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The Tschäggättä: Switzerland’s Masked Monsters of Winter

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Deep in the heart of the Swiss Alps, the enchanting yet eerie Lötschental Valley harbors a chilling tradition that has captivated and terrified generations. Known as the Tschäggättä, these fearsome, fur-clad figures emerge from the shadows of snow-laden forests during the dark, cold months of winter. Combining ancient folklore with theatrical spectacle, the Tschäggättä embody the primal fears and superstitions of a bygone era.

Deep within the isolated Lötschental Valley of the Swiss Alps, amid snow-laden forests and frostbitten villages, lurks a chilling winter tradition few outside of Switzerland have heard of: the Tschäggättä. These grotesque, fur-clad figures prowl the narrow streets during the coldest, darkest months of the year — a living echo of ancient Alpine superstitions and forgotten fears.

The Origins of the Tschäggättä

Though no one can say exactly when the tradition began, written references to the Tschäggättä date back to the 19th century, with local authorities at times attempting to ban the custom due to its rowdy and unsettling nature. Way back, this used to be one of the poorest regions of Switserland. The first written record dates back to 1860, when prior Johann Baptist Gibsten banned the use of masks during carnival.

However, folklore scholars suggest the practice is far older, a survival of pre-Christian beliefs in malevolent winter spirits that roamed the mountains when the sun was weakest. The second theory links the Tschäggättä to the demonic figures that appeared in ecclesiastical Baroque theatre.

In earlier centuries, the Alpine winter was an unforgiving season of darkness, hunger, and death. Isolated valleys like Lötschental often felt cut off from the world, and stories of spirits, witches, and vengeful phantoms were common. The Tschäggättä became a way to personify these fears — and perhaps to ward them off.

Wooden Masks: The oldest Lötschental wooden mask still in existence from 1790-1810. // Source: Lötschental Museum; Deposit Swiss National Museum

The Schurten Thieves

The best-known legend of the origins of the Tschäggättä is the legend of the Schurten thieves from the middle ages. In the shady forests on the opposite side of the valley once resided the legendary Schurten thieves. They were thieves who lived on the shady side of the valley and disguised themselves to plunder farms on the sunny and richer side of the valley. 

Even today, their farmsteads can still be recognised, particularly clearly visible on the Giätrich, in the “Obri Wald” forest opposite the village of Wiler. 

At nightfall, they went on the prowl in wild disguise with masks on. It was said that the Schurten thieves did not accept anyone into their ranks who was not able to jump over the Lonza with a load of a hundred pounds.

The Appearance of the Tschäggättä

Each Tschäggättä is immediately recognizable by its disturbing appearance. The figures wear heavy animal furs, typically from goats or sheep, to shield them from the brutal cold. Most terrifying, however, are the wooden masks they don — hand-carved, each unique from Swiss stone pine, and featuring grotesque, distorted faces with exaggerated noses, glaring eyes, twisted mouths, and long, matted hair.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories and haunted legends from Switzerland

Some masks resemble demons or monstrous old men, while others are bestial and almost supernatural in form. The craftsmanship of these masks is a source of local pride, with some families passing them down through generations.

The Ritual and Terror of Carnival Nights

The Tschäggättä emerge during Fasnacht — the Swiss pre-Lenten Carnival season, typically in February. from Candlemas until “Gigiszischtag” (i.e. the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) with the traditional Lötschental carnival procession in Wiler, on the Saturday after the “feisten Frontag”. As night falls, these masked beings descend from the mountains and roam the villages of Lötschental. Carrying cowbells and sticks, they chase anyone they encounter, especially the young, and revel in causing fright.

Craftsmanship: Today there are masks made for the masses, but some of them have hours and hours of time spent carving, some being passed down in the family. Tschäggättä Masks, traditionnal wooden mask from Lötschental in Switzerland. // Source: photographed by Robbie Conceptuel

Traditionally, the Tschäggättä are adult men of the valley, though the anonymity provided by the masks has allowed even women and children to join the fray. The Tschäggättä will often burst uninvited into homes, overturn furniture, scatter hearth ashes, and steal food — an ancient ritual chaos meant to purge winter’s stagnation and welcome the coming spring.

Symbolism and Folkloric Meaning

The Tschäggättä tradition is thought to serve as a way of confronting and mastering communal fears during the most perilous season. The masks might have once represented the spirits of the dead, ancestral ghosts, or demonic forces banished by light and human defiance.

The Tschäggätä: carnival figures wander through the remote Lötschental in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, for several weeks in February, scaring the population. The costumes consist of masks made of Swiss stone pine, sheep or goat skins and cowbells. // Source

Some folklorists believe the Tschäggättä also embodied social rebellion. In a culture tightly controlled by religious and communal expectations, the anonymity of the mask allowed for a brief, sanctioned breakdown of norms — a time when men could mock the authorities, frighten neighbors, and behave wildly without consequence.

The Tschäggättä Today

While modernization has softened some of its rougher edges, the Tschäggättä remain a vital part of Lötschental’s identity. Each year, the locals still carve the terrifying masks and don the heavy furs, parading through villages in eerie processions. Today, any villager can take part, but historically, the fur-clad revelers were exclusively young, unmarried men who moved alone or in small groups during the day (save Sundays) during Carnival.

Though now mingled with festive Carnival celebrations, the primal eeriness of the Tschäggättä endures — a living link to a time when long winters meant living with darkness, death, and things unseen.

