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Ramersdorf Church and the Bell toll for the Damned

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The bells of Ramersdorf Church have been said to have called back ghosts, dancing in the witching hour.

Leaving Munich to the south, the A8 motorway passes the unassuming Ramersdorf Church. Saint Mary Ramersdorf (Sankt Maria Ramersdorf) in the district Ramersdorf-Perlach of Munich is a parish 58 m high church tower of pilgrimage.

Read More: Check out all ghostly legends from Germany

It used to be surrounded by a vast heath where not much grew and the ghosts roamed as the bells tolled from the church. 

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The Ghosts of Ramersdorf Church

The gothic building was mentioned for the first time in a document in 1315, but a chapel must have been there since the 1000s when it was named Rumoltesdorf. Making it one of the oldest pilgrim sites in Bavaria. 

The pilgrimage began with a relic, a crucifix which had been handed over to Emperor Louis IV by Antipope Nicholas V and which was later donated to the church by one of the emperor’s sons, likely Duke Otto V. The building was redesigned and extended shortly before 1400 in late gothic style. The Onion dome was constructed in 1791 after a lightning puncture.

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The pilgrimage experienced a decisive upswing in 1683 when seven Munich cloth merchants promised to initiate a 30-day Marian devotion from the Assumption of Mary (August 15) to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14) if Vienna were liberated from the Turkish siege.

This gave rise  to the so-called “Women’s Thirty Days” pilgrimage , during which many pilgrims still travel to churches dedicated to Mary. Subsequently, renowned artists such as Erasmus Grasser and Jan Pollack worked on the decoration of the church in Maria Ramersdorf.

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But on the darkest nights, this place is said to be anything but peaceful. For in earlier times, the bells would toll at midnight, the witching hour. Then, ghostly figures would emerge from the surrounding cemeteries and gather on the heath around the church to judge the damned. The condemned were beheaded before the bell tolled again. Today, the heath has vanished, but the ominous tolling of the church tower still echoes every night at twelve. Have the judging spirits truly departed?

For an hour, the dead would gather on the heath, hold court, and behead the condemned, until the church bell struck one. The heath is now built over, and the executioners and ghosts have presumably vanished, but the ringing of the bell at the witching hour from the Ramersdorf church tower can still be heard every night.

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References:

St. Mary’s Church, Munich – Wikipedia

11 Orte in München, die schaurige Geschichten zum Gruseln erzählen

Maria Ramersdorf: Münchens älteste Marien-Wallfahrtskirche 

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Hortdan and the Restless Dead

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Thought to come back from beyond the grave, the restless spirit known as Hortdan in Turkey walks the line between being a tragic ghost and a bloodthirsty vampire. 

Tale of the Hortdan is found in Turkey as well as across the remote villages of the Caucasus. Often meaning ghosts in a classical sense, some versions depict the revenant more like a vampiric entity as well. 

A person who died unexpectedly, violently, or without proper burial rites might not find rest. According to ancient Turkic beliefs, if a person died of old age rather than in battle, it was believed that they would not be taken to Paradise by the Sky God. A corpse left to decay without the rituals required by tradition was thought to be at risk of rising again. The resulting being was the hortdan.

A Creature of Flesh and Fear

The name Hortdan, or Hortlak as it is spelled in Turkish is related to the Turkic verb hortlamak, which in Turkish means get out and in this context meaning, get out of the grave. Often used as an umbrella term for ghosts, the descriptions of the hortdan vary, but at its core, they are a representation of evil spirits and the spirit of the dead. 

Some tell of a being that appears as a corpse that walks upright, its flesh decayed but its joints and limbs still moving with unnatural strength. Others describe it as a figure that resembles the dead person it once was, but with glassy eyes and slow movements that betray its undead nature. Some say they appear above their grave or where they died, carrying shrouds or coffins on their backs.

Originally, the Hortlak ghost is said to “appear” where the souls of murdered people have departed or where human blood has been shed. However, people most often encounter the ghost above the graves of the slain. It doesn’t harm people; they only “see” it wandering or sitting there, mournfully making a sorrowful sound.

According to the belief, one should recite prayers when passing near cemeteries to protect oneself from a ghost’s attack.

Unlike ghosts that appear as mists or vague shadows, the hortdan is corporeal. It has weight, presence, and sometimes the strength to drag victims or overturn objects. Some stories describe the hortdan as hunting specific people who wronged it in life, adding an element of vengeance to its existence.

Origins of the Undead in Turkish Mythology

But where did the belief in the Hortdan start? Many claim that the traits and stories of the Hortdans are from the Tatar folk mythology. The Tatars are a group of Turkic speaking peoples found across Eastern Europe and Northern Asia and we can see similar stories in many places.

Other similar creatures that are closely resembling the Hortdan, or perhaps even being the origin place would be the Azerbaijani mythology of the vampire Xortdan and Hortan, sometimes called Аза-Хортан “Aza-Hortan” from Tuva tradition. Here, they are also an evil spirit with poltergeist-like abilities, but with a bigger weight on them being bloodthirsty and sucking people’s lifeforce.

The Azerbaijani Hortdan: In Azerbaijani folk belief, it refers to a dead person who rises from the grave, a vampire. It is a unique type of vampire in Azerbaijani folk culture and beliefs. While some aspects are entirely specific to Turkic culture, it also has some characteristics very similar to the beliefs of Western societies. It sucks the blood of people, often envisioned as a hunchbacked old woman, or sometimes an old man, who spreads death.

