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The Half-Dead Írafells-Móri Haunting For Generations

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Although not even completely dead, an unfortunate boy was resurrected as an undead by a sorcerer to avenge an entire family. For generations the Írafells-Móri plagued, harassed and also took care of the family he was sent to destroy. 

There was a man named Kort, the son of Þorvarður Möðruvellir in Kjós. He was a juryman and a well respected farmer. He was also known to be an extremely haunted man. The ghost that ended up haunting him and his family descendants are mostly known by the name Írafells-Móri. Not only did the ghost haunt the family, but their friends, neighbours and just unfortunate people crossing his path. But seeing that including every instance of haunting and haunted, this article will solely focus on Kort, his children and grandchildren. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

Kort was married twice. First to Ingibjörg, and the latter Þórdís Jónsdóttir. Ingibjörg was from the north and many had tried to propose to her before Kort, but she refused them all. The suitors became angry when she chose Kort over them and the men in the north went to a sorcerer to curse both Kurt and Ingibjörg. To do this, the sorcerer resurrected a ghost that would do their bidding called a 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.

Raising the Dead for Vengeance

The sorcerer chose for this a young boy, of whom the story says that he had died of exposure outdoors between the farms. When he rose from the dead, he was warm and not even completely dead before being resurrected, and was sent out, ordered to haunt the couple at Möðruvellir and their descendants for nine generations.

The many men who saw the Írafells-Móri described him so that he wears gray trousers below and a brownish coat on the body, with a black broad-brimmed hat on his head, and there was a notch or large gap in the brim above the left eye. When Móri came south he attached himself to Möðruvellir as instructed and killed livestock and spoiled food. But there are no examples of Móri directly killing people.

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.

One winter, Kurt and his wife had two calves that the Írafells-Móri drove over the cliffs the following summer, and they were found dead below. Another time, Kort had a mare and a foal grazing in the home pastures at Möðruvellir. Late in the summer men saw the foal running as if it had gone mad around a stone, and then it fell down dead. When they came to it the foal lay dead with its behind, caught its rectum on the stone and tore all its guts out. This was attributed to Móri.

Unlike most ghosts, the Móri was thought to have not been completely dead before being turned. Because of this, the ghost needed to eat and was even rationed food at both Möðruvellir and when he went to live at Írafell to haunt their son, Magnús Kortsson.

Móri would sometimes sit on the barn floor and gnaw on the milk troughs with his paws or knock them down, splash curd both on Ingibjörg and all over the rafters, or throw turf and stones into the food wherever it was, spoiling it with it if he wasn’t fed. Once they forgot to feed Móri in the evening and in the morning, they saw him sitting in the barn with his hands down in each cheese barrel, both munching on the cheese and sprinkling it with crumbs. After that, they were careful not to forget to feed him.

After this Kort moved away from Möðruvellir and went to Flekkudal in Eyjafjörður, but Móri followed them there and plagued them no less than before until his death in 1821. 

The Haunting of Magnús Kortsson

After the death of Kortur Heitin (1821), Móri first followed his eldest son Magnús, who lived for a long time on Írafell, as mentioned above, and because Móri was the longest attached to it, he was called Írafells-Móri, and that name has since stuck with him.

It seems that there were fewer evil visits before Kort the Elder than to some of his children and grandchildren from his first wife, whether it is because it has been longer since he was alive and those stories have therefore faded from people’s memory or Mór was more concerned with the visits when he began to follow Kort’s children or the third thing that some think is most likely is that he did not dare to wade as much while Kort was alive as after he died.

Írafell in Kjós//Source

It wasn’t just food that Móri needed; he also felt he needed to rest like anyone else, and it is said that after he started following Magnús Kortsson to Írafell where he got his name, he always had to leave a bed space empty for him opposite his own. No one except the ghost was supposed to lie in it. It also had a separate food supply.

Once people needed a place to stay for the night at Írafell. Later that evening, a boy came to the house and asked to stay there. Magnús said he could stay in the house, but had no place but the floor to sleep unless he dared to sleep in the ghost’s bed. The boy accepted and braved himself to get into the bed, but when he fell asleep, something terrible stirred him in his sleep and woke him up. He was unable to sleep well that night.

The next day the weather was bad so that the guests could not travel and had to stay at Írafell another night. That evening, some boys who lived at Írafell and knew Móri and had often been in a fight with him came and stuck knives all around the bed so that the points stuck out everywhere. That night the boy slept soundly and the men were grateful that Móri had not dared to attack him because of the knives.

Once Magnus went to Seltjarnarnes when there was a lot of fishing there, but since he had no regular place on any of the boats, he sailed with them all and sat in different places every day. For two days, he got a seat at farmer Sigurður’s in Hrólfskáli. They all noticed that Magnus was never alone, and on the third morning and they set sail, they started whispering about seeing something looking like a russet wool or ball of hair coming with Magnus. Because they didn’t want to bring any bad luck with them to the sea, and asked him to leave the boat. 

The Haunting of Björn Kortsson

It said Björn Kortsson had twice suffered grievous affliction like his other brothers. Once a man met Björn traveling north, and when they meant to ride past each other his horses shied, and it was the belief of men that they had seen the ghost and feared him, though the man himself did not see him. 

On another occasion it was that the farm at Mýdal in Mosfellssveit stood open one winter evening in moonlight and fair weather. One of the household came from somewhere, and when he came into the doorway he saw a boy further inside the door whom he did not recognize, but thought to himself that this must be Írafells-Móri, from the description he had heard of him. The man now thought to corner Móri inside to handle him and shut the door. Then he let his hands sweep through the doorway and felt as though something came against him, but when he meant to seize it, it slipped away from him again so that he could not grasp it. But early the next morning Björn Kortsson came to Mýdal.

Björn was, like all that family, a good-natured and well respected man. It is said that he was popular with the ladies and at least three sought after him when he was a young man at Hjálmholt. He used to joke that it was Mori they were after, as everyone knew that he was followed. 

As time went on though, Björn joked less and less as madness afflicted him in the later years of his life, and it wasn’t easy to live with him. It seems that a lot of the family members had this mental illness that often accompanies stories of ghosts haunting families. The illness was not seen as natural though, and was blamed on Móri.

The Haunting of Einar Kortsson

Einar Kortsson, who had been living in Tjarnarhús near Lambastaðir for a long time, once left home and was going up to Kjós to find his relatives there. It was early in the winter and when he arrived there it was getting dark. He continued on foot, and arrived after the vigil at Skrauthólar in Kjalarnes. Although Einar was not entirely unfamiliar with the place, he did not want to cause any trouble or wake people up when they were all just asleep. So he decided to look in the barn to see if he could find a place to stay for the night. 

The next morning he excused himself to the townspeople who welcomed him. They did however think that the Mori had made way for their master, as the night before, a cow had broken its neck and was found dead in the same stall Einar went to sleep in. The Mori was also thought to be behind the death of Einar’s favorite horse. One morning late in Einar’s time, Gráni lay dead in the air so tightly in front of the farm door in Tjarnarhúsi that no one could get in or out of him until the door was taken off its hinges. This was thought to have been caused by Móri.

Móri played various other tricks on Einar while he followed him. One was that Einar sometimes became like a disfigured man in the face or like a leper, with eruptions of scabs and boils and scratches as if a cat had clawed him, but if he was asked how he had gotten them he would say nothing about it. At times these eruptions disappeared again, and this was counted among other strange things that are said to follow the Kort family and be attributed to Móri. 

Men also often saw Móri riding around the houses at Einar’s, both the farmhouses and also a shed that he owned, and it was believed that Móri stayed often down by the sea, for many times the dogs there went mad and broke out in barking and noise around the shed, though no men nor animals were seen moving near it.

The Haunting of Kort Kortsson

Not many stories have gone about of hauntings before Kort Kortsson the elder, but men still believe they can fully say that Móri followed him so that harm came both to others and to himself. In the winter of 1833 it so happened that Þorsteinn, a farmer at Þúfukot in Kjós, rowed the winter fishing season at Kjalarnes and went home at Easter, as is the custom of many fishermen whose homes are not far away. 

