An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
Join a haunted pub crawl through Dublin’s ancient streets for ghosts and a pint of Guinness. From plotting revolutionaries to somber writers, these pubs and bars are said to be a place where some of the patrons have been lingering for a long time.
In 1852, the alleged psychic Erika Larsdatter Bogen, arrived at Børholmen, a small island in western Norway. She claimed that she had found the ghost and corpse of the dead child, and she named the mother who allegedly buried it. But what was the truth?
Ghostly whispers in the old castle ruins, soldiers haunting the bloody battlefields and even the drums of pagan druids still lingering, Ireland is certainly a haunted country. This is only a small portion of the most haunted places in Ireland and the ghost stories behind them.
Who is the ghostly priest in brown, haunting the old Vicarage in Sande? Legend says he still carries guilt for the young boy he failed that had tragic consequences.
In the rural mountainside in Catalonia, Spain, there have long been talk about a vampiric beast of a hound that has tormented the livestock and the unfortunate person walking outside after dark. Could this legend be the one where other iberian vampire legends sprung from?
A story of doomed lovers and haunted ivy leaves, the Lady in Green is said to haunt Caerphilly Castle in Wales together with the spirit of Gwrach-y-Rhibyn, wailing as an omen of death.
After the battles during world war two, Hegra Fortress was a place that became known to withstand the Germans, although they too in the end had to raise the white flag. After the war, people started to believe that one of the fallen soldiers was still there, wandering the deep and damp tunnels.
In a cemetery turned into a public park, the Wolfe Tone Square is said to be haunted by John Toler, one of Ireland’s most haunted man and remembered as the Hanging Judge.
The old cabin high on Hardangervidda, Norway is said to be haunted by its very first caretaker. But although Krækkja DNT cabin is said to be his eternal home, it seems like the more people visiting, the more he retreats to the plateau.
Preying on the blood of the young one, the vampiric Guajona from northern Spain is said to stalk the villages and valleys in Cantabria, thirsting for blood.
On the hills where the last wolves in Ireland roamed, ghosts have been spotted on Feltrim Hill, always moving towards the sacred spring that were said to have healing powers.
A gathering place for the elite class in Norway, Losby Manor house in the countryside outside of Oslo housed kings and queens. It is also said that some of its residents are haunting the place, especially the ghost of The Lady of Losby, who dedicated her life to her home.
Moon Mausoleum