Because the stories were passed down orally, not much is known today of the origin stories, but what remains of them in the Turkish stories of the Hortlak and their bloodthirst. Today they are typically depicted as mindless, reanimated corpses with a hunger for human flesh. They also are said to possess a range of supernatural abilities like shapeshifting and invisibility. 

Vampiric Traits and Night Haunts

Turkish culture mentions certain supernatural beings referred to as witches and ghosts. It was believed that these beings rose from the dead. In some regions, they were also believed to drink blood. Therefore, there is some debate about the similarities between the beliefs about witches and ghosts and vampire beliefs in other cultures.

The Ubir Vampire: One thing merging with the Hortdan, or perhaps even springing from it, is the tale about the Ubirs, much more closely linked to the modern vampire. Sharing name and qualities with the Slavic upiór we get the name vampire from. Ubirs were usually reported as bloated in appearance, and ruddy, dark in colour. The causes of vampiric generation were many and varied in original folklore. Ubirs are reanimated corpses that kill living creatures to absorb life essence from their victims

Because of this, the hortdan was often associated with night. Villagers reported hearing footsteps near cemeteries after dusk, or the scraping of nails against the soil of fresh graves. Dogs might bark at empty fields. Winds would sound like distant cries. Such sounds were taken seriously in a world without electric lighting, without audible traffic, without night noise except what came from nature itself.

Burial Rites and the Prevention of Return

Communities developed customs aimed at preventing the dead from returning as hortdan. These included burying the body face down, placing heavy stones atop the grave, or binding the limbs with ritual cloths. Even within the Christian tradition present in Armenia and surrounding regions, additional prayers and blessings were added to deter restless spirits.

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References:

Hortdan – Wikipedia

Hortlak – Vikipedi 

TÜRK KÜLTÜRÜNDE HORTLAK-CADI İNANIŞLARI – Tarih Okulu Dergisi

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The Devil’s Stone in Grafrath

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In the Alpine foothills in Bavaria, strange boulders mark the landscape. Many legends linger over these mysterious stones, some claiming it was the Devil himself who placed it there. 

In earlier centuries, people used glacial erratics as places of worship, giving them names and legendary stories, placing Christian crosses and figures of saints on them, or even building entire churches around them. 

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One example is the Devil’s Stone, or the Teufelsstein, a boulder located at the edge of the forest between Grafrath and Inning am Ammersee. Only its upper half protrudes from the ground, shielded by the sprawling branches of coniferous trees.

The Devil’s Stone: The Teufelsstein is an erratic boulder in the municipality of Inning am Ammersee in the district of Starnberg in Upper Bavaria. The boulder is 5–6 m³ and located next to a field path at the edge of the forest between the Grafrath district of Unteralting and the Inning district of Arzla. // Source: Wikimedia

The Legend when the Devil looked for Grafath

In this Bavarian legend, the devil wanted to destroy the St. Rasso pilgrimage church in Grafrath with a huge boulder he found in the Alps. As he rolled it towards the church, he encountered a clever peasant woman. She told him how incredibly far it was to go when he asked for directions. She had a basket full of torn shoes and told the devil that she had worn through all of them on her way from Grafrath.

The pilgrimage church of St. Rasso: The pilgrimage church of St. Rasso with the tomb of St. Rasso is located on the edge of the Ampermoor in the municipality of Grafrath in the district of Fürstenfeldbruck in Upper Bavaria . For centuries, this church was one of the most important pilgrimage sites in southern Bavaria, attracting people from far and wide to bring their prayers before God. The pilgrimage route follows in the footsteps of Saint Rasso, who, as a count, ruled in the region between Lake Ammersee and Lake Starnberg during the early Middle Ages. The saint’s tomb was visited by numerous pilgrims from Bavaria, Swabia, and Tyrol as early as the Middle Ages. It is recorded that countless miracles are said to have occurred at this pilgrimage site. Pilgrims, especially those suffering from abdominal ailments, hoped for healing through their pilgrimage to Grafrath. //Wikimedia

Enraged, the devil vanished from the earth as lightning, leaving the stone behind. Since then, witches and devils have been said to dance at the famous Devil’s Stone, and many passersby have reported seeing them.

The Devil’s Stone near Grafrath lies at the edge of a hiking and cycling trail. The Devil’s Stone itself shimmers reddish in places. Conspiracy theorists might see this as evidence of bloody rituals. The more mundane explanation is that the stone, partially covered in moss, has been painted.

Where Did the Devil’s Stones Come from?

But where does the Devil’s Stone really come from? If not the devil himself placed them, then what? The explanation lies 20,000 years ago when the Würm Ice Age was at its peak, and average temperatures in Europe are far below today’s. As the Ice Age subsided, the glacier tongue melted and retreated. What remained was a carved-out valley of today’s Ammersee, from which the Amper River flows. Heaped hills of debris and sand transported by the glacier as well as a single large boulder, which had previously broken off from a mountain in the Central Alps.

This is the scientific explanation for these Ice Age “erratic boulders,” as they are also known in technical terms – rocky “wanderers,” in other words, that lie in a place where they don’t actually belong.

The Devil’s Stone in Bräundlstein

The Devil’s stone in Grafrath is not the only boulder stone with a similar story. There’s the Bräundlstein, for example, a colossal boulder of about 70 cubic meters in the forest between Wasserburg am Inn and Schnaitsee. A legend about the devil is also associated with this. 