On that same day Kort Kortsson in Uppkot in Eyrarhverfi also went home, for he too was rowing that season at Kjalarnes. Since Kort was on foot he asked Þorsteinn to carry a few things for him. One of these was a sheepskin coat which Þorsteinn tied behind him. Þorsteinn then continued his way until the roads divided to Þúfukot and Uppkot. Þorsteinn meant to go straight home without stopping at Uppkot, but when he turned his horse onto the path that led home to Þúfukot it seemed to him, and he even thought he heard, that someone seized the sheepskin coat behind him, and in that same moment the horse fell down dead under him. This was blamed on Móri, that he had crushed or killed the horse because he had wanted Þorsteinn to return the sheepskin coat home to Kort.

Kort was like many of his siblings, half-crazed in mind, so that often care had to be taken that he did not do himself harm, which he often tried when he was in such a state. In one such fit he got hold of a knife and cut himself straight across the neck, but then someone came to him and the knife was taken from him. He was then brought to a doctor who healed him and sewed the wound, but since the stitching had been done badly, there was always something odd in Kort’s throat when he swallowed. People believe he died of this wound, which he was continually reopening when madness came over him.

The Haunting of Solveig Kortsdóttir

Solveig, daughter of Kort, married Magnús, a farmer at Hjallasandur on Kjalarnes, and they have lived there for most of their farming life. People say that Móri follows her, as with the other siblings. 

Magnús and she had kept a maidservant named Sigríður. She was once in the kitchen in the evening doing some household work. Then the maid said to her mistress: “What is crawling there on my back?” and looked back over her shoulder at the same time. The housewife said that nothing was crawling on her. But in that same moment the maid fainted where she stood. Then the household came and carried her to her bed. Afterwards the fainting passed off, but then she was seized with terrible vomiting. And just about when the vomiting eased, there was a knocking at the farmhouse door. A farmhand heard it further inside the house and said: “Be off, whoever you are,” for he thought that it was the one who had attacked Sigríður the maid. Then they went to the door, and there was Solveig Kortsdóttir, asking for that same maid who had fainted, for she had some errand with her. People think this was the ghost of Solveig, Írafells-Móri, who pressed so hard upon Sigríður.

Kort’s Grandchildren and the Continuing Haunting of their Family

Magnús at Írafell had four children: two named Guðrún, Guðríður, and Guðmundur. Once, Guðrún fell ill, and Móri came to her where she lay in a single-room dwelling and knocked down all the sets of cups she owned from a shelf above the window in the same room where she lay, and they went, as one might well imagine, into a thousand pieces. 

The other Guðrún married her father’s workman, named Ólafur, and they have long lived at Reykjakot in Mosfellssveit. She was often ill both in mind, as so many of the Kort family have been prone to, and also in body. She has also lost a number of children, and that may well be in part the cause of her ailments. It is said that Móri, especially after the death of Magnús, took up his lodging with the couple Ólafur and Guðrún and that he keeps to himself above a large floor-vat which is sunk halfway into the pantry floor. When Guðrún is ill so that others must take charge of the cooking, it is said that Móri sets a dog’s head upon himself and is ashamed to take his food from any other than Guðrún.

Magnús of Írafell’s son Guðmundur was haunted by Móri no less than his sister Guðríður. One winter, Ásgeir the farmer at Lambastaðir had sent his son Þorvaldur to Reynivellir for instruction under Reverend Ólafur Pálsson, now provost of Gullbringu- and Kjósar-sýsla. Þorvaldur went home shortly before Christmas to spend the holiday with his parents, and it had been arranged that he would be fetched afterwards if anyone happened to travel from Kjós.

One evening at Lambastaðir, Þorvaldur and his mother Sigríður were the only two sleeping in the house. It was late at night and the lights had been put out, when Sigríður suddenly felt unwell and asked her son to light them again. Þorvaldur did so, and when he was finished she asked him to fetch her some water to drink, and to take the light with him so he would not stumble anywhere, although Þorvaldur, though only twelve years old at the time, was not afraid of the dark and did not need it for that reason.

So he went for the water into the kitchen, leaving the lamp in the parlor and the parlor door open, so that the glow reached into the kitchen. He filled a glass and was about to go back when, as he turned around, he saw a strapping boy come out of the anteroom into the kitchen, though neither of the doors there had been closed the evening before. The boy stood in the glow of the lamp bareheaded, with a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, wearing a brownish coat, raising his eyebrows roguishly and grinning at Þorvaldur. They looked one another in the eyes for a short while, for Þorvaldur said he had not been afraid of him but studied him closely, and he still remembers how it seemed to him that the boy’s whole face was covered with hair. But when Þorvaldur took his eyes off him, he was overcome with dizziness so that the water spilled from the glass.

Then a sheepdog that had been lying in the parlor leapt up with a terrible barking, running through the kitchen and out into the home-field, and several other dogs joined in, keeping it up for a long time. The next day two men came down from Kjós to fetch Þorvaldur, and one of them was Guðmundur Magnússon, who was then living at Káraneskot. People then felt sure that it had been Írafells-Móri whom Þorvaldur had seen that night.

Einar Kortsson had four daughters; two of them are normal, one suffers from a limb-wasting disease, and the fourth is thought not to be quite right in the head. Her name is Guðrún, she is sixteen years old, and until now nothing had been found amiss with her. She often complains that “the wretch Móri” is teasing her, pinching her, or otherwise tormenting her. Recently she developed an ailment in her knee which lasted a long time, and she herself said that it had come about because Móri had shoved her so that she fell on a stone with her knee. And just as she blames Móri for all these mishaps of hers, so there is talk that he is also the cause of the girl’s want of understanding, since she is considered little more than a half-wit, and this is thought to be in keeping with various other assaults of Móri against members of the Kort family.

Descendants of Kort: The picture above shows Kristinn Magnússon, Guðrún Pétursdóttir, his wife, and Pétur Kristinsson, their son. // Source

Kristinn Magnússon (1827-1893) was the son of Solveig Kortsdóttir (1796-1865). Kristinn was a well-known shipowner and shipbuilder. Móri, never did anything horrific when they tjey reached this part of the descendants. He was more of a nuisance to the family according to Kristinn. He told people they had to feed him like they would any other adult and as his ancestors had done before him. He would spill his food and make a big mess as per usual. Kristinn spoke often of the boy, as he called him. He never seemed to bother him, but his presence was often with Kristinn and if we are to believe the legends, perhaps still are, although in a more faded presence in the family members branching out in Iceland like a tree.

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References:

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

Sagnaþættir úr Engey – Heimasíða Benedikts Jóhannessonar

Írafellsmóri – Ferlir 

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The Ghostly Shoes of Hindelbank: A Mother’s Journey Beyond the Grave

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After her husband forgot to bury her with shoes, a woman came back to haunt him as she was condemned to wander the realm of the dead barefoot. 

In the Emmental area in the heart of Switzerland, where the rolling green hills cradle the village of Hindelbank, an old belief once echoed through the valleys: if a woman died before her newborn child had reached six weeks of life, her soul would not find peace. 

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Condemned to walk barefoot over thistles and thorns in the shadowy realm of the dead, she would be forced to suffer for the unfinished bond of motherhood. Unless, of course, the living remembered to offer her one final gift that were her shoes.

The Emmental: A serene view of the rolling hills and mountains in the Emmental area of Switzerland, here from Stockhorn.

Lost in Limbo and the Realm of the Dead

This is a ghost story found in P. Keckeis, M. Waibel, Legends of Switzerland. Bern, Zurich 1986, and tells about this eerie custom from Switzerland. Although said to have been a tradition or folklore, there isn’t much information to go on about the subject to back it up.  

It was said that placing a deceased mother’s shoes in her coffin would ease her painful journey through the underworld, where the spirits of mothers wandered among nettles and barbs until their children were out of danger as they feared for their souls. The Limbo of Infants is the hypothetical permanent status of the unbaptised who die in infancy, too young to have committed actual sins, but not having been freed from original sin in Catholicism.

There have been many debates about this part, and there have also been a lot of folklore talking about how to combat it. But in the quiet village of Hindelbank, this final act of compassion was tragically forgotten.

Dietrich Michael Weidmann/Source

The Ghost with no Shoes

After a young mother passed away suddenly, her grieving husband was left to mourn with his infant child. Distraught and overwhelmed, he buried his wife without the customary footwear. Soon after the funeral, a strange sound disturbed his nights with sharp, persistent knocking at the window, always around midnight. No matter how he searched, no one was ever found outside. Yet the knocking returned, again and again, growing more insistent with each passing night.