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References:

Tschäggättä Lötschental

Face time: the terrifying Swiss tradition of Tschäggättä – SWI swissinfo.ch

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The Hörgsland-Móri Haunting Foss á Síðu as a Dog

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By the fantastical waterfall Foss á Síðu, south in Iceland, there are rumours about a ghost in the form of a dog that has been haunting a family for nine generations. Although the haunting of the ghost called Hörgsland-Móri started a long time ago, there are still tales about seeing him in the area. 

Foss á Síðu is а historic farm in Iceland with rich history and folklore dating back to the country’s settlement erа in the 9th century. Behind the farm there is the majestic waterfall that people travel long to see. The water flow can be so thin that Foss á Síðu becomes one of Iceland’s upside-down waterfalls on a windy day. One legend around these parts is about а ghost dog named Móri. Some locals believe thаt Móri has disappeared, while others claim thаt the ghost dog still wanders аround the farm аnd waterfall.

Source

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.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

The ghost in Síða in Skaftafellssýsla southeast of Iceland is called the Hörgsland-Móri or Bergs-Móri. This is not because he was originally sent to Hörgsland, nor because of Reverend Bergur, the person he ended up being linked to, but because he is thought to follow the Berg family. Reverend Bergur was the last of them at Hörgsland and the ghost is said to have followed him from there. The origin of the ghost goes back further and is therefore somewhat unclear.

The Hörgsland-Móri Cursed to Haunt a Family like a Dog

It is said that there was a priest at Arnarbæli (1676–89) named Oddur Árnason. His wife was Katrín, the daughter of Reverend Jón Daðason, who had served there before him. Oddur and Katrín had at least two children, a boy and a girl named Ingibjörg. One winter, the priest had ridden across the ice, and the boy, who was very fond of his father, ran after him, fell into a hole in the ice, and drowned. 

“Reverend Oddur found no joy in being there, besides other things that displeased him,” says Dean Jón Halldórsson. Both rumor and record suggest that the “displeasure” at Arnarbæli was that his wife had previously been betrothed to another man, but had broken her promise to him and chosen another. Because of this, the man she betrayed sent her a curse: a ghost in the form of a dog named Móri, who was to haunt her and her descendants to the ninth generation. 

In some versions it is actually the Reverend Oddur who sends the ghost after Katrín allegedly divorced him after their son’s death where the man was never the same. Was it actually their son they raised from the dead who came back to haunt his own family?

Reverend Oddur later received the parish of Kálfatjörn south-west in the country, where he remained until his death in 1705. 

The Mori Haunting his Descendants

His daughter Ingibjörg married Jón Ísleifsson, sheriff in Skaftafellssýsla (1721–26), a well known scoundrel. 

Their daughter Katrín married Reverend Jón Bergsson the elder of Kálfafell in Síða, dean of the western part of Skaftafellssýsla from 1754 to 1773. It was believed that Móri caused his death, for stories claim that Reverend Jón died suddenly at Eyrarbakki.

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.

Their only son, Bergur, was later minister at Kirkjubæjarklaustur, and he also lived at Prestbakki and Foss, but in the end he was at Hörgsland, where he died and where the ghost got his most well known name. 

It was said that whenever quarrels arose between Reverend Bergur and his wife, Móri was seen at the farm, and people thought he was the cause of their disputes. After the couple’s deaths, he followed their daughters; as soon as the eldest died, the next inherited him, and she soon became half-mad. He had many daughters, and Móri followed all of them, and still follows them, according to local tales. 

The Fading Ghost by Foss á Síðu

The story was first written down as the ghost reached the fifth generation of the family haunting, after attaching himself to their ancestress Katrín, their great-great-great-grandmother although there aren’t many stories told about his time then.

One of the sisters, Þorbjörg, was married to a man known as the hospital-keeper. It is said that she “portioned out” food to Móri. People claimed that at holiday feasts, when she served, she would slip whole sides of mutton down by her thigh; they were never seen again, and it was believed that Móri took them all.

Image: Mathieu Poumeyrol/Wikimedia

Before the ghost reached the ninth generation of haunting, the people of Síða said he had grown so faded that he looks from behind like nothing more than a wisp of steam. Because of this, opinions are divided as to whether he will endure as long as was foretold. There are no remarkable stories of his doing harm outside that family, but he has sometimes been glimpsed when one of their kin was on the road. He is not accused of having killed anyone for a long time, except possibly members of the family itself, and it is widely said that he caused madness among many of them.

So the question is, did he finally reach the ninth generation, or did he simply fade away? 

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References:

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

Scholars’ Mine Icelandic Folklore and the Cultural Memory of Religious Change

Explore Foss Á Síðu: Iceland’s Majestic Waterfall аnd Tranquil Farm Right by the Ring Road – Buubble

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The Sinful Monk Haunting the Former Monastery House on Junkerngasse

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Could Junkerngasse be the most haunted street in Bern? From a former monastery that used to be here, locals complained for a long time about the haunting of a monk who committed a sin so grave that neither his body, nor his soul ever left. 

Beneath the elegant façades of Bern’s Junkerngasse and its parallel Gerechtigkeitsgasse, now known for its stately houses, flagstone walks, and commanding views of the Aare, lies a buried past of devotion, downfall, and damnation.

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In medieval times, this street, then called Kirchgasse or Church Lane, was the sacred artery of Bern’s religious life. It wound past chapels, cloisters, and courtyards belonging to powerful abbeys. Among these was a quiet but significant property: the Frienisberghaus, the urban residence of the Cistercian monks of Frienisberg Abbey, who came to the city on church business or for rest.

But for centuries after the Reformation, the house was shunned, whispered about, and eventually torn down. It was said to be haunted by a monk, one who carried a sin so grave that death could not bring him rest.