Bräundlstein: It measures approximately 4.50 × 4.50 × 3.50 m, but was formerly even larger until it was approved as a building material in the 19th century. The name of the boulder possibly means “Brundhildenstein” and has been known since at least 1844.Source: Wikimedia

One day, a stable girl was herding cows and wandered into the woods, where she saw the devil himself sitting on the Bräundlstein rock. He had a pile of horse manure on his lap, which he distributed into several bowls, and the stable girl was also forced to put some of it in her apron pocket. Thereupon, the devil vanished, and the manure turned into pure gold, which, however, brought no luck. Even today, hollow-shaped depressions are said to be visible on the rock where the devil’s bowls had stood.

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References:

7 wahre urbane Legenden aus München

Das Geheimnis der Findlinge von Joachim Burghardt | Innehalten

Teufelsstein (Inning am Ammersee) – Wikipedia

St. Rasso (Grafrath) – Wikipedia

SZ-Serie “Sagen und Mythen”, Folge 18 – Höllische Plackerei – Fürstenfeldbruck

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The Calf Haunting of the Käfigturm: Bern’s Grotesque Prison Tower

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Said to be cursed forever after mistreating his prisoners, the jailer in Bern’s former prison tower, Käfitier is said to be haunted by the ghost of a monstrous calf.

In Bern’s bustling old town, surrounded by boutiques, cafés, and the chatter of political discourse, stands the Käfigturm, or the ominously named Cage Tower. Today, it is home to the Polit-Forum Bern, a hub for democratic debate. But behind its clean, civic façade lies a chilling past that refuses to rest. 

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The tower may no longer hold prisoners, but according to legend, one creature still returns to pace its ancient stones, snorting, howling, and thirsting for water that no well can quench. They call it the Käfitier, or the Cage Beast. Those who’ve heard its midnight stomp know the sound of old justice gone horribly wrong.

Käfigturm: Used as a prison and said to be haunted by a cursed jailer. // Source: Nikolai Karaneschev/Wikimedia

From City Gate to Prison of Pain

The Käfigturm was built in 1256 as part of Bern’s first city wall, a mighty defensive gate at the upper end of Marktgasse. As the city grew beyond its medieval limits, the tower’s role shifted. By the 15th century, after a devastating fire consumed parts of the city and damaged its original prison in the Zytglogge, the Käfigturm was repurposed to house the condemned.

Inside the cold, cramped chambers, suspects were interrogated, tortured, and imprisoned. Etchings still scar the walls, crude graffiti left by those whose voices were never heard in court.

In 1641, the aging tower was demolished and rebuilt on the same spot, only larger, colder, and even more unforgiving. For over 200 years, this was the epicenter of Bernese punishment. Only in 1897 did it finally close its iron doors to prisoners, becoming an archive and eventually, a site for civic enlightenment.

But the dark imprint remained.

The Midnight Calf

On certain moonless nights, pedestrians walking past the Käfigturm claim to hear something heavy fall. Like a loud, dull thud, as if a great weight has crashed from the roof to the cobblestones below. If they dare to look closer, they may catch a glimpse of a grotesque, spectral calf, its limbs twitching and too long for its body, rising from the ground in silent agony.

The calf then charges down the street, hooves echoing on the stone path between the tower and the Seilerbrunnen, or the Anna Seiler Fountain, named for the woman who founded Bern’s first hospital in the 14th century.

It stops only to drink from the water, bending its grotesque neck and drawing long, chilling gulps before releasing a howl that turns blood cold.

The Jailer Who Became a Beast

The calf, they say, is not just a cursed animal, but a cursed man. A former jailer of the Käfigturm, known for his cruelty, is said to have died under mysterious circumstances. During his time at the tower, he was infamous for denying clean water to prisoners, offering only dirty water.

His soul, blackened, could not rest. Now he returns in the form of a tormented animal, doomed to drink from the same fountain he once denied to others. This is the Käfitier, the embodiment of vengeance, suffering, and twisted justice.

Source

A Cursed Echo Across Town: The Butcher’s Apprentice

Eerily, the legend bears resemblance to another Bernese ghost: the butcher’s apprentice of Rathausgasse, who mistreated young calves in life and now haunts the streets in the form of one himself. That ghost, too, takes the shape of a calf, wandering the alleys where once it wielded a blade.

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

Is there a thread between these tales? A hidden pattern in Bernese folklore that ties cruelty to transformation, prison to beast? Or are these simply urban echoes—haunted mirrors reflecting the sins of those who once held unchecked power?

Whatever the truth, the calf ghost of the Käfigturm still stomps through the night. And every thud it makes is a reminder: those who show no mercy in life may not be shown any in death.

Today, the Käfigturm stands as a monument to civic conversation and democratic ideals, part of Bern’s UNESCO World Heritage status. Tourists pass beneath it every day, unaware of the horrors once locked behind its walls. 

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References:

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

Wikipedia – Käfigturm

Das Schaltier | Märchenstiftung 

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The Lafayette Vampire Grave in Colorado

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For decades, parents have told their children to be home before dark in Lafayette, Colorado. The reason being that local lore tells of a vampire rising from his grave in the cemetery. But who exactly was the man behind the story, buried under the tombstone?

In the 1950s, parents told a strange thing to their youth in Lafayette, Colorado, an old coal mining place in Boulder County. They said that there was a vampire buried in the cemetery and they had to be home before dark, as the vampire rose from his grave and hunted for prey at night. 