Emmental Farmhouse: Charming Swiss architecture adorned with vibrant flowers in the Emmental area.

Desperate and frightened, the man finally confided in his neighbors. The woman was likely trying to reach him, not in malice, but in pain. Her feet were bare. Her soul could not rest. “Place her shoes at the window,” they told him, “and she will take them.”

That very evening, he did as instructed. He retrieved her shoes and placed them gently on the windowsill. When morning came, the shoes were gone. And the knocking never returned.

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Troubling Encounters With the Ghosts of Tranquille Sanatorium in Canada

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Tranquille Sanatorium near Kamloops is said to be one of the most haunted places in Canada. Once a hospital treating tuberculosis, later a place for the mentally ill has a history filled with mystery, tragedy, and an eerie atmosphere that still lingers to this day. Visitors report spooky sightings of ghostly figures wandering the grounds and warning whispers in dark corridors.

Is there something more haunting and creates a more scary atmosphere than the now abandoned sanatoriums that exist around the world? Canada’s historic Tranquille Sanatorium near Kamloops (Tk’emlúps) in British Colombia hides many secrets of its past, including a host of creepy sightings and paranormal activity. 

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Located not far from Kamloops in British Columbia, the Tranquille Sanatorium opened its doors back in 1907. By 1910, the hospital was able to accommodate almost 50 patients, 4 nurses, and 12 attendants. By 1932, the Tranquille Sanatorium was able to house over 600 patients and staff and was operating as a fully functioning and self-sustaining community. 

Tranquille Sanatorium around 1920

Originally designed to treat tuberculosis known as the white plague back in the days, the Tranquille Sanatorium hospitalized thousands of people over the years. The facility was called the King Edward VII Sanatorium. The community built around the facility had gardens, houses, a gymnasium, a farm, a fire department as well as recreational areas such as an auditorium, a cafeteria, a laundry mat and tennis courts. It even had a school for handicapped children named “Stsmemelt Village” and a community and life grew around the sanatorium outside the hospital as well.

In 1958, the hospital closed and was reopened in 1959 to treat the mentally ill until the late 80s. In September 1991, an Italian developer, Giovanni Camporese, the president of A&A Foods, bought the land to turn it into a resort and renamed it “Padova City” from his hometown. There have been many plans to demolish it, but is for now an abandoned and derelict building and a farming community around. 

source

Many did not survive their stay in this haunted building as the white plague once was the single biggest killer in Canada, and its tragic history has added to its eerie reputation. 

Tranquille Sanatorium: A former TB hospital near Kamloops, with plans to become a sustainable community. Here from 2014. // Source

Paranormal Activity at Tranquille Sanatorium

Although the place is closed off as it is private property, you can still visit to participate in their historic tours. It is said that both visitors and staff at Tranquille Sanatorium have reported a wide range of paranormal occurrences like strange sightings and ghostly images. Moans and groans that from disembodied voices ring through the location and others have even reported seeing apparitions wandering the grounds. Some visitors have even reported feeling like they were being watched or followed by something unseen in the shadows.

One of the more retold rumours is about seeing light orbs and faint floating lights traveling in circles. This is especially reported on happening around the main entrance. Apparently, lights in the sanatorium also go on and off by themselves.

But what or who is behind the haunting rumours? According to the stories, these paranormal occurrences are linked to the dark history of Tranquille Sanatorium and those who lost their lives here as patients are still lingering. 

There are not many names and specific ghosts connected to this place, but they are certainly active, and sometimes even violent. Visitors report a figure pushing past them before disappearing and one even claimed to have been chased out of the hospital by a mist looking like the silhouette of a human. The spirit of a nurse who was supposedly murdered by a patient can be seen in several of the rooms have also made its rounds as a haunted legend. 

The Mother’s Cries on the Eight Floor

Although the stories from the haunted Tranquille Sanatorium can be very vague, there are some rumors that seem to echo through many sources. 

The sounds of children crying can be heard coming from the 8th floor, an area where pediatrics used to be. This is also a place where many people talk about seeing the mysterious orbs that have been observed throughout the sanatorium grounds. They have also claimed to have heard the voices of ghostly children playing in the abandoned children’s ward. 

Another ghost said to appear in these rooms is a female ghost believed to be a mother to one of the children. She can be heard crying for her child and even seen on both the eight as well as the sixth floor. When those seeing her approach her though, she vanishes into thin air. 

The Haunted Tunnels Below

The most haunted place though it is said to be the tunnels that have been dug out underneath the sunken gardens. Not only were these tunnels used to transport food and supplies into the sanatorium, they were also used to transport the dead bodies of the patients to the cemetery. Although it sounds dark, it was actually to spare the living patients the distress of seeing others succumbing to the illness they were battling with themselves. By using the tunnels, the staff would be able to discreetly transport them without anyone seeing it. 

Could these tunnels be haunted now? Throughout the decades, local teenagers have used these tunnels as a hang out and party place, and many of the haunted rumours come from this period.  There are reports that the tunnels below are filled with lonely voices and cries. 

The Ancestral Burial Site

It is not only the dark history of the sanatorium that has made people think it is haunted. Tranquille is a particularly active area when it comes to First Nations history. This land west of Tk’emlúps which is Secwépemctsín for “where the rivers meet”  is also the site of a major Secwépemc settlement dating back thousands of years. The Secwepemc used the area around Tranquille Sanatorium as a fishing and hunting settlement before the first colonists took over the area. Their ancestral burial sites and gravel pits have been found under the structures of the sanatorium. 

Source

The same location that was once Tranquille Sanatorium is now known as Tranquille Farm Fresh, which offers escape rooms and heritage tours, often connected to the haunted rumours for Halloween. For now, further development of the place remains in a place of limbo, where private development, agricultural needs as well as First People rights is trapped in a crossroad. 

Ghost Hunting in the Sanatorium

But is it really haunted? Several blogs have recounted their own experiences of partying and fuelling the haunted rumours with playing and pranking, pretending to be the ghosts. A lot of the modern takes on the haunted sanatorium actually comes from the MTV Show “MTV Fear” that aired from 2000 to 2002. Contestants are blindfolded and led by guides to the supposedly haunted area. Once night arrives, a computer terminal will usually pick one or two colors and assign a dare. This computer also provides the group with background information about the area. Tranquille Sanatorium was chosen as a location in episode 5 of season 2. 

Some teenagers remember the time they were paid in pizza to act as the ghosts rumored to haunt the place. The show had perhaps even created several unique characters that were unknown to everyone before airing the show. They had for instance the wife of one of the doctors, Ellison, who was consumed by tuberculosis haunting the place, and the ghost of the Pig Man as well. 

Question is: Did the show create the haunted rumors, or did the haunted rumors just inspire the show? 

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References:

The buried history of Tranquille 

Tranquille: A Timeline 

Vanishing B.C. Tranquille – Kamloops 

The deep, dark and mysterious history of Tranquille Sanatorium and psychiatric institution | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan’s News Source

Sanatorium near Kamloops one of Canada’s most haunted places – Vancouver Is Awesome

Is Tranquille the victim of wild imaginations? – The Superstitious Times

Ukategorisert

Knightly Ghosts Haunting St. Johanns-Vorstadt by the Rhine River

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Before a modern apartment complex was built in its place, the area around St Johann district used to belong to the crusader order of St. John. Tales of knights prancing in armor, the anguished screams of children cries coming from the wells as well as ghostly apparitions in the old Ritterhaus have haunted the place for ages.  

Tucked within the twisting streets of old Basel, where ancient walls pressed close against the restless Rhine, and a ghost story around every corner. This is especially true for the St. Johanns district, a former working class neighborhood where people have lived since the Celts founded a settlement here that would become Basel city. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

Among other things to see is the historical St. Johanns-Tor, one of the three remaining entrances to the old medieval city and now the landmark of St. Johann Quarter. Among the quaint streets filled with shops and cafes, there are much older things said to haunt the streets still. 

Old Basel: Map of Basel in the olden days. The location of the Johanniterkommende and Church on a map of the city of Basel from around 1650.

The Armored Rider at Johanniterkommende Basel

Before falling apart, the whole area used to belong to The Order of St. John, which was founded after the conquest of Jerusalem by the army of the First Crusade in 1099.