Junkerngasse: Known as one of the most haunted streets in Bern perhaps. A street with a long history, with a new street built on top of what used to be there. Here you se number 57, 55, 53, 51, 49. // Source: Tilman2007/Wikimedia

The Monastery in the City

The Cistercian Order was one of deep discipline and purity, founded on silence, labor, and a vow of chastity. The monks of Frienisberg Abbey, located in the Seeland region northwest of Bern, were among the many religious orders who held property within the city walls. As early as 1285, they owned a house in Bern. In the 14th century, their holdings expanded when the city filled in the old moat of the Nydegg fortress, granting the monks their monastery courtyard next to the Interlakenhaus, the biggest monastery courtyard in the city, a stone’s throw from the Nydeggkirche and what would later become the Nydegg Bridge.

Old Bern: Map of Berne, wooden cut by Hans Rudolf Manuel, 1549. Earliest topographically accurate depiction of Berne.

This was not a grand abbey, but rather a quiet urban refuge, a place to shelter monks traveling from Frienisberg. And yet, in this serene setting, something terrible happened.

Sin in the Cloister

One monk, whose name has been lost to history, committed the unthinkable: he violated a nun, a crime so heinous in the Cistercian world that it still lingers. The details remain vague, but the sin of lust, in a setting that demanded purity, sealed the monk’s eternal punishment.

After the Reformation swept through Bern in the 1520s, the monasteries and their property were dissolved or repurposed. The Frienisberghaus became a state building used for charitable causes, but its halls were never peaceful again.

Image: André Corboz from 1983, Source

For years afterward, locals reported that a ghostly monk would wander the courtyard at midnight, his hood drawn low, his feet never touching the ground. He climbed the stairs slowly, mournfully, only to descend again moments later, as if condemned to walk in infinite, unfulfilled penance. His form was pale and nearly transparent, a whisper of cloth and shadow.

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Later still, as the house aged and became derelict, the haunting intensified. Groans, sighs, and scraping sounds echoed from the attic. Tools rusted without cause, and workers who tried to repair the building reported a sense of dread they couldn’t shake. During the building’s eventual demolition, something even more sinister was uncovered: a skeleton, walled up in a sealed niche, curled in on itself in a final pose of suffering. His blackened robes and rotted rosary still clung to bone.

It was confirmation of the old fears. Whether buried in secret as punishment or hidden to avoid scandal, this monk had been walled up alive, and his soul had never left.

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References:

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

Frienisberghaus – Bern City Archive

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Daníelspyttur and the Boy who Drowned and Haunts it

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In a remote area in Iceland, the Daníelspyttur is named after a boy who once took off from work and drowned in the water. Ever since, people have thought it haunted as well as the surrounding area. 

Below the farm Gnúpafell in Eyjafjörður is a flat land that reaches down to the bank of the Eyjafjörður River. It is called Gnúpufellsmýri, in which there are in some places small pools or pits, some abysses. One of these pools is called Daníelspyttur and is said to be haunted by a man that once drowned in it. . 

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

A man was named Daníel and lived by the fjord. He was described as being mentally ill and sometimes had fits of rage, and then he had to be watched. One spring he was working for Ólafur Guðmundsson in Hleiðargarður. One day, a fit of rage came over him, he grabbed a large goad, or some sort of pointed rod, and started running out and down the field. 

Ólafur asked Jón Jóhannesson to give chase to Daníel. He saw that there were horses on the islets. It seemed to him likely that Daníel was planning to cross the Eyjafjörður River for some reason. Jón hurried towards the horses. There were only two of them, a good gray horse and a full-grown animal. The other was a mare, who seemed lazy and weak. Jón intended to take the mare, but she turned away badly and tried to both bite and beat him. On the other hand, the horse Snarfari, who stood still and let himself be bridle without resistance, moved. 

Daniel had forded the river when Jón Jóhannesson caught up to him. When he saw that he was being pursued, he began to run down the banks. He held the goad on his shoulder. He suddenly turned sideways into the swamp, where there was one of those deep pits. He took off in the air and jumped into the abyss and immediately disappeared under the surface of the water. 

When Jón arrived at the bank, Daniel was shooting up at the surface for the first time, but it was too late and he drowned and his body sank and disappeared. Since then it has been called Daníelspyttur and is believed to be haunted as well as the area around Gnúpufell. They say that they sometimes see him here and there, wandering with his spear. 

Others who have fallen into the water has also been seen shooting up on the surface as Daniel did, three times before they also drown, almost if something is dragging them down. 

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Ísmús | Sagnir Árna Jóhannessonar: Drukknun Daníels og reimleikar

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The Dream of the Basel Rhine Bridge about the Buried Treasure

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A legend goes that a simple farmer from the Emmental in the Swizz alps had a dream about finding gold at the bridge in Basel. Visited by a ghostly shadow, he was guided around the country to find it. 

Basel’s Mittlere Brücke, the ancient bridge crossing the Rhine, has long been the setting for legends, mysteries, and ghost stories. One of the most curious tales comes not from the city itself, but from the remote Alp Rafrüti in the Emmental, where a poor laborer once lived with his family in hardship.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

One night, this man was visited by a dream so vivid it unsettled his sleep as he slept in his bed in Emmental. In it, a voice told him that his fortune awaited him on the Rhine Bridge in Basel, over 80 kilometers away. He awoke, dismissing it as nonsense. But when the same dream came a second night, and a third, he grew restless. With no other prospects and an urgent need to provide for his family, he set off for Basel.

The Emmental: is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern, mostly made up by farmers and known for its cheese and pottery. Rafrüti is mostly known for being the place where the first and second latest meteorite was found in Switzerland.