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The legend of the Lafayette vampire evolved and more details were added to the growing legend of the local vampire. It even travelled and from the 90s and today, visitors from across the U.S. visit the grave, leaving little trinkets like flowers, bubble gum and toys at the grave. Once, dirt from the suspected gravesite of the vampire was offered up for auction on eBay. If it really was the dirt from the grave or not is not known, but city officials were notified of the eBay posting and eventually eBay took down the posting.

The grave in question at the Lafayette Cemetery the vampire story is linked to is a grave found in the pauper’s grave section, about 20 feet south of the paved road/exit from Lafayette’s Bob Burger Recreation Center. The final resting place of a man from Transylvania. 

Lafayette: A view of Baseline Road in Colorado. Lafayette quickly became a part of the coal-mining boom that all of eastern Boulder and southwestern Weld counties were experiencing, with the combined Spencer/Simpson mine being the largest and most productive. The Cannon floundered and failed to produce profitable quantities of coal. It closed in 1898.[17] By 1914 Lafayette was a booming town with two banks and four hotels. // Image: Jeffrey Beall

The Real Man Behind the Vampire Legend

Teodor Glava was a coal miner from Transylvania, Romania who died in 1918. His name has been spelled a lot of different ways, and many know his legend under the name Fodor Glava as well. This was from a time when Lafayette was a booming town with two banks and four hotels. Then the Spanish Flu hit and people died across the country, one of its victims being him. . 

According to the story, the locals were suspicious after he died and strange things had started to happen. They dug him up and drove a stake through his heart. That wooden stake was said to grow into a tall juniper tree that now dominates his grave site. It is also said that Glava’s fingernails grew into a “blood red” red rose bush that covered the grave until the early 2000s. It is true that rose bushes grew there, although they were yellow roses. 

The legend started to grow from its first tales to keep children home after dark. In blog posts and newspaper articles from the late 1980s added more haunting to the story and stories about a tall, dark figure with red eyes lurking near the grave started to spread.

One of the versions was retold in an article in the Rocky Mountain News in 1993. An amateur folklorist had looked into the legend and the 19 year old Douglas Rowan claimed he had heard this from old ladies in the area. “The story goes that he moved here from Transylvania with his wife, but was bitten by a wolf or something, and it turned him into a vampire. He killed his wife, and a neighbor buried her and cornered him in a barn and drove a stake through his heart. A tree always grows from a vampire stake. It’s what keeps him in the ground. They say that when there’s full moon his soul will rise and wander around.”

The True Grave of Teodor Glava

So there are a lot of legends spanning across decades. But who was Glava, and was it really something strange going on at his grave when he died? 

Teodor Glava was a Romanian coal miner who immigrated to the U.S. around 1914. He was from Lesnic, Romania, a mining community in the Transylvania Region of The Austro-Hungarian empire. He was described as of medium height, medium build, brown eyes and black hair.  

Born in 1877, Teodor probably worked in the marble mines near his Lesnic residence. He was married to  his wife Sofia and had a daughter named Victoria. He left them both in Lesnic and went to America for work. He landed first in Gary, West Virginia, then Canfield, Colorado west of Erie. Estate records show that Glava worked in Lafayette but lived in Canfield and rented a room for $1.12 per day from a Mr. and Mrs. Nick Mack.

He did start working and making money, but after a few years, the Spanish flu hit the community, and he was infected. His newspaper obituary transcribed by Teresa from the Lafayette Leader dated 12-6-1918 reads: “Theodore Glava, an Austrian miner, employed at the Simpson mine, died suddenly Wednesday morning, following an attack of influenza. He had so far recovered as to be up town the evening before his death, but suffered a relapse. He was aged 43 years and is survived by his wife, who is in Austria. Buaial (Burial) will be made this afternoon.”

Glava is buried in his own grave plot, adjacent to fellow Romanian John Trandafir, who was also a coal miner and died two days after Glava. Because of his name meaning rose, the two graves have often been conflated to one and both have been a part of the same vampire legend. They were not related, but were probably friends and colleagues. 

Although he was buried in a pauper’s grave, he had money that would have given him a more proper burial. However, the money he had made was instead sent back to his wife and daughter. 

The Vampire Grave: Grave marker associated with the local legend of the “Lafayette Vampire,” located in Lafayette, Colorado. // Image: Mikepascoe/Wikimedia

A Legend Takes Shape

How then was the grave of Glava connected with vampire legends? There are actually cases of mob mentality of people going after people’s graves in the US after illnesses take a huge portion of the population. 

Read More: Check out the New England Vampire Panic

But there is not much info that there actually was such a mob going after and digging up his grave. Could it really be as simple that the man was from Transylvania? Researchers looking into the story found the earliest mention of the vampire in the cemetery comes from Eleanor (Sanchez) Montour. She recalled that when she was a child in the late 1940s, her mom Alicia Sanchez warned her about the Transylvanian in the cemetery and that she should “get home before sundown so that the vampire doesn’t get you.

The premise of a Transylvanian buried in the cemetery was followed by “he’s a vampire” in the 1950s and it seems like this is were the details started to be added to the lore. The stake to his heart seems to have been introduced in the 1960s. The stake turning into a tree seems to coincide when the Christopher Lee vampire movies started hitting the regional drive-in movie theaters, although no one can say for sure. 

The rose bush and fingernail details seem to have started in the 1970s, followed by the mysterious man sitting on the headstone or walking in the cemetery in the 1990s. Where the legend will go further is unsure, but at least, it seems that the poor miner never actually was dug up by an angry mob and staked through the heart. 