The Knights Hospitaller’s branch first documented in Basel in 1206, a so-called commandery. The order dedicated itself to the care and support of pilgrims, the sick, and the needy. The whole district is now named after this order. When it was founded, the walled complex, comprising the church, churchyard, and commandery, stood approximately 300 meters northwest of the walled old town of Basel on the Rhine.

Equally talked about was the specter of a knight in full armor, his visor down and sword raised high, who was said to ride through the courtyard at the dead of night, the hooves of his phantom steed leaving no mark on the stone. 

This would be from The Commandery of the Knights of St. Johns that used to be where St. Johanns-Vorstadt 84 to 88 is now. Especially around the Ritterhaus right by the river was said to be haunted by the armed knights riding through the courtyard. 

The Haunted Buildings: The Order of St. John’s settlement around 1640. The B is where the Knight’s House was that were demolished 1929.

Today the Ritterhaus, or Knight’s House is gone as it was demolished in 1929. A modern apartment building has been built in its place. Did the ghost go away with the building? We know little about the commandery as their archives were mostly gone by the 19th century. 

The Child in the Sod Well

For centuries, passersby reported hearing the unmistakable sound of a child’s desperate, echoing scream rising from the depths of one of the old sod wells in the district, a type of covered well that used to be plentiful around the city. The source of the cry was never uncovered, though macabre rumors swirled and the legend of the crying child ghost persisted. 

The well was said to have been close to the old Ritterhaus as well, although the exact location is unknown. There aren’t many of the old sod wells left in the city anymore however, and the question is, did the ghost of the crying child also disappear?

The Pale-Faced Man and the Lady in Black

Inside the shadowed rooms of the Ritterhaus, other apparitions made their mournful rounds as well as outside. A small white dog, eyes luminous in the dark, would scamper through the halls, vanishing through walls as though chasing after some long-departed master.

But it was the appearance of a man with a deathly, hollow face, his features waxen and drained of all life, that filled residents and visitors alike with a primal dread. He would appear without sound, his dead gaze locking onto the living, before melting away into nothingness.

More unsettling still was the lady in a black cloak, a theatrical figure said to glide soundlessly through the rooms, her face hidden in deep shadow.

Though the Commandery of St. John is long gone, its stones scattered and repurposed, the legends have clung stubbornly to the place like fog. Is it still something left haunting the place? 

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References:

Glaubet nid an Gaischter? Von wegen. Basel ist voll davon. | barfi.ch

Spuk und Geister im alten Basel

Geschichte des Johanniterordens – Wikipedia

Johanniterkommende Basel – Wikipedia

Ukategorisert

Dearg Due – Ireland’s Vengeful Vampire of Blood and Stone

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For a long time, there have been tales about the Dearg Due, the bloodthirsty vampire of Ireland. But how true is the story about the female vampire though, and has it really been told since ancient times?

Hidden for centuries in the shadowed fields of County Waterford is the chilling legend of the Dearg Due, a ghostly figure born of beauty betrayed and a thirst for vengeance that would refuse to die. But the more you peel away from the legend, the more questions you are left with. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland

The name Dearg Due is said to mean red bloodsucker or the red thirst according to those who tell about the legend. The entity has been described as a female vampiric demon who seduces men before draining and sucking their blood. And together with The Legend of Ireland’s Vampire King Abhartach and the Haunted Giant’s Grave, it’s one of Ireland’s most well known vampire legends. 

The Legend of the Blood Thirsty Dearg Due

Once upon a time, a young woman known for her beauty lived in Ireland. When and where is a bit hazy though. Some say this happened closer to two thousand years ago in pre-christian times. It is said it happened around the area of what is now Waterford City in South-East Ireland. The ancient Celtic name for Waterford was “Cuan na Graí” or “The Harbor of the Sun.” This is the oldest city in Ireland, founded by vikings in the 9th century. 

The County Waterford is based on the historic Gaelic territory of the Déise settled in the 4th and 8th century. But who lived there before that as we can see by the many megalithic tombs and ogham stones in the county? Around two thousand years ago when the story is said to have happened?

Waterford, Ireland

She fell in love with a humble farm labourer and dreamed of a simple life by his side. But her father, greedy and cold, bartered her to a cruel chieftain in exchange for land and wealth and she had no say or choice in the matter.  

At her wedding, she was dressed in red and gold and it was a huge feast. Her marriage, though, was a tragedy and her husband was both cruel and abusive. Some say that she was locked away in her chambers or a tower. Ensnared in misery, she starved herself in despair to escape her cruel fate. Slowly, she just wasted away. 

She was buried near what has been known as Strongbow’s Tree in Waterford, and said to only be visited by her true love who prayed for her return to him. Her husband married a new woman at once, and her father didn’t think about her much in his newfound riches. and in death her grief mutated into something darker. 

When the first anniversary of her burial arrived, she rose from the grave, no longer the gentle maiden, but a crimson spectre who returned to the house of her father and the bed of her husband, touching their lips and stealing breath from their bodies as though it were blood. 

From that hour onwards she haunted the land, drifting through night mists, luring young men with her sorrow-soft beauty only to drain them utterly of life. The stories differ in how long she roamed the land. Some say ten months to a year. Some say she’s still there, lurking in the dark. 

The only safeguard, locals say, was to place heavy stones upon her grave or leave salt at the threshold to keep her from clawing her way out every night to hunt down men for her vengeance. In some versions of the legend, they used her former lover as bait who helped wrap her in blessed twigs to make her rest in her grave designed for her to stay. 

The History Behind the Legend

Now, a powerful story that has made its rounds claiming to be ancient roots. But how old is this story, really? Where is Strongbow’s tree, said to be the place she is buried beneath, supposedly in the ruins of an old churchyard.

Strongbow landed in Ireland on 23 August 1170 and attacked Waterford with a force of some two hundred knights and one thousand other troops. There were rumours that Strongbow’s body was secretly taken from Dublin and re-interred in 1177 to the place where he married the Irish princess Aoife. This is said to have been where the Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford was built, and a tree was planted in his memory.

Strongbow: This was actually a nickname to Richard de Clare (c. 1130[1] – 20 April 1176), the second Earl of Pembroke as well as his father’s nickname. He is known for the Normann invasion of Ireland and is said to have died there after an infection.

Now, this version would mean that the tree was planted long after the story was said to have happened. Another version though, links the two legends better. This claims that Strongbow and Aoife were married on August 25 on the shore of the River Suir beneath a great oak tree that came to be known as “Strongbow’s Oak.” It would make sense that ruins of an old churchyard existed here, but why would a pre-christian woman be buried there?

Now, which oak tree could Strongbow’s Oak be? An interesting point is the Reginald’s Tower in Waterford, built by the Norman invaders. It is said that this was the actual place where they got married. The site is sometimes called Dundory (an Irish word which means “fort of oak”), and hence the tower is occasionally called the Dundory Tower. It is also known as the Ring Tower. It begs the question. Was it a stone tower they ended up building over her grave? 

The Haunted Tower: As an article in the Tipperary Free Press from the 9th of April 1851 says, ‘some of those wiseacres who congregate about the tower, verily believe that it must be the old Dane himself come to visit his old castellated mansion …’ Did the haunted vampire legends actually start and evolve here?

That is of course, that it actually was a woman the locals feared was a vampire and buried under stones. But did she ever exist? It is interesting that this so-called ancient legend is first found in writing in 1924 when Dudley Wright wrote in his book Vampires and Vampirism: 

At Waterford, in Ireland, there is a little graveyard under a ruined church near Strongbow’s Tower. Legend has it that underneath the ground at this spot there lies a beautiful female vampire still ready to kill those she can lure thither by her beauty.

However, when Montague Summers mentioned this vampire in his book The Vampire in Europe from 1928, he also mentioned that this was a legend the locals had never heard about and he spelled her name, dearg-due. Fast forwarding to Anthony Master’s book, The Natural History of the Vampire, he writes: 

In old Ireland there was a traditionally-motivated vampire named the Dearg-due, which means the red blood-sucker. The only way to keep the Dearg-due in its grave was to build a cairn of stones over the top. Another legend claims that there is a female vampire lurking near Waterford. The actual spot is under a ruined church near Strongbow’s tree, and it is to this sinister place that the vampire lures, by her fatal beauty, men with good red blood running in the veins.