The Search For Treasure at The Mittlere Brücke

The Mittlere Brücke, or the middle bridge is one of the oldest bridges across the Rhine, dating back to 1223, and has become the very symbol of Basel today, connecting Grossbasel (Greater Basel) and Kleinbasel (Lesser Basel).

When he arrived, the laborer walked slowly across the bridge, eyes scanning the stones and riverbanks, hoping for some sign. But there was nothing unusual to be seen. He spent the entire day pacing the length of the bridge. The next day, he did the same, and again on the third. The old bridge was well-worn by the passing feet of merchants, boatmen, and townsfolk, but none seemed to notice the weary man from the Emmental.

Basel’s Mittlere Brücke: The bridge around 1760. Copperplate engraving by David Herrliberger after a model by Emanuel Büchel.

A city policeman, however, had observed him all this time. Puzzled by the stranger’s constant wandering and troubled look, the officer finally approached him. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “You’ve been walking this bridge for days now. What are you looking for?”

The laborer, exhausted and disheartened, confessed his dream and his fruitless search. The policeman chuckled and shook his head. “Ah, don’t believe in such foolish dreams,” he said. “Last night, I dreamt there was a treasure buried under a kitchen in a place called Rafrüti. But who knows where that is?”

The Treasure at Home

The laborer’s eyes widened. He said nothing, but turned on his heel and hurried all the way back to his humble Alpine hut. Without delay, he began digging a hole in the middle of his kitchen floor. The soil was cold and hard, but he dug deeper and deeper until a dark figure appeared beside him, a silent, black shape that picked up a spade and began to dig as well.

At last, their tools struck metal. Together, they unearthed a large, heavy pot filled to the brim with gold coins. The black figure then separated the treasure into three equal piles and spoke in a voice like the wind through ancient trees:

“Choose, laborer! One pile is for the poor, one for me, and one for you. But choose wisely, or you’ll regret it!”

The man hesitated, fear clutching at his heart. Then, he thought: Why should a creature of shadow need gold? And why should I decide who deserves this wealth? So instead of choosing, he swept all three piles together into a single heap and declared:

“I’ll take this one  and share it as I see fit.”

In that instant, the black figure vanished without a sound. From that day forward, the laborer and his family lived comfortably, freed from want and fear. The Basel Rhine Bridge had indeed brought him fortune.

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The Haunting of Dalen Hotel and the English Lady of Room 17

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In the deep fjords of Norway, the Dalen Hotel is one of the places said to be haunted by a guest who never really checked out. Who was the English Lady of Room 17?

Among Norway’s many haunted lodgings, few inspire as much unease as the grand and secluded Dalen Hotel in Telemark. Its turrets and dark timbered halls have earned it the nickname “The Fairytale Hotel,” but behind the elegance lingers a story soaked in sorrow. 

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Guests whisper of a presence that still moves through the corridors, most often felt near one room in particular: Room 17, where the English Lady is said to linger.

The Dalen Hotel: Known for its unique Norwegian dragon style architecture, is famous for its haunting stories, particularly of the English Lady in Room 17. // Source: Eirik Solheim

The Haunted Dalen Hotel

The hotel was completed in 1894 and is a striking building among the green in the Norwegian dragon style with its towers and spires that took inspirations from stave churches and the viking age. 

The Haunted Hotel: The elegant interior of the haunted Dalen Hotel, showcasing its intricate wooden design and vintage decor were the ghost of a lady in grey is said to haunt. // Source Eirik Solheim

The hotel was, by the standards of the time, extremely luxurious. It even had running water and electric light not at all common around these parts. And from the very beginning it was a success and a tourist magnet, attracting princes and aristocrats from Norway and Europe.

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During the second world war, the Germans took over the hotel and removed the interior and let it fall to decay. It is said that a canal boat sailed out fully loaded with furniture and other equipment. Most of this has not been recovered. After many years of disrepair, it was restored and reopened in 1992 with 49 rooms. 

When the last guests check out in October for the winter close down, one guest is said to remain within the rooms. 

The Woman Who Never Checked Out

The ghost said to haunt the Dalen Hotel is known as The English Lady and although her story is known by most people working there and the locals around it, the details of the story are rather hard to find tangible evidence from.

The story goes, late in the 1800s, an Englishwoman named Miss Eliza Greenfield arrived alone at Dalen, her demeanor polite but withdrawn. Staff noticed her unusual habits and her long, solitary walks, but no one suspected the secret she carried. For months she lived quietly behind the door of Room 17. When she finally left, she offered polite farewells and vanished down the road without a backward glance.

Her departure should have been the end of her story. Instead, it was the beginning of a horror story. Soon after her room was cleaned, staff found a dead infant hidden inside. The story doesn’t often specify if the child was stillborn or if something more ominous had killed the child. 

The discovery shocked the entire region. Miss Greenfield was tracked down on her ship back to England, arrested for the crime of murdering her child. However, she took her own life before the trial started. In some versions of the tale she was actually executed for her crimes. 

The Woman in Grey in Room 17

How true is the story though? Although Christin Normann, manager at the hotel claimed the story was true in a hotel magazine, there are little to none traces of Miss Greenfield and her crimes. 

Guests staying in Room 17 still report strange occurrences though. Soft footsteps cross the floor at night when no one is there. The sound of quiet weeping rises and fades with no apparent source. In this room today, a cradle still stands, and it is said that she has returned to her child.

The haunting hallways: leading to Room 17 at the Dalen Hotel, where the ghost of the English Lady is said to linger. // Source: Wikimedia

Some visitors claim they have awakened to see a pale woman at the foot of the bed, her figure faint, her expression hollow with regret before she dissolves into the shadows.