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References:

The Lafayette Vampire

Lafayette vampire – Wikipedia

Lafayette, Colorado – Wikipedia

https://nb.findagrave.com/memorial/22218684/theodore-glava

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Grave of the Helhest in Roskilde Cathedral

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Buried in the same place as the Danish kings and queens, a legend about one of the smaller graves haunts the Roskilde Cathedral. It is said that a horse was buried here before any people, and it haunts the graveyard as the three legged helhest, an omen of death.

The cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark, is a popular UNESCO World Heritage Site twenty minutes from Copenhagen. It has been the burial ground for Danish monarchs for centuries, with more than 40 kings and queens having their final resting place. According to the legend, another creature is also buried underneath the stone floor.

Read more: Check out all ghostly tales from Denmark

Inside the cathedral is a black, unmarked flat gravestone of Scanian or Bornholm limestone that has been known as the helhest grave. It is believed to belong to the mythical helhest, meaning horse of Hel. This was the horse of the Norse death goddess Hel. For protection, people used to spit on the grave when passing by. Because if you ever saw the spirit of the helhest walking, you knew that death was coming.

Helhest: Gunnar Utsond’s sculpture “Helfærd”, originally from 1890, in front of the former Sjømannsskolen in Oslo . The work depicts Nanna and Balder descending to the realm of the dead Hel on the back of the Hel horse. In Danish folklore, the Hel horse is also a kind of “horse ghost” that can act as a omen of death.

The Roskile Cathedral

The cathedral is one of the most important churches in Denmark, and the official royal burial church of the Danish monarchs. Before the church of today was built, Harald Bluetooth raised a small stave church when he moved there when Roskilde was named the new capital of Denmark.

Image: Giåm/Flickr

The church we see today was built around 1200 as an impressive Gothic cathedral in red brick. Three Viking Age kings are buried here: Harald Bluetooth (died 986), Sweyn Forkbeard (died 1014) and Sweyn Estridsen (died 1074). Since the 16th century, all Danish monarchs have been buried in Roskilde Cathedral.

Horse Burial: Equestrian burial was one of the earliest forms of Viking-Age burial to be found in Denmark in the 19th century, although the excavations were often unprofessional and documentation of it is now lacking. But in most viking societies people buried with horses as well as horse sacrifices seems to have been common, as they were connected with the norse Gods as well as fertility. It is said this practice continued in a changed fashion post-christianity, when horses were said to have been buried for good luck when opening a new cemetery. // Illustration from the Birka grave Bj 581 in Sweden.

With the new cathedral completed they also needed a relic for it. Two canons were sent to Rome to find it and legend says that while they were resting after their arrival, St Lucius, who had been pope from 253 to 255, appeared before them, saying he had been chosen to be the patron saint of Roskilde until the end of time.

Read More: Check out the in depth article about The Helhest: Death’s Horse in Danish Folklore

The next day, the two canons were taken to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere to choose amongst the many relics there. They saw a skull shining brightly, the skull of St Lucius. On their return, their ship came under attack by a powerful demon that had long lurked in Danish waters and wanted a victim. The crew drew straws and the lot fell on the canon carrying the skull of St Lucius. He offered a prayer to the saint, washed the skull three times, threw the water in the ocean, and jumped overboard. To everyone’s surprise, the canon was able to walk on the water. The demon disappeared screaming into the depths, never to be seen again.

The Helhest

The Helhest is said to haunt the narrow streets around the cathedral and by the cemetery at night. When you hear it, you can hear its staggering gait. But the look of it is even more disturbing. It has, according to lore, only three legs, and are often described with glowing red eyes, or even headless.

The Helhest originates from a church-related tradition. To avoid the bad luck of being the first buried in a new cemetery, a gruesome practice involved burying a live animal, usually a horse with one leg cut off, to exist between life and death and guard the souls. This “church warden” was believed to protect the church from harm and symbolize the transition between worlds, with the Helhest being one such entity from Nordic mythology.

Hel of the Norse Underworld: Hel is in Norse mythology an underground realm of the dead where it was believed that most people ended up when they died. In Norse cosmology, north is the direction towards cold and death and Hel is cold and inhospitable, and that the way there leads “north and down.” Hel, the daughter of Loki, is also the name of the ruler of the underworld. Her skin is partly blue-black like a corpse and partly human-colored. It is said that Hel welcomes those who die of illness and old age into her own hall.

Digging up the Horse Grave

In the 1970s, archaeologists investigated the supposed grave of the Helhest but did not find the remains of a three-legged animal. Instead, they discovered parts of a nobleman with his head between his legs. Giving perhaps more questions than answers.

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References:

Gravstene i Roskilde Domkirkes gulv

HELHESTEN I denne uge fortæller vi uhyggelige historier fra Domkirken. En af dem handler om Helhesten. Hvis du ser den – er du dødsens! “Paa alle Kirkegaarde i fordums Tid, før noget menneskeligt Lii

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The Haunted Ruins of Lier Hospital in Norway

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As a place of dubious drug testing and the place where most lobotomies were done, the Lier Hospital and former asylum was left with a haunted rumor lingering in the decaying walls. Although most of the buildings are now torn down, it is still remembered as one of Norway’s most haunted places. 

Few places in Norway are spoken of with as much dread as the abandoned grounds of Lier Hospital right outside of Drammen in Norway. Long before it fell silent when it closed down in the 80s, these worn and crumbling buildings became the setting for suffering on an almost unimaginable scale. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

Behind the fading walls lies a dark chapter of medical history, shaped by fear, ignorance, and cruel experimentation.