The name had suddenly changed and spelled differently. The Strongbow’s Tower was changed into Strongbow’s Tree. But the written foundation for the legend started to be repeated more rapidly. For a full walkthrough of the legend, check out the blog dedicated to debunk theories about the Irish language and history. 

So was the legend about the vampiric woman a made up story after the popularity from Dracula published in 1897 and the Irish connection to Bram Stoker? Or was it perhaps something older, something bloodthirsty only held back by a pile of stones?

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    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:

Dearg Due | Myth and Folklore Wiki 

The Dearg Dur – the origin story of the Waterford legend

Who was the Deargh Dué? – waterfordarts.com

The Road to Waterford – Celtic Life International

Dearg-due Archives – Stephen Morris, author 

Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke – Wikipedia

Ukategorisert

The Sels-Móri or Ghost of Þorgarður Haunting for Generations

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A family cursed by a ghost called Sels-Móri was said to be haunted for nine generations in 18th and 19th century Iceland. Targeting the women in the family, it is said that it was the ghost that drove them all mad. 

What sticks out from Icelandic ghost stories, was that often, the ghost was not just a shadow or whisper, creaking in the walls or lurking in the corner of the eyes. The Icelandic ghosts were often like flesh and blood and dangerous. Not only could they hurt you, they could follow you and your family, plaguing them with misfortune, and like the ghost story of Sels-Móri or the ghost of Þorgarður, was behind madness that seemed to be passed down in the families. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

A ghost story spanning over generations as well as travelling over the entire country is the story of Móri of Sel, where the story was said to have started. The story features an Icelandic ghost called a fylgja from 19th century Iceland, that has roots back to the Viking age. And to understand the concept of this rather long family saga, it could be helpful to how the fylgja evolved and operated through time. 

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: 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. 

Sels-Móri or Þorgarður

The story starts with a completely different family than the one that ended up being cursed. It starts with the life and death of the ghost itself. There once was a married couple that lived at a farm near the river Elliðá, not too far from Reykjavik. 

The story was compiled by Jón Árnason from stories circulated in the southwest of Iceland). Valgerður Jónsdóttir (1771–1856) and Hólmfríður Þorvaldsdóttir (1812–1876) are also listed as sources. There are at least 18 people by name, and at least 15 are verified historical people.

The farm had a worker named Þorgarðurand it was rumored that the wife had an affair with him. The farmer often had to go out for trivial tasks while Þorgarður was back home alone with her and this got people talking.

One winter night there was a horrible storm when the farmer was out working and tending to his livestock. He didn’t come home the following night and a search party was put together. The next morning they went to look for him and found him dead in the river and it  looked like a murder.

Elliðaá: The salmon river near Reykjavík from ca 1900 where the whole story about the Sels-Móri started.

Þorgarður was immediately suspected of this because of his reputation, and most believe that he actually did it. Even though he denied that he had killed his master, he was sentenced according to what the story says, either death by hanging or paying up with some fines and he should be allowed to redeem his life with a sheep fee. However, he didn’t have the money. 

At that time there lived a man named Jón at Seli in Seltjarnarnes east of Reykjavik, known as a diplomatic statesman with a kind heart. Þorgarður went to Jón and begged him to save his life and get out of the sentence. 

Jón was reluctant to do so at first, but Þorgarður vowed to serve him and his descendants as long as he had the strength and age. Jón, touched by the man’s plight, agreed to help and began to count the ransom on the table that Þorgarður needed to escape hanging.

When Jón counted the money, his wife Guðrún entered the living room and asked what he was doing with all the money. Jón said he was going to save the life of the man. She asked him not to do that foolish thing and swept up all the money in her apron with one hand.

Jón changed his mind and agreed with his wife. When she walked out of the room with the money in her apron she looked at Þorgard and said: “Let each one suffer for his actions.” 

Þorgard answered: “There will be no parting with us here; therefore it is no more than for me to see that my farewell follows you and your family to the ninth point.”

Then Þorgarður went away and was captured by the authorities, either in Iceland or abroad. It is believed that he was hanged in Kópavogur and that after his death, he immediately went back and sought out the Selsjóns as a fylgja ghost. 

The Hauntings for Nine Generations

As he had promised, he followed them wherever they went, especially the wife. Guðrúna was then both despondent and delirious and haunted for the rest of her life. Because this ghost was attached to Sel for a long time, he was 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.

Sel in Seltjarnarnes: Source

The Selsjóns couple had one daughter named Þorgerður that would be the next victim of Sels-Móri’s haunting. She married Halldór Bjarnason, a prominent farmer in Skildinganes. As well as inheriting her parents’ estates, she also inherited Sels-Móri of her family they called ættarfylgja, meaning something like an ancestral ghost.  

They had a son, Bjarni í Sviðholt, and it looks like the Sels-Móri skipped the male descendant of the family and he lived in peace. He was probably one of the members of the legal court whom the law speaker Magnús Ólafsson appointed later to the Alþing of Öxará, 1798.

He had many children and was known to be friendly and a good guy, thinking perhaps that they were free of the haunting. They still knew about the Sels-Móri, and he was in those days often called Sviðholt’s ghost, but very often he was still associated with the name Þorgarður. But the ghost returned to haunt the female descendants. 

Bjarni’s second daughter, whose name was Úríður, married Benedikt Björnsson, a student from Hítardal, who has been a priest in Fagranes for a long time. She was the greatest clairvoyant, but such adversity came upon her that she became half-crazy and sometimes angry with everything and difficult to live with. Although the ghost of Sels-Móri was almost part of life in Icelandic folklore culture, her insanity was too much for her husband.

As a result, she divorced her husband and her sister Ragnheiður took her in who was married with a school teacher at Bessastaðir called Jón Jónsson. The teachers and families of Bessastaðaskóli often lived in or close to the school. Today this is residence of the President of Iceland and has always been important in the history of the nation and has always been the seat of chieftains and high officials.

Read more: Another famous ghost is said to still linger at Bessastaðir. Check out Apollonia Schwartzkopf the Ghost at Bessastadir

Úríður died there after a time of unstable paranoia. She would claim that a viper was stinging her and that another woman called Ingibjörg was stabbing her with a cobbler’s needle. This was believed to refer to a woman who lived with her and her husband before they separated. This woman actually became his second wife after the divorce, so it begs to question what really happened before she was sent to her sister.  

Bessastaðir, Álftanes.// Source

They all believed that their ancestral ghost Sels-Móri who was the one behind her insanity. Úriði is said to have said during her fits of insanity that she should have said: “My sister, it’s better to stab me,”

It looks like her sister, Ragnheiður, was mostly free of the haunting, although the Sels-Móri was blamed when he caused the destruction of a mail boat that was lost in 1817 because her first husband sailed with it. Sels-Móri was also the cause of the late Þórður Bjarnason’s death, in Sviðholt; it is still said that he had haunted the children of Ragnheiður, especially her son, Björn.

Ragnheiðar’s children, Especially Bjarna Rector

It should be mentioned here at the same time that Bjarni Halldórsson in Sviðholt had a sister named Jórunn who seems to have had almost a parallel haunting in addition to her ancestral one. She was very fair and beautiful and a man in Álftanes asked her to marry him. But she thought that he was beneath her and she rejected him. She would however never be rid of him.

He promised he would cling to her and her family, even if he was unable to get to her as a wife. She married one named Eyjólf, and had a baby girl. They hadn’t been together for long when it became apparent that Jórunn had mental issues, which only increased as time went by, and in the end, she went completely insane. This was believed to be because of the curse of the suitor she rejected as well as the curse their family already was struggling with. 

Her daughter Þorgerðr grew up and married Eggert Bjarnason, who was at that time the priest at Snæfoksstaðir (Klausturhólum) in Grímsnes. She then went east with him and they had children together and it seemed to be fine. Perhaps they had escaped the curse by moving away? 

Time passed until Jórunn, Þorgerðr’s mother, died. There was no evidence of that illness in Þorgerði during her mother’s lifetime, as she had never come south since she went east, and it is said that Reverend Eggert was warned not to let her go south and never come beyond Sog or Álfvattan and would not blame her then. 