One of the most repeated tales is about a man who once spent a night in the room and was unaware of its tragic history. Disturbed by unexplained noises, he left not only the room but also the hotel in the middle of the night.

Eirik Solheim/Wikimedia

Staff members tell of cold pockets in the hall outside the room, or a sudden fragrance of old-fashioned perfume drifting past. A few have claimed to hear a gentle knock on the door as if someone is still trying to soothe a restless child. Those who sense her presence say there is no malice in it, only unbearable grief.

A Table Set for a Ghost at Dalen Hotel

In the hotel’s restaurant, a single table remains permanently set in her memory. Candles are lit, plates arranged, cutlery polished. It stands as a quiet acknowledgment that Miss Greenfield never truly left Dalen Hotel and that the staff take notice of this. Her story lingers in every creak of the floorboards and in every shadow that slips through the lamplit corridors.

The Table set for a Ghost: Still to this day, the staff remembers and honors their hotel ghosts by giving her a plate at her table. // Photo: Per-Åge Eriksen

Some swear they have felt her pass by them in the night. Others say they caught a glimpse of a woman dressed in Victorian clothing reflected in the old mirrors.

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

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How long can a ghost linger? Some Icelandic ghost stories claim it is for 120 years. But if we are to believe the legend of Hvítárvellir-Skotta, she has been haunting a particular family for much longer. Perhaps even today?

Hvítárvellir is an old large farm and mansion in Borgarfjörður at the mouth of the Hvítá River west of Iceland. The land was considered one of the most valuable lands in the country and was, among other things, one of the largest salmon fishing grounds in Borgarfjörður.

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The family living there centuries ago was plagued by a ghost said to have been raised from the dead and sent as vengeance after a woman chose to marry someone else. Some say that the descendants of the family are still haunted. 

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. 

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. 

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

The Ghost Stormhöttur Haunting Hvítárvellir

At Hvítárvellir in the 18th century, Sigurður Jónson was sheriff in Borgarfjörður county (1704–1738, or perhaps rather until 1741). He had married Ólöf, daughter of Jón Magnússon the elder of Eyri in Seyðisfjörður to the west, and Ingibjörg. The wife of Dean Páll, mother of Ingibjörg, was named Helga and was the daughter of Halldór, the woman from the witchcraft persecutions in 1669. 

Ólöf Jónsdóttir had grown up in the west with her parents. She was a beautiful and popular woman that many men wanted to marry. Sigurður Jónsson was the lucky one though and won her hand after her first husband died in Stórabóla of 1707, a smallpox epidemic that wiped out a quarter to a third of Iceland’s population, only days after their wedding. 

It’s speculated that the rejected suitors grew hateful toward the married couple, Sigurður and Ólöf, although no names are mentioned. According to stories, they raised a ghost and sent it to her, saying that it should follow her. Many Icelandic ghost stories begin when the living raise the undead to do their bidding. 

Hvítárvellir: The Farm in Borgarfjörður around the turn of the century in 1897, which WG Collingwood drew during the summer when he was traveling around the country.// Source

This ghost was male, and it was called Stormhöttur who followed Ólöf for a time and became quite famous. Sigurður hated the ghost and quickly gathered some men to deal with it. Stormhöttur was confined in the Heggstaðir ridges a short distance southeast of Hvítárvellir and never appeared again, though those ridges are always thought to be haunted.

Others tell of Stormhöttur’s fate differently, saying that Ólöf went outside the first time he came to Hvítárvellir and met him in the yard, but when she knew his errand she said to him: “Go to the devil, north to the hayfields,” and that it is the same ghost that lies on the hay there so that it does not break apart. This is also told as a completely different ghost story that had nothing to do with Ólöf, but haunted the farm and is mostly known as The Ghost of the Hay Field. 

Hvítárvellir-Skotta is Sent to Haunt them

When word came west that Stormhöttur had been dealt with, those who had sent him felt themselves badly treated and sent a new spirit against Sigurður himself that would ruin him completely. They raised a woman from her grave, giving her dark powers and sent her to bring misfortune to Sigurður. 

Once Sigurður was traveling with another man west of the Hvítá when they saw a reddish-brown fox running after them. The fox spoke to them and asked where Sigurður of Hvítárvellir was. The sheriff suspected what the fox really was and told her that Sheriff Sigurður was down at Álftanes. The fox then turned aside and hurried off there, while the sheriff continued homeward as quickly as he could. But when he had just come home and was taking off his coat he was violently attacked and thrown to the floor of the main room as the Skotta could not be fooled so easily.

Sigurður was a courageous man, but needed help against this ghost. When she wrestled with Sigurður she had cast off the fox-skin and was then in the form of a woman. Her clothing is described as a black cloak-frock with an old-fashioned head-dress, but the end of the head-dress hung back on her neck like a tail, from which she took her name and was called Skotta. And because she was sent to Hvítárvellir she was called the Hvítárvellir-Skotta, and that name is very common, though later she received other names which will be mentioned still.

Another story is that Skotta caught Sigurður at the ferry across the Hvítá together with one of his farmhands, who was both strong and clairvoyant. He saw and recognized Skotta trying to get onto the boat and he grabbed the sheriff’s saddle and flung it at her. Skotta took the saddle and rode astride it along the western bank of the Hvítá, though it was slow, until she came upon another man who did not see her but recognized the sheriff’s saddle and picked it up. He was then ferried across to the south and brought the saddle to Sigurður, saying it must have been left behind in the west. But Skotta used that opportunity to get across the river without being noticed by anyone in the ferry.

The Danger of a Skotta Haunting

There’s no clear account of Skotta’s malice while she followed Sheriff Sigurður, but it was often said that ill befell wherever he went. Cattle, cows, and horses were found dead or crippled, and people attributed that to Skotta; and Sigurður often had to make compensation because of her.

