Among its many rooms, one small space has earned a reputation that continues to unsettle visitors long after they leave. This is Cell Number 11.
A Building That Never Truly Fell Silent
The structure once served as a criminal asylum, housing inmates deemed unfit for ordinary prisons. Over time, the building became associated with isolation, punishment, and psychological torment. Today, the halls are clean and curated, filled with exhibits and glass cases. Yet those who work there speak of another side, one that emerges after hours.
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Footsteps have been heard echoing from the attic cell wing when no one is present. Low voices have been reported, murmuring just beyond the edge of hearing. The sounds are not constant, but when they come, they seem deliberate, as if someone is pacing the narrow corridors with purpose.
Among other things, a young journalist claimed to have heard footsteps coming towards him when he was voluntarily locked inside the museum.
Nearly every story leads back to the same place.
The Legend of Cell Number 11
Cell Number 11 is small, windowless, and oppressive. It is barely large enough to stand upright in comfort. Over the years, it has become the center of Trondheim’s most enduring ghost stories.
According to accounts once published in local newspapers, a clairvoyant woman claimed the cell is haunted by the spirit of a judge. This judge, she said, had wrongfully sentenced a young man to a long period of confinement in that very cell. The prisoner eventually took his own life there, driven to despair by isolation and injustice.
After the judge’s death, the spirit is said to have returned to the cell, bound to the place where his decision had destroyed another life. Whether out of guilt or obsession, the apparition is believed to linger, trapped in the space where tragedy unfolded.
Nights Spent in the Cell
In later years, a number of visitors chose to spend the night inside Cell Number 11. Some entered confidently, treating the experience as a test of nerves. Many emerged changed.
Several reported hearing footsteps moving just outside the cell door, slow and deliberate. Others described the sensation of not being alone, of sharing the darkness with an unseen presence. A few spoke of whispers, too indistinct to understand but close enough to feel intimate and threatening.
According to museum director Johan S. Helberg, not everyone who entered the cell left with their bravado intact. Fear has a way of settling in when the door closes and the light disappears.
A Museum That Welcomes Its Ghosts
The museum has a separate room dedicated to World War II. Kunt Sivertsen describes himself as a retired police officer and is currently an advisor at the museum. He was responsible for putting together this exhibition in the 1990s. According to him, there was stuff happening in this room as well that they didn’t have any explanation for:
– On several occasions, it has happened that you suddenly smell the scent of Brut aftershave in the middle of the room.
No official claim has ever been made that the museum is haunted. Still, the staff have never attempted to banish whatever may dwell within its walls. When a priest once offered to cleanse the building, the offer was politely declined.
The reasoning was simple. If spirits exist there, they are part of the building’s story.
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References:
Skremt fra vettet på celle nummer 11 – Trondheim
Spøkelsesjegere til seks steder – NRK Trøndelag – Lokale nyheter, TV og radio
Spøker det på Justismuseet i Trondheim? – nearadio.no