But when Jórunn á Skógtjörn died, it is said that Þorgerður begged her husband to go south with her to mourn her mother and he finally agreed. They had come south over Hellisheiði, south into Fóelluvötn above Helliskot when the curse hit her. According to the stories she was struck with a a dizzy spell and that she was never the same again. She had inherited Sels-Móri. They also believed that her mother’s ghost and fylgidraugur, had met her daughter there and followed her from then on as long as she lived

Breaking the Generational Curse and Haunting

She didn’t live very long however, and she died shortly after going south. The children of Reverends Eggerts and Þorgerður didn’t fare well with either, and two of their daughters were also said to have gone crazy, as so many of the women in their family line had done before them. 

But Sels-Móri made a promise all those generations ago, and after the ninth generation, the curse was lifted and the family line, if there still is someone around, is said to be finally free from it. 

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References:

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

(PDF) Icelandic Fylgjur Tales and a Possible Old Norse Context 

Chapter 3 The Fylgjur of Iceland: Attendant Spirits and a Distorted Sense of Guardianship

Ukategorisert

The Dragons of Mount Pilatus: Serpents and Ghosts in the Mist of Lucerne

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Is there a dragon nesting in Mount Pilatus by Lake Lucerne in Switzerland? For centuries the mountain has brought fear and fantastical tales from the locals living at the foot of the raging mountain. It was even forbidden to visit, as they believed disturbing the spirits would cause storms and flooding.  

Above the shimmering waters of Lake Lucerne, shrouded in thick clouds and an aura of ancient mystery, Mount Pilatus looms over the Swiss landscape like a sentinel from another world. Feared for bringing bad weather, stories about ghosts and mythological creatures are said to reside there.

Read more: Check out all haunted stories from Switzerland

While today it is a beloved destination for hikers, skiers, and tourists, this formidable massif has long been known by a darker name: Dragon Mountain. With jagged peaks, hidden caves, and a history that weaves folklore into the very rock, Pilatus has earned its reputation as a place where legend and reality blur.

Mount Pilatus: Known as Dragon Mountain, towers majestically above Lake Lucerne, shrouded in mystery and steeped in folklore. Thought to be haunted as well as the location of a dragon’s lair.

A Mountain of Monsters and Dragons

The legend of dragons dwelling on Mount Pilatus dates back centuries, with tales so vivid and widespread that they were chronicled in early medieval records. Locals believed the dragons were no mere beasts but intelligent and mystical creatures, protectors of ancient knowledge, and wielders of supernatural power. Their winged forms were said to disappear into the cliffs, their cries echoing down into the valleys during violent storms.

A particularly famous account comes from the summer of 1421. According to the chronicle, a great dragon was seen flying through the skies from Rigi to Pilatus before it plummeted down near the base of the mountain. A nearby farmer named Stempflin from Neuenkirch witnessed the crash and fainted from the shock. 

European Dragon; A dragon in a landscape, which, according to the Italian inscription, lived in the swamps outside Rome on December 1, 1691. On the left a bridge over a river.

When he awoke, the dragon had vanished, leaving behind a scorched earth, a thick pool of blood — and something strange: a smooth, shimmering object soon named the Drachenstein (Dragon Stone). Locals attributed healing properties to this strange relic, and for many years it was kept in a Lucerne church as a miraculous artifact. The surgeon Martin Schriber acquired the object from a descendant of Stämpfli and in 1523 had its miraculous powers confirmed in a document by the mayor and council of the city of Lucerne.

Dragon Mountain: An illustration depicting a dragon soaring through the sky, embodying the mythical tales surrounding Mount Pilatus. Discovery of the Lucerne Dragon Stone by the farmer Stämpfli. One of four illustrations from: Description of the famous Lucerne or 4th Waldstaetten Lake by Johann Leopold Cysat. Chapter 25: Of Dragons and Lindtwürms and of the Dragon Stone found in the city of Lucerne.

It was for a long time well documented over the years. after Schriber’s death in 1527, it came into the possession of Dorothea Moser , and in 1564 of the town clerk Johannes Kraft , then of the mayor Ludwig Schürf , then into the possession of the Cloos family, from whom it went to the Fleckenstein family and finally to the Meier von Schauenstein family.  In 1929, the Canton of Lucerne acquired the stone from the latter for 400 francs. Since then, it has been state property and was displayed in the Natural History Museum in Lucerne.

When the stone was loaned in 1954 to the Pharmacy History Museum in Basel, the documentation was lacking. After some deaths, it was forgotten about and considered lost in Lucerne for years until a curator in 1960 happened upon it in a museum in Basel. 

By 1978, it was back when the Natural History Museum in Lucerne reopened. For a long time, people assumed the stone was a meteorite. However, in 2006, they did some tests on it, showing it was burnt clay, although the origin and the cause of the stone and dragon legend remains a mystery. 

Dragon on Pilatus: Illustrations from the 1661 book: Description of the famous Lucerne or 4. Waldstaetten Lake by Johann Leopold Cysat. Chapter 25: Of dragons and lindworms and of the dragon stone found in the city of Lucerne.

The Dragon in the Reuss River

The story about the farmer and the healing dragon stone is not the only dragon sighting from the 1400s. In 1499, a dragon was reportedly washed ashore in the Reuss River running through Luzern, at the foot of the Mount Pilatus mountain. 

River Reuss: The iconic wooden Chapel Bridge at night, reflecting over Lake Lucerne, near the legendary Mount Pilatus.

Still to this day, reports about seeing something swim under the Reuss bridge, whether be a dragon sighting or something similar to the Loch Ness monster is still happening. 

A Portal Between Worlds

Other tales claim that a secret cave system beneath the peak known as the Flue served as a nesting ground for the dragons, and that travelers who dared venture too close would be cursed or spirited away. In one version from a 1619 chronicle, a man witnessed dragons gliding between the great rock formations of Pilatus and vanishing into the very walls of the mountain. These were no mindless beasts but powerful guardians, perhaps even shape-shifters, tied to the elements.

There are also stories about people falling off the snowy mountain in the winter, but awaking warm inside of the dragon’s cave, with the dragon nursing them back until spring. This story about nice dragons nursing someone through winter, This story happened the same year as the Dragon Stone appeared, and that the young man was fed on moon milk from the cave walls and flown back to Lucerne by the two dragons living there after the winter was over. 

The Ghost of Pontius Pilate

Because of these dark and unexplainable occurrences, the mountain was also considered cursed. In the Middle Ages, the city council of Lucerne forbade anyone from climbing Pilatus for fear of awakening the spirits and demons said to be imprisoned within. All farmers had to swear by God that they would never visit the lake either. In 1387, six priests were jailed for it. In 1564, two men made it to the lake without meeting a spirit, so they threw stones in the lake instead. This was said to cause a thunderstorm and they too were put in jail. 

Before being called Mt Piilatus, it was called Fractus Mons or Fräkmünt until 1460. The ghost of Pontius Pilate, from whom the mountain may derive its name, was also rumored to be buried in the now dried up Pilatus lake closeby, his soul haunting the region in eternal unrest.

Pontius Pilatus: He was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD and most known for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion. He was ordered to Rome by the Syrian legate to face Emperor Tiberius, but Tiberius died before Pilate arrived, and his fate thereafter remains unknown. The only sure outcome of Pilate’s return to Rome is that he was not reinstated as governor of Judaea, either because the hearing went badly, or because Pilate did not wish to return. Some say he retired, some say he committed suicide. // Image: Mihály Munkácsy: Christ before Pilate.

In the text Mors Pilati (perhaps originally 6th century, but recorded c. 1300 AD), Pilate was said to have been forced to commit suicide and his body thrown in the Tiber. However, the body is surrounded by demons and storms, so that it is removed from the Tiber and instead cast into the Rhone, where the same thing happens. Finally, the corpse is taken to Lausanne in modern Switzerland and buried in an isolated lake (perhaps Lake Lucerne), where demonic visitations continue to occur. according to another, Pilate took refuge in a mountain (now called Mount Pilatus) in modern Switzerland, before eventually committing suicide in a lake on its summit.

A remorseful Pilate prepares to kill himself. Engraving by G. Mochetti after B. Pinelli.

It was said that if he was disturbed, storms and bad weather would break loose from the mountain. The ghostly figure that is said to have appeared with gray hair and dressed in purple annually on Good Friday by the lake. 

In 1585, the priest Johann Muller got together with the authorities to prove this was all superstition. He brought them out to the lake and threw rocks at the water, and no bad weather came. They were still not completely convinced and decided to drain the lake forever in 1594 when they abolished the no visitation policy, just to be sure. 