Haunted Asylum: Picture of B building at Lier Hospital from September 2017. // Source

A Place of Misunderstood Minds

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mental illness was poorly understood. Those deemed unwell were often locked away, isolated from society, and subjected to harsh treatment. When Lier Hospital officially opened its doors in 1926, it was presented as a modern psychiatric institution. In reality, it marked the beginning of a grim future for many of its patients.

Over the next five years, a large hospital complex was built with space for 552 patients divided into six patient blocks. At its peak, around 600 patients are admitted, all with mental illnesses. Some mild, others more serious and chronic. Not all of the patients made it out alive. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted hospitals and asylums

Within its wards, experimental and invasive treatments were carried out with little regard for human dignity. Patients were exposed to electroshock therapy and lobotomies, in its old fashion and experimental stages. Norway had the second highest lobotomized people compared to the number of people living there. Only Denmark had more. And this was the place where most of the procedures happened. 

Later, the hospital was leading in experimental drug testing. At least seven patients died of this sleep treatment before 1940. They also did LSD experiments. It was also one of the most active hospitals in Norway testing new drugs. 

According to consultant Odd Lingjærde who was running things in the 70s and 80s, the hospital itself had to test new drugs on humans in cases where the industry itself could not test them. Lingjærde considered it a moral duty to assist the pharmaceutical industry in research.

There have been a lot of controversies about these types of experiments. These procedures were frequently performed without proper consent and often ended in severe injury or death. For many, Lier Hospital was not a place of healing but a slow descent into torment.

Former nurses such as the famous author Ingvar Ambjørnsen have come forward and spoken of horrific conditions for those admitted, such as isolation , prolonged use of belts , straitjackets and general neglect. In his debut novel 23-salen from 1981, he described a shocking encounter with the patients and collective abuse. The novel was written based on the years 1974 and -75, when Ambjørnsen himself worked as a nursing assistant at Lier Hospital. “It was a strange experience to see how quickly you could decay morally,” says Ambjørnsen

The Hospital Closing Down

The hospital originally consisted of a total of 12 buildings, four of which were closed in 1985, and several more throughout the 1990s.

After this, activity gradually decreased, and on March 1, 2018, all activities at Lier Hospital moved to Blakstad Hospital in Asker. From 2009, demolition orders came from the authorities because of the building being beyond repair and a danger as people kept trespassing for urban exploring and ghost hunting. 

By 2017 close to all of the buildings were demolished, except three that were still in operation in the 2010s. But what about the ghosts? Did they go with the building as well?

Silence After the Screams

The hospital ceased operations in the 1970s, leaving behind twelve large buildings scattered across the grounds. Most of them are now sealed off or demolished, but the area itself remains accessible. Visitors often speak of an atmosphere that feels heavy and oppressive, as though the land itself remembers what happened there.

Reports of unexplained phenomena are common. People claim to hear distant screams, footsteps echoing through empty corridors, and doors slamming where no doors remain. Cameras and flashlights are said to fail without warning, plunging explorers into sudden darkness. Some describe an overwhelming sense of being watched, even in open spaces.

Lier Hospital has become infamous among paranormal investigators and urban explorers, often described as the most haunted place in Norway. Whether the strange occurrences are the result of imagination, environmental factors, or something far more unsettling, the stories continue to draw the curious and the brave.

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References:

De mest hjemsøkte stedene i Norge

Lier sykehus

Spøker det på Lier sykehus?

Her ble hundrevis av nordmenn lobotomert – Spesial – Lier

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A Haunting Helhest in Odense St Canute Cathedral

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The Danish ghostly horse spirit Helhest is said to roam around St. Canute’s Cathedral in Odense, Denmark. It is believed seeing the three legged horse is an omen of imminent death.

The name Odense dates back to the pre-Christian era and means “Odins Vi.” and was a place where Odin was worshipped. It is also the site of one of older churches in the country, with a Christian history dating back 900 years.

Read more: Check out all ghostly tales from Denmark

Some of the stories have long lines back to the pre-Christian era, like the story of the haunting Helhest that we find traces from the Viking Age and are said to haunt some of the most famous cathedrals in Denmark.

St. Canute’s Cathedral

The church, also called Odense Domkirke or Sankt Knuds Kirke has in one form or another been on Abbey Hill for over 900 years, named after Knud den Hellige, or Canute IV.

The earliest known church on the present location was a travertine church which was reported under construction by Aelnoth of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk at the nearby St. Alban’s Priory in 1095. The foundations of the travertine church can still be seen in the crypt of the present building.

In all it took approximately two hundred years to complete the cathedral, which was finally dedicated on 30 April 1499. The single tower was completed in 1586 over the west entrance in the same style as the rest of the cathedral.

The Helhest in St Knud

The first mention of a “helhest” in Odense dates to 1673, where it is mentioned by Jens Hansen Odense, but if we are to believe the legends, the legends are much older. A helhest, or horse of Hel, in Norse mythology was the horse used by the goddess of death, Hel, to bring the dead to her realm.

Helhest: Gunnar Utsond’s sculpture “Helfærd”, originally from 1890, in front of the former Sjømannsskolen in Oslo . The work depicts Nanna and Balder descending to the realm of the dead Hel on the back of the Hel horse. In Danish folklore, the Hel horse is also a kind of “horse ghost” that can act as a omen of death.