When Sigurður and his wife were elderly he gave up the office of sheriff. One night after Þorri (1751) the farm at Hvítárvellir burned down, and it is said that it came from the fire of a tobacco pipe. Their son Páll was able to save them from the fire, but he himself burned inside with five other men. 

Some attributed that fire to the ill-will of Guðríðr Hinriksdóttir, sister of the brothers Ólafur and Sigurður Hinriksson, who had been farmhands at Hvítárvellir and died there, because Sheriff Sigurður had refused to grant her inheritance after them, having taken the farm of Hvítárvellir into his own hands. Others attributed the fire to Skotta. After the fire Sigurður went west to Setberg to his relatives.

Skotta Haunting the Decendants

The sons of Sheriff Sigurður and Ólöf were Páll, who burned at Hvítárvellir, and Jón, pastor at Hvammur in Norðurárdal (1752, †1780). He was married to Kristín Guðmundsdóttir, sister of Lady Þórunn and Eggert of Álftanes. Reverend Jón Sigurðsson and his wife Kristín had a daughter named Ragnheiður. She married Jón Jónsson the younger, pastor at Gilsbakki (1771, †1796). Their children were: Reverend Jón at Bergsstaðir (1826, †1838 or 1839), the housewives Kristín of Víðidalstunga, and Halla, first wife of Jón of Leirá. Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir lost her husband and married again, to Einar Guðbrandsson, assistant pastor at Hvammur in 1801, and they lived at Brekka in Norðurárdal. At that time the pastor at Hvammur was Þórður Þorsteinsson.

Hvítárvellir around 1900: Then used as a dairy school in what was called the Baron’s House, which is on the far left in the picture. The building was moved in 1925 to Hvítárbakki, Borgarfjörður.

There are few stories of Skotta from this period, but she did follow the couple at Gilsbakki, and people thought they saw her skipping ahead of Reverend Jón when he rode to the annex at Síðumúli. She was always in the meadow at Síðumúli when the pastor was seen on the Háafell slopes, Háafell being the outermost farm in Síðumúli parish.

After Lady Ragnheiður married Reverend Einar and they moved to Brekka she was called the Brekka-Skotta. Few deeds of hers are recorded there, though she was said to have killed a farmhand at Brekka named Gunnar. He had gone into the cowshed in the evening, either to carry water for the cowshed hand or to see how things were, but in any case he was found dead in the cowshed passage, while the cowshed hand heard, at that very moment, the sound of hide being dragged behind him along the cowshed ridge. 

Once Reverend Þórður of Hvammur was riding through his parish. He had gone down into the valley on his business, and his path lay along the banks between Brekka and Hraunsnef, called Pálsengi. The pastor then saw Skotta come to him. She did nothing but sit up behind him on the horse. The pastor was a resolute man and did not let it shake him. He quickly leapt off, cut the girth, and pulled the saddle back off. Then he mounted again and rode home bareback, while Skotta was seen sitting on the saddle for a long time that day, beating the stirrup-leathers.

After the death of Lady Ragnheiður, Skotta followed her children. Her daughter Kristín married Jón Friðriksson Thorarensen, a student, in Víðidalstunga. He considered Skotta no welcome guest in his family and wanted to be rid of her. Skotta was then grown old and weak in the knees, as was to be expected, since few had been able to harm her. They met when Jón returned from a journey south and was riding north over Arnarvatnsheiði. He asked Skotta what journey she was on, and she said she intended to visit his wife. But since Skotta was sore-footed and Jón wished to be rid of her, they agreed that she should leave his family in peace if he would give her something for her feet. He then took off his strong riding-boots, iron-shod, and threw them to her, and she put them on at once and disappeared.

There are no stories of her following Jón, pastor at Bergsstaðir, but people believed that she followed his son Jónas, who was a farmer at Arnarholt in Stafholtstungur, and he is often thought to bring misfortune wherever he comes. After Jón in Víðidalstunga and Skotta parted, people say that she chiefly stayed with Halla, first wife of Jón of Leirá, and she played him many tricks, killed livestock, and such things. Jón spent the first years of his farming at Kalmanstunga in Hvítársíða. From there he moved to Leirá, and after that Skotta was called the Leirá-Skotta, which name she still bears, and she follows the children of Jón’s first wife at Leirá. There is little to be told of her deeds since, for she is very old and worn, so much so that she herself is reported to have said that she could only drag herself by crawling on her knees, and she has long surpassed the usual age of ghosts, 120 years.

Even so, the people of Leirá are always thought to bring misfortune wherever they go, and men often think they see her at Akranes, since both farmhands from Leirá row there and come on various errands, but always she seems to be noticed before them.

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References:

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

Hvítárvellir – Wikipedia, frjálsa alfræðiritið

Stórabóla – Wikipedia, frjálsa alfræðiritið

Ukategorisert

The Haunting of the Antoniterkirche: Where the Monks Never Left

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The transition from Catholicism to Protestantism sometimes got bloody. This was also the case in Bern where the Antonite monks of Antoniterkirche had been residing for centuries. Cast out, their former churches and chapels were left desecrated, but did they truly leave the city?

In the twisted veins of Bern’s Old Town, where cobblestones whisper and centuries sleep behind shuttered windows, stands a building most passersby ignore. They shouldn’t. Tucked behind Postgasse 62 is the Antoniterkirche, now a shell of holy ground that once echoed with prayers and plague, now just as likely to echo with ghostly footsteps and the whispers of dead monks.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

The Bern Disputation was a debate over the theology of the Swiss Reformation that occurred in Bern from 6 to 26 January 1528 that ended in Bern becoming the second Swiss canton to officially become Protestant. After this, the monks were expelled from the city, but according to some ghost stories, some never left. 