How true is it that Pilatus died here though? There are several mountains claiming the same actually. Some say that the name was actually from the word Pila, meaning pilgrim. 

Myth Meets Modernity

The many dragon stories are told in the canton of Luzern and many of them believe that dragon still roars in the sky. Athanasius Kircher relates: “When I was looking at the bright sky at night in 1649, I saw a shining dragon flying past from a hole in a very large rock cliff on Mount Pilatus. Its wings were moving rapidly, and as it flew it threw off sparks like glowing iron when it is being forged.

Though scientific understanding has long since overtaken belief in dragons, the legend of Mount Pilatus remains one of the most enduring pieces of Swiss folklore. Even today, Pilatus is affectionately referred to as Drachenberg — Dragon Mountain — and symbols of dragons can be found carved into signs, trail markers, and souvenir shops throughout the region.

Lake Lucerne: Mount Pilatus towers majestically over Lake Lucerne, embodying Swiss folklore with its snow-capped peaks and mysterious aura.

The Dragon Stone itself reportedly vanished during one of Lucerne’s many church restorations, though some say it was hidden away to protect its powers. Others believe the dragons are simply dormant, waiting beneath the rock for the right time to rise again.

Visitors hiking the slopes on misty days often report strange gusts of wind, echoing screeches, or fleeting shadows soaring across the mountain face. Whether these are tricks of the imagination or something far older and more powerful, one thing remains certain: Mount Pilatus will never stop watching — or hiding its secrets.

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References:

https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzerner_Drachenstein

Alpine Dragons

Pontius Pilate – Wikipedia

Die Mythen des Pilatus

Datei:Pilatus-Drachen 1661 – Luzerner Drachenstein.jpg – Wikipedia

Legends of Mount Pilatus

Ukategorisert

The Ghosts Haunting the Mattentreppe, Ringing the New Year In

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The old stairs around the old town in Bern are most definitely haunted. Ascending from the Cathedral on Münsterplattform towards the Aare River, ghosts of the past are said to be the ones behind the creaks on the stairs. 

The Mattentreppe may appear as a simple stone stairway leading from the dignified heights of Bern’s center to the working-class roots of the Matte district, known in centuries past for its bathhouses, its brothels, and even a visit from Casanova himself. This steep flight of steps, carved into the hillside and shadowed by the cathedral’s towering silhouette, is more than a picturesque shortcut. It is one of the city’s most haunted places, a corridor of shame, sorrow, and long-held secrets.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

As the bells of the Bern Minster chime twelve on New Year’s Eve, and fireworks erupt over the Aare, there are those who claim they see more than celebration unfolding in the ancient quarter. Ghosts rise with the fog. Footsteps echo with no source. 

The Nobleman and the Cripple haunting the Mattetreppe

The Mattentreppe is not only said to have been haunted by the ghosts appearing on New Years. It is also said to be haunted by the ghost of a nobleman from the olden times. He fell in love, or at least had an affair with a maid. When she became pregnant with his child, scandal loomed. The nobleman, unable to bear the disgrace and unwilling to face the consequences of his actions, hurled himself down the Mattentreppe in despair.

To this day, people have reported seeing the pale figure of a well-dressed man, pacing or rushing down the stairs, as if in torment. His cloak flutters even on windless nights.

Source

In earlier years, a terribly crippled man was often seen on the matted steps where they had a landing. Hunched and crippled, he was sitting with two heavy baskets balancing impossibly from each finger. Passersby, moved by his suffering, would offer help. But whenever someone reached for a basket, the man would vanish in a puff of smoke, leaving only a mocking “Hahahaha!” echoing off the stone walls.

New Years Haunting of the Stairs

The eeriest of all tales tied to the Mattentreppe comes with the tolling of the New Year’s bell. When the bells in the cathedral begin to ring at the turn of the year, a poor soul rises from her grave: a young woman in a long, flowing gown, her face shaded beneath a wide-brimmed hat tied neatly with ribbons. 

During the 20th century, the terrace by the Cathedral was changed from a graveyard to an open plaza by the Münsterplattform. We don’t know when she was buried as the location was built as a churchyard in 1334 and 1919 as this is when the ghost story was first published in print. 

Source

She ascends the stairs going from the cathedral down towards the river. She is aiming at one of the houses in the Schifflaube street between the cathedral and the Aare Riverbanks, where she lived and is now haunting. The Schifflaube/Schiffländte was a place for reloading the boats that were going up and down the river. It’s an old street with old buildings, although which number or if it’s still there is uncertain. 

On the attic floor, she stands thoughtfully in the same spot, always silent. And when the last toll of the bell has faded away, she departs again, as silently as she came. She carefully closes the doors behind her. Without looking back, she walks past the houses, up the path toward the gardens, only to suddenly vanish like a mist.

In the place she keeps returning to, she once murdered her child, secretly, without anyone ever finding out.

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    Seeking new land and a new life, the Salladay family went to Ohio, but brought a silent killer with them: Consumption. Falling into odd superstitions, they believed the only way to stop the disease was to stop the undead from rising from their graves.
  • Cell Number 11: Whispers in the Attic of the Norwegian Justice Museum in Trondheim
    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.
  • The Haunted Legends of Carl Beck House in Ontario, Canada
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  • The Burgträppe-Balzli Haunting: The Ghost of Nydegg Castle
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References:

Märchenstiftung – Die Unglückliche Mutter (The Unhappy Mother)

Märchenstiftung – Auf der Mattentreppe (On the Mattentreppe)

Wikipedia – Mattequartier

Berner Zeitung – Die Gruseltreppen von Bern (The Haunted Stairs of Bern)

Ukategorisert

Legends of Oriental Theater and the Ghosts from The Great Chicago Fire Disaster

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After a devastating fire in the old Iroquois Theater in Chicago around 600 people died trying to escape the flames. Even after the Oriental Theater was built in its place, some still believe the ghost from the fire is haunting the stage. 

The Oriental Theater in the windy city of Chicago is a grand venue that has been entertaining audiences for over 90 years. But behind the grandeur and glitz lies a dark and eerie history, filled with ghostly legends and supernatural stories. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from USA

Many people believe that the Oriental Theater is one of the most haunted venues in Chicago, with a long list of ghostly sightings and unexplained phenomena. What sets this ghost story apart though is how the haunting origin story is more scary than the haunting itself. And the most deadly haunting happened as soon as this spot in the city was turned into a theater. 

The Nederlander: The theater has had many names and is today called The Nederlander. Before this exact theater were built, another one who burnt is said to have caused the haunting said to go on inside of the building.

The Fire of the Iroquois Theater and Death Alley

The Oriental Theater, formerly known as the Iroquois Theater, opened its doors in 1903 at 24 W. Randolph Street. It was a grand venue, with a seating capacity of over 1,700, and was designed to be the most luxurious theater in the world. The newspaper also advertised with it being fireproof. But just as Titanic was unsinkable, the theater would catch fire as soon as it opened.

Just five weeks after its opening during a performance of a comedy-musical called Mr. Bluebeard starring Eddie Foy, tragedy struck when a fire broke. The show had been a success and the theatre were sold out with extra standing tickets being issued. Most of the spectators were women attending with their children. 

A spark from the stage lights hit the very flammable muslin backdrop and it burst into flames quickly. First, they weren’t too panicked, as they all believed it when they said it would be safe from fire. But then the fire started to spread, and none of the fire prevention equipment seemed to be working.

When the spectators tried to flee the theater, they were unable to locate the exits as they were not labeled and doors were locked. In the staircase people were trampled, crushed or asphyxiated to death. 

When the crew and actors escape in the backscene doors, the cold air caused a fireball that shot out from the stage onto the crowd. Those who managed to find a window or get to the roof jumped to their death. 

There were no fire-alarm box in the building and when the fire department finally arrived, it was already too late. 602 people lost their lives in the 30 minutes blaze, making it one of the deadliest theater fires in history and was remembered as The Great Chicago Fire Disaster.

Hundreds of bodies were piled up in the theater of mostly women and children. It reportedly took over five hours to gather them all, the amount of bodies raging six feet above the ground. The next door space turned into a temporary morgue and hospital. Soon, the alley right next to the theater was called the Death Alley and was remembered as such for a long time.

Ever since there have been rumors about it being haunted and the spirit of the dead lingering in the alley now known as Couch Place. Whispers in the night as well as people feeling the ghostly touch on the shoulders.