In Odense, it is said there is a “Helhest”, a hel horse. A Helhest is said to be a horse buried alive in a churchyard for good luck before any humans were. According to the legend, it walks on three legs. From the Danish Folklorist, Evald Tang Kristensen it was said that: “In St. Knud’s parish in Odense, a three-legged horse will walk in the cemetery at night like a ghost. In another parish, a sheep with a lamb will walk.”

Read More: Check out the in depth article about The Helhest: Death’s Horse in Danish Folklore

These particular Church Grimms from early Christianity in Denmark could be either a horse, a lamb or a pig. All animals which were also used as sacrifices in the Viking Age, and particularly horses have been found buried together with people in their graves.

Horse Burial: Equestrian burial was one of the earliest forms of Viking-Age burial to be found in Denmark in the 19th century, although the excavations were often unprofessional and documentation of it is now lacking. But in most viking societies people buried with horses as well as horse sacrifices seems to have been common, as they were connected with the norse Gods as well as fertility. It is said this practice continued in a changed fashion post-christianity, when horses were said to have been buried for good luck when opening a new cemetery. // Illustration from the Birka grave Bj 581 in Sweden.

The Virgin Ghost Haunting the Cathedral

The story of the Helhest is not the only ghost said to haunt the old Cathedral. In the pavement in front of Sankt Knuds Kirke, a stone with a small hole has been preserved. According to the legend, a young woman was once chased  through the cathedral, up the church tower by Swedish soldiers invading Odense. Some say that it was during the war of Carl Gustav of Sweden in 1658-60 and that her name was Karen Jørnsdatter.

To save her virtue, she threw herself from the tower to her death. The mark in the stone is said to be the imprint of her foot and called Jomfruspringet, or the Virgin Leap. The stone was once right before the church, but was moved during redirection of the road and can now be found on the corner of Munkemøllestræde. She is sometimes said to have come back to haunt the church.

Image: Claus Thøgersen, Stadsarkivet

The Brothers in the Ghost Carriage

In the church  there is a tomb chapel where two brothers from the Glorup Manor are buried. Although their ghosts are not said to haunt the church itself, the legend ties it to their grave.

Legend has it that every night at midnight, they are seen driving in a black carriage with four horses from Odense to Glorup. Arriving in Birkum though, it drives off the road and into the fields, as the roads they once drove on have now moved. But their ghosts don’t realize this, and still drive down the old road they remember.

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    The Danish ghostly horse spirit Helhest is said to roam around St. Canute’s Cathedral in Odense, Denmark. It is believed seeing the three legged horse is an omen of imminent death.
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References:

Folklore in Odense. Some of the folklore from this city. We see a story surrounding folklore or folk beliefs in every aspect of people’s lives, back in the day. Odense in Denmark is no different. Eve

St. Canute’s Cathedral – Wikipedia

Jomfruspringet (The Virgin Leap)

Sagnstenen Jomfruspringet på Klingenberg i Odense. Folketroen beretter en forfærdelig historie fra den tid, da de svenske tropper huserede over hele landet. I fortovsbelægningen pa hjørnet til Munkemøllestræde i Odense ses en stor sten med mystiske mærker i. De stammer fra en ærbar jomfru, der blev forfulgt af nogle svenskere, og for at frelse sig og sin ære flygtede hun op i Skt. Knuds kirketarn. Med svenskerne i hælene sprang hun ud af et af glamhullerne i tarnet og landede med sa stor kraft pa stenen, at hendes fødder efterlod mærker i stenen. Stenen la tidligere foran indgangen til Skt Knuds Kloster, men blev rykket i forbindelse med omlægningen af vej og fortovsbelægningen. #jomfruspringet #fynskefortidsminder #fortidsminder #odense #visitodense #gamledanmark #flakhaven #klingenberg #sten #sktknudskirke #sktknudskloster #sagn #fynskesagn #stone #sagnsten #dendanskefolketro

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The Helhest Haunting Saint Olaf’s Church in Helsingør

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According to old legends and Danish folklore, there are stories of three legged horses haunting the churches and graveyards in the country. in Saint Olaf’s Church, the spirit of the helhest is said to be the omen of death.

Saint Olaf’s Church, or the Sankt Olai Kirke, is the cathedral church of Helsingør in the north of Zealand, Denmark. With a history going back to around 1200, the present building was completed in 1559. In 1961, the church was given the status of cathedral.

Read more: Check out all ghostly tales from Denmark

As with many other old churches and graveyards in Denmark, it is said that the spirit of a helhest is said to haunt the area. Thought to be the bringer of death and the horse of the old Norse goddess Hel that brought the dead to her realm.

Helhest: Gunnar Utsond’s sculpture “Helfærd”, originally from 1890, in front of the former Sjømannsskolen in Oslo . The work depicts Nanna and Balder descending to the realm of the dead Hel on the back of the Hel horse. In Danish folklore, the Hel horse is also a kind of “horse ghost” that can act as a omen of death.

The History of Saint Olaf’s Church

The church was dedicated to Saint Olaf of Norway who fell in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. In several places in the church we see depictions of Saint Olav stepping on the dragon of paganism as he was credited with uniting the country and establishing Christianity as the national law. Olaf’s illegitimate son with the concubine Alvhild, Magnus the Good, assumed power in Norway, and eventually also in Denmark. Numerous Danish churches were dedicated to Olaf during his reign, and the sagas give glimpses of the young king’s efforts to promote the cult of his deceased father.