The Church: Painting by Michael Neher (1798–1876), The former Antoniter Church as a fire-fighting equipment house (1870)

The Antonites and their History in Bern

The Antonites, a medieval order of monks known for their care of the sick and their infamous symbol of the Tau cross, settled here in Bern before 1283 as servants of St. Anthony the Great. They were healers, yes—but also collectors of bone relics and donations, said to tend to the ill with both herbs and dark rituals. As their presence grew, so did the unease around them. Something about the way they looked at you, it was said. Something about the smell that clung to their robes.

The Monks: They were known across Europe for caring for the sick—particularly those suffering from “holy fire,” or ergotism, a disease that twisted limbs and seared flesh with a burning agony. Clad in black habits emblazoned with the blue tau cross, the brothers brought with them piety, relics, and rituals.

Their grand church, rebuilt in 1444 and again in the 1490s, stood proud for just a few short decades. By the 15th century, they had rebuilt their chapel into a grand Gothic church, welcomed the Shoemakers’ Guild and the Society of Rebleuten to worship at its altars, and staffed their hospital with six brothers and several lay nurses.

Then came the Reformation—a righteous blaze that burned through Bern and cast the Antonites into shadow. In 1528, the last friar was expelled. Mobs ransacked the sanctuary. Altars were shattered. Candles snuffed. Statues dragged and burned in the streets. 

Hatred had also accumulated against the Antonite brothers, as against all monks, in the years before the Reformation. People complained about their shameless begging, the decline in morals, and their unexemplary lifestyle. This hatred now erupted. Lynchings of monks were not uncommon. But did the monks ever truly leave?

The Haunting of The Antoniterkirche

After its secularization, the church served many purposes: a granary, a saddlery, a fire station. The pews were torn out, the partitions fell, and the prayers ceased. But not the presence. In every incarnation, workers reported strange noises. Moaning. Shuffling. Cold hands where there should be none. Rats, people claimed. But rats don’t whisper in Latin. Rats don’t sigh from behind the walls.

Antonierkirche before 1930

And then there’s the woodcutter’s tale that was written down in a collection of ghost stories from Bern. He was working alone in a partitioned room when a cold wind passed through the boarded walls. Something moved behind him. He turned, expecting vermin. Instead, there stood a tall figure in the black robes of a monk, cowl drawn, eyes large and sorrowful. The monk raised his hands slowly. No sound, no breath, just that chilling gaze. The woodcutter dropped his saw. “It was the prior,” he said later, trembling. “The last one. The one who never left.”

The Haunted Former Church

Source

The building today is shared by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bern, and the Russian Orthodox chapel hides quietly in the basement. The altar is long gone, the pews removed, but those who enter the chapel still speak of feeling watched. Of cold drafts that move against the grain of the wind. Of whispered invocations they didn’t speak.

The faithful come and go. But beneath the floorboards, something still lingers. In the coldest months, neighbors speak of low chanting beneath the stone. Of muffled crying. Of ghostly figures moving along the old monastic paths.

The Antoniterkirche was meant to be a place of healing. But after centuries of misuse, desecration, and silence—it seems the wounds here go too deep. And in Bern’s dark heart, the dead do not always rest easy.

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References:

Die Geschichte der Antonierkirche | Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Bern

https://www.maerchenstiftung.ch/maerchendatenbank/11839/im-antonierkloster

Antoniterkirche (Bern) – Wikipedia

Ukategorisert

The Restless Gatekeeper of the Rhine Gate in Basel

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After the gatekeeper’s young daughter died in the Rhine, his only wish was to be buried next to her in the cemetery. As they all believed his own death was a suicide he was denied a burial in a consecrated ground. Now, he is forced to linger in the shadows, his only way to visit her grave. 

Basel’s old city once bristled with gates and towers and its guardians of the bridges, streets, and walls that kept the medieval town secure. None was more important than the Rhine Gate on the Grossbasel side, the fortified passage controlling access to the ancient Rhine Bridge, the vital link between Gross- and Kleinbasel. The gate itself was torn down in 1839, but one of its most tragic stories clings to the city like mist over the river.

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The Mittlere Brücke, or the middle bridge is one of the oldest bridges across the Rhine, dating back to 1223, and has become the very symbol of Basel today, connecting Grossbasel (Greater Basel) and Kleinbasel (Lesser Basel).

Legend has it that there once was a silver bell hanging from the Minster towers in Basel. After the earthquake in 1356, the towers collapsed and the bell sank into the Rhine, only now calling the river spirits to midnight prayer at full moon. It is said that the bell can only be raised when the Minster becomes a Catholic church again. If you look and listen closely from the banks or the bridge, it is said you can see the silver glimmer and hear the faint ringing sound. 

The Legend of the Ghostly Gatekeeper

In the 17th century, a drunken gatekeeper served at the Rhine Gate on the Grossbasel side of the river. A man with a weakness for drink, his reputation in the city was poor, and yet there was one bright, innocent light in his otherwise dim existence that was his beloved four-year-old daughter.

The tragedy happened one afternoon as the little girl played near the bridge’s edge, close enough for her father to see, but far enough for danger. He was, as too often, deep in his cups. And though he was clear in the head enough to see the horror unfolding in front of him, he was too drunk to save her when she fell in. 

It was the boatmen of the guildhouse at the bridge who reacted first, leaping into their boats and chasing the swiftly moving current. They managed to pull the girl from the water near St. John’s, but it was too late. The child was gone.