So some say that the theater was cursed from the start, but it was certainly not the end though. 

Couch Place: Commonly called the Alley of Death, was the place they place the bodies after the fire and many have experienced strange things in this backstage place of the Chicago theater district. // Source

The Start of Oriental Theater

After the fire, the theater was rebuilt and renamed the Oriental Theater in 1926. In 1988 the Oriental Theater closed down and fell into disrepair,  but it was restored in 1998 and is now a popular venue once again. 

Read More: Check out all Haunted Theaters

However, the history of the Iroquois Theater fire has left a lasting impact on the theater, and many believe that it is responsible for the ghostly sightings and unexplained phenomena that occur there.

Ghostly Legends and Reports

There have been many reports of ghostly activity at the Oriental Theater over the years. The ghosts of those who perished in the fire is also said to haunt the newly built theater and people claim to have seen their spirit leaping out from the window onto the street as a death loop. There is also the smell of smoke coming from nowhere that people claim is a remnant lingering from the deadly fire. 

When actors are on stage they report about seeing shadows moving on the balconies. In the fire, they perhaps had it worse, as they were the ones locked inside and were unable to open the doors leading down to the first floor. 

The Wicked Incident

One of the stories told was during a production of the musical Wicked. Ana Gasteyer had the role of Elphaba. In the end of Act I, there is a scene where she learns to fly and smog and fog comes from the auditorium and filling the stage. She told in the writing Celebrity Ghost Stories that she looked to the sides in the wings. They were filled with people, more people than the stagehands of the production used to have there. 

The people didn’t look like crew either, they looked like families, but when she landed and the smoke cleared, there was no one there. 

She also claimed to have seen a woman in the hallways with a boy and a girl, all wearing period clothes. It was first when she asked her dresser about it that she thought they might have been ghosts, as Dec 30. was coming up. 

Could this have been one of the performances she claimed to have seen the ghosts?

Spooky Events and Experiences at Oriental Theater

The Oriental Theater in Chicago is a grand venue that has entertained audiences for over ninety years. In 2018 it was renamed to the James M. Nederlander Theatre, after the founder of Broadway in Chicago.

But behind the glamour and glitz lies a dark and eerie history, filled with ghostly legends and supernatural stories and the danger of fire.

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References:

 The Oriental Theatre, now James M. Nederlander Theatre in Chicago is one of the world’s most haunted places – NBC Chicago
Chicago Hauntings: The Horrors Of The Iroquois Theater Fire That Killed 602 People Downtown In 1903, And Stories About Ghosts Left Behind
Death Alley Near Nederlander Theatre – Windy City Ghosts
Iroquois Theatre Fire: History & Discovery of GhostsIroquois Theatre fire – Wikipedia

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The Basilisk of Basel: The Beast Beneath Gerberberglein

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Once upon a time there used to live a Basilisk in a cave underneath where the Tanner’s Fountain (Gerberberglein) is today. Said to kill with its poisonous breath even, it has become the very symbol of Basel today. 

In the very old city of Basel in Switzerland lies a quiet little street called Gerberberglein, near the banks of the Rhine and the bustling Marktplatz in the Swiss city filled with legends.  You will also see a lot of depictions of a basilisk around the city. Painted on walls, statues on the fountains. Today, the area is surrounded by charming medieval architecture, cobbled alleys, and the hum of daily life, but could it also house a Basilisk?

Read more: Check out all legends and ghost stories from Switzerland

Although the name Basel and Basilisks seems to be a coincidence, there are a lot of stories about that once upon a time, a terrible basilisk was lurking underneath the medieval city. Its home was in a cave where the Gerber Brunnen, or the tanner’s fountain is found today. 

Basilisk of Basel: Basilisk at the bridgehead of the Wettstein Bridge in Basel. The four basilisks were designed by Ferdinand Schlöth (1818–1891). The molds were made by Hans Baur. The sculpture does not depict a griffin and has nothing to do with the bird Gryff. // Source: EinDao/Wikimedia

What Is a Basilisk?

The basilisk is one of the oldest creatures in European folklore, first appearing in texts as early as the first century AD and Greek folklore. Medieval bestiaries described it as the “king of serpents” — hence the name basiliskos, Greek for “little king.” It was often associated with death, poison, and forbidden knowledge, a creature born from unnatural acts: a serpent hatched from a rooster’s egg, warmed by a toad or snake. Its uncanny power to kill with a look made it the embodiment of pestilence and unholy wrath.

Basilisk: The basilisk and the weasel, by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder. The cockatrice (pictured) became seen as synonymous with the basilisk when the “basiliscus” in Bartholomeus Anglicus’s De proprietatibus rerum (ca 1260) was translated by John Trevisa as “cockatrice” (1397).

Basilisks were believed to be hatched from eggs that were laid by roosters (who had to be either 7 or 9 years old) on the dung pile of serpents. This combination produced a creature with the head of a rooster and the tail and wings of a large serpent.

A Monster Beneath Basel City

According to a legend that has haunted Basel since the Middle Ages, a basilisk is a monstrous hybrid said to be part rooster, part serpent, and part toad who once lived in a dark, damp cave underneath Gerberberglein. The cave, now sealed and lost to time, was once believed to be the domain of this deadly beast. It was said that one glance from the basilisk could kill a man outright, turning flesh to stone or burning life from the body. Even the breath of the creature was fatal.

Gerberbrunnen: Paul Siegfried (1878–1938) lawyer, historian, and writer. Gerberbrunnen, also known as Richtbrunnen , is located at Gerbergasse 48 in Basel-Stadt. Inscription: In this well’s dark depths once lived—legend tells us—the basilisk, a wild monster. Today, it bears Basel’s coat of arms. A court was then held here, and dancing and minnesong were also practiced; from the guild house that stood by the spring, it was called the Gerberbunnen (Gerber’s Well). After drying up for many years, it now flows again, full and clear. No dragon plots murder within it anymore, but another dragon lives on. O Basel, free yourself from it: break the head of discord! // Source: EinDao/Wikimedia

No one dared venture near the cave. Animals avoided the area, and plants withered as if poisoned by the very air. The townspeople lived in terror, avoiding the cave and whispering tales of brave fools who tried and failed to slay the beast.

The Tale of the Basilisk Egg

It is said that on a Thursday morning in 1474 before Laurentius, a black rooster, older than a decade, laid a big oblong egg in the middle of Gerbergasse. Usually in basilisk lore, the egg is laid by a rooster when it’s either seven or nine years old. Everyone knew that this had to be a basilisk egg and panic spread. 

They sentenced the rooster to death before the egg could hatch. As soon as the egg would hatch, no sword or knight could kill it. To vanquish the monster you had to pull out a mirror so that the basilisk would see its own reflection and die of its own power. 

They sliced the rooster open, finding three eggs. After killing it, they tossed it on the pyre, making sure that they would never again be bothered by the threat of a Basilisk again. 

This account is found in the same chronicle from 1624 where they discussed the basilisk living in the cave underground. 

The Basilisk as Basel’s Symbol

Though the monster was vanquished, the basilisk never left Basel’s story. In fact, it became one of the city’s most enduring symbols. The first known illustration of a basilisk in Basel dates from 1448, when it was shown holding the city’s coat of arms.

The Basilisk holding Basle’s coat of arms can be traced back in heraldry to a monument reminding of the fatal 1356 earthquake that destroyed the city almost to the ground: “Basilisk, you poisonous worm and fable, now you shall hold the shield of the dignified city of Basel”. This epigraph probably dates back to the early 15th century.

Basiliskbrunnen: The most common way to encounter a basilisk in Basel today is on one of the numerous “Basiliskenbrunnen” that can be found throughout the city. These fountains were first designed in 1884. Today , 28 basilisk fountains are still in operation in Basel. // Source: Wikimedia

To this day, basilisk statues can be seen throughout the city — perched on fountains, carved into bridges, and hidden in iron railings. The most famous are the Basilisk Fountains from the 19th century, designed to reflect the city’s medieval past and its victorious confrontation with the beast.

While today these statues may seem whimsical or decorative, their origins lie in something far darker — a time when people believed monsters slithered beneath their feet.

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References:

The Basilisk: Fable and Pictures of Basel’s Heraldic Animal

Legende vom Basler Basilisken 

Basel’s Basilisks