Giåm//Flickr

Mentioned for the first time in 1295, the original small Romanesque church was probably built at the beginning of the 13th century. When the church was rededicated in 1521, possibly after a fire, Saint Andrew and Saint Vincent are mentioned as patron saints. After the Reformation, Saint Olaf’s gained a reputation as a Catholic stronghold.

Read More: In depht article about The Helhest: Death’s Horse in Danish Folklore

In connection with the major renovation of the church in 2000-2001, a number of the inner burial chambers were opened, and approximately 50 coffins were photographed and some were examined in more detail by the Helsingør City Museum. It turned out that the bodies were extremely well preserved, and the studies have been very valuable from a national museum point of view.

The Helhest Haunting the Cathedral

Perhaps also the alleged buried horse, called Helhest is also as well preserved as some of the bodies buried in the church. The horse has also been called a “church horse” or “corpse horse” as it was believed that the horse had been buried alive when the church was built. The horse usually walked on three legs and could also be headless.

Horse Burial: Equestrian burial was one of the earliest forms of Viking-Age burial to be found in Denmark in the 19th century, although the excavations were often unprofessional and documentation of it is now lacking. But in most viking societies people buried with horses as well as horse sacrifices seems to have been common, as they were connected with the norse Gods as well as fertility. It is said this practice continued in a changed fashion post-christianity, when horses were said to have been buried for good luck when opening a new cemetery. // Illustration from the Birka grave Bj 581 in Sweden.

The ghost of it  remained on church grounds and could, among other things, appear to people who were about to die or to warn about someone else’s. According to tradition, the sight of a helhest was thought to signal that plague or other deadly disease was near. If a helhest came into sight, the community expected death to follow. If you simply heard its three hooves on the ground, you had better close your eyes and get out of there.

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References:

Kirkens historie | helsingoerdomkirke.dk

Helhesten

St. Olaf’s Church, Helsingør – Wikipedia

Ukategorisert

The Hauntings of Gamle Aker Church Over a Dragon’s Den

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Could it be that the oldest church in Oslo also has the oldest haunting? From legends about a dragon’s den underneath the structure and the ghostly silhouette haunting, the Gamle Aker Church perhaps has more activity than what meets the naked eye. 

Gamle Aker Church (Old Aker Church) stands quietly above the modern streets of Oslo, its ancient limestone walls watching over the city as they have for centuries. As one of the oldest surviving churches in the capital, it carries a weight of history that many believe goes far beyond what is written in records. 

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Visitors often describe an uneasy feeling the moment they step onto the grounds, as if something unseen is still awake beneath the soil.

Photo: Bjørn Erik Pedersen/Wikimedia

Built Upon the Dead

The church is shrouded in mystery, and with little documentation a lot of the details and its history is unknown and often turned into legends. 

Aker Church is mentioned in 1080 as the county church for Vingulmark. The Oslo City Dictionary believes that this is the present-day church, and that it may have been built by King Olav Kyrre. Other sources date the church to the first part of the 12th century. Stylistic criteria, however, indicate that the Old Aker Church that still stands there was begun at the earliest in the early 12th century. The church referred to in 1080 is by all accounts a church that stood on the site before the present-day church was built, probably a wooden church.

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The church was constructed on land that once served as a Norse burial ground, a place of pagan rites and ancient graves long before Christianity reached the area. Not much fact is known about this legend though, but the first church was certainly built toward the end of the viking era. 

With as much history lost in time, no wonder the church has gotten a more haunted reputation. According to local belief, the spirits of those buried here were never fully laid to rest. When the church rose above them, it did not silence the past, but instead layered new faith over old unrest. Many believe this clash of beliefs is the source of the strange atmosphere that lingers around the churchyard.

Whispers, Shadows, and Unease in the Dragon’s Den

Beneath Gamle Aker Church lies the mountain that was once a silver mine, now flooded. Mines were already operating here in the 12th century, and the wealth financed the construction of the church. A legend says that the church stands on four pillars of gold. Between the four pillars there is a pond where silver ducks swim. And far below there is a large silver treasure guarded by a dragon.

People have sometimes said that they could see fire and smoke from the dragon coming up from the cemetery. It was also said that sometimes you could see the dragon flying through the air, because it was going over to Hovedøya where it also hunted.

A Place That Never Truly Sleeps

Some claim that the spirits tied to the old burial ground still wander the area at night, unable to move on. The churchyard has become a focal point for ghost stories in Oslo, with locals warning that the calm exterior hides something far older and darker. 

The church became a gathering point for NS sympathizers – people who turned away from the king’s unwavering “no” to Nazism. What none of them knew was that in the darkness beneath the choir floor lay Queen Maud. She had died in 1938, but the construction of her mausoleum had been delayed by the war. She remained under the floor for years. Today, however, there is no evidence that Queen Maud rested here for eight years:

Interior of Gamle Aker kirke (church) in Oslo, Norway. // Image: Nemo bis/Wikimedia

Even those who do not believe in ghosts often admit that Gamle Aker feels different, as if the ground itself remembers what came before.

Over the years, Gamle Aker Church has been linked to numerous ghostly encounters. One of the most reported seemingly supernatural reports from here is about a cloaked silhouette gliding through the church grave

Visitors have reported shadowy figures moving among the gravestones, even when the grounds are empty. Others speak of faint whispers carried on the wind, voices that seem to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Inside the church, sudden chills and an overwhelming sense of being watched are common experiences, especially during quiet hours.

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References:

Gamle Aker kirke 

Gamle Aker kirke: Mystiske legender og skjulte «skatter» under Oslo

Gamle Aker kirke – lokalhistoriewiki.no

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