The Phantom at St. Martin’s

She was buried in St- Martin’s Church, or Martinskirche, the oldest parish church in the city on Cathedral Hill or the Münsterhügel.

The gatekeeper was crushed and filled with immense guilt. At the girl’s burial in St. Martin’s churchyard, he stood motionless at the grave long after the others had left. He carried his guilt heavily, a man haunted in life.

Die Martinskirche in Basel// Source: Andreas Faessler/Wikimedia

Weeks later, his body was found floating near the Klingental corner tower on the Rhine. Whether from despair or drink, he had slipped into the water. And because suicide was suspected, he was denied burial beside his daughter in consecrated ground. Instead, his remains were laid to rest in the old lay cemetery at Klingental, where plague victims, beggars, and outcasts were consigned.

Yet, his soul found no peace. Even decades, or perhaps even centuries later depending on when this actually happened he was still haunting the churchyard. During the time of Pastor Theodor Falkeysen (1725–1815), people whispered of a spectral figure seen standing in the churchyard of St. Martin’s on moonlit nights. Described as rigid and bent, dressed in the tattered clothes of a gatekeeper, his hollow eyes fixed forever on his child’s grave.

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References:

Spuk und Geister im alten Basel

Mittlere Brücke (Basel) – Everything you need to know in 2025 

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

Tour Description «Walk of legends» Place 1: Claraplatz and Rebgasse

Ukategorisert

The Haunting of Nes Church Ruins in Norway

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The mysterious Nes Church Ruins in Norway has attracted ghost hunters and legends for centuries by now. But what is really lurking among the old stones after dark?

Where the rivers Vorma and Glomma meet in Nes, west in Norway, there are the ruins of a church that are said to be haunted. Some claim that these ruins could possibly be the most haunted place in the country. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

By daylight, the ancient church ruins of Nes are a peaceful historical site. Stone walls softened by moss, the wind threading through broken archways, and birds nested in the quiet masonry. Yet when night settles, the place transforms. Ghost hunters and thrill seekers come armed with flashlights and recording devices, hoping to capture the strange energy that locals insist has lingered here for centuries.

Source: Tommy Gildseth/Wikimedia

A Thousand Years of History

These crumbling walls date back to the eleventh century, making them among the oldest standing church structures in the region. Even before it was a christian church, it was most likely a pagan place of worship. 

Throughout the years it was expanded and torn down, and in 1567 it was burned down in the Nordic Seven Years War. In 1854 the church burned down after it was struck by lightning and wasn’t rebuilt because they feared mudslides. The ruins are now a popular place for weddings, worship and concerts with grass as the floor and the sky as the roof and the graves surrounding the gothic ruins makes it a sort of park. 

Stories circulate of electronics malfunctioning the moment investigators step onto the grounds. Phones that suddenly power down, camera screens flickering into blackness, lights strobing without any cause. Visitors report the sense that someone, or perhaps several someones, does not appreciate the intrusion. The ruins, heavy with memory, seem to breathe and watch.

The Tragic Priest Said to Haunt the Church Ruins in Nes

Weathered but still imposing, they mark where generations lived, worshipped, and were buried. And beside them stands a solitary grave: the resting place of Priest Jacob Christian Finckenhagen who was buried here in 1837.

Finckenhagen served here in the early nineteenth century from 1800 to his death, remembered in local folklore as a deeply troubled man. Some say he took his own life inside the church, unable to bear the weight of his despair. Others insist that even death did not bring him peace.

Many visitors claim to have seen a figure in the black priest’s robes walking the path toward his gravestone. He is silent, moving with a slow and deliberate step, as if still patrolling the grounds of his parish. Those who have witnessed him say he follows at a distance, never closing in, never turning away.

Children Behind the Walls

The darkest story tied to Nes is whispered with lowered voices. According to local legend, Finckenhagen’s children were sealed within the church itself. 

He married his wife, Charlotta Amalia Hassing and had three children together as well as Charlotta’s daughter from her first marriage. No records confirm it, but many swear the land remembers that they were in fact entombed inside of the ruins. People walking the perimeter after sunset report faint cries echoing through the stonework. High, distant, and pleading. Some turn back immediately. Others keep walking until the darkness grows too heavy.

The Truth Behind the Haunted Rumors

But how much is true about the ghostly priest said to linger? Records show that Priest Jacob Christian Finckenhagen actually died of a sudden stroke, and that he was 81 years old when it happened. His iron cross is still there, and at his funeral, one of Norway’s most famous writers, Henrik Wergeland had written a poem in his honor. 

So what of his children? There are absolutely no records about them being interred in the walls of the ruins. His son Søren even did as his father had done and grew up to become a priest. 

So when did the stories start to form? Although people have been talking about strange things happening by the ruins for ages, the story of Finckenhagen was told from the early 1900 at least. And what was told about the strange ruins before this is perhaps lost to history.

Haunted By the Past

Whether the priest is a restless soul, a lingering echo, or a remnant of old fears and superstition, the legends are impossible to ignore. The Nes ruins are more than a historical site. They are a place where something remains, something that refuses to sleep.

What is true though, is that it has definitely drawn people to it though. It got so bad that they had to put on cameras as people vandalized the ruins by driving on the grass, digging illegally and spray painting on the ancient walls. Perhaps the biggest haunting of the church ruins today is from the living.

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References:

Nes kirkeruin

Rev Jacob Christian Finckenhagen (1756-1837) – Find a Grave Memorial 

Kirkeruinene omtalt i Forbes Magazine: – Er jo litt skummelt 

NYHETER | «Hjemsøkt» sommerperle

Kirkeruinene får kameraovervåkning: – Vi ser dessverre ingen annen løsning