Said to appear in the mirror of his favorite place for a pint in Dublin, the ghost of James Joyce is rumored to still linger in Davy Byrne’s Pub.
In the heart of Dublin’s literary quarter stands one of the city’s most famous pubs, Davy Byrne’s, where polished wood, gleaming mirrors and a literary history draws people from near and far. Some even say that some stay after their death.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland
For more than 125 years, this elegant public house has been a gathering place for writers, rebels, and thinkers. Yet behind its warm glow and literary fame lingers a story of something spectral. They say that James Joyce himself, the master of Dublin’s soul, never truly left the place that helped make him immortal.
First opened in 1889, Davy Byrne’s Pub quickly became a cornerstone of Dublin’s social life. The upstairs rooms were once used for clandestine Republican meetings, with none other than Michael Collins himself said to have gathered here in secret during Ireland’s struggle for independence. The pub became a crossroads of revolution and intellect, where whispers of rebellion mixed with the smoke of pipes and the clink of glasses.
But while politics left its mark on these walls, literature would make the pub eternal. James Joyce, who frequented the establishment in the early 1900s, captured its spirit in his masterpiece Ulysses, where Leopold Bloom famously orders a gorgonzola sandwich and a glass of burgundy at Davy Byrne’s. That passage ensured that the pub’s name would live forever, etched into the pages of one of the greatest novels ever written. Joyce also mentioned the pub in the short story “Counterparts” in Dubliners as a bar visited by the office clerk protagonist named Farrington following an altercation with his senior at the office.
The Writer Who Never Left
Book fans travel long distances to visit the place and The pub is particularly popular on Bloomsday, an annual 16 June celebration of both the book and James Joyce.
Regulars and staff will tell you that Joyce still lingers here. His image, they say, appears in the bar’s ornate mirrors, watching quietly from the corner as if observing his characters come to life once more. Some claim that his reflection moves independently, tilting its head or raising a glass, even when no one is standing nearby.
The Ghost of a Writer: James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce[a]; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist movement and is regarded among the most influential and important writers of the 20th century.
A few have even reported hearing the faint scratch of a pen on paper, or the ghostly murmur of a man reciting words from memory. Whether it is the echo of Joyce’s creative spirit or a trick of the mind, no one can say for certain.
Between Literature and the Beyond
For some, it makes perfect sense that Joyce would haunt Davy Byrne’s. The pub was his muse, a place that embodied Dublin’s wit, melancholy, and vitality. Perhaps his spirit simply returns to where the city felt most alive to him. Or perhaps he lingers to see if his words are still spoken, if readers and wanderers still come to trace the path of Ulysses.
Today, Davy Byrne’s remains one of the most beloved pubs in Dublin, where tourists and locals alike gather to taste a pint and a slice of literary history. Yet those who know its story may pause before the mirrors, half-expecting to glimpse a familiar figure in a dark coat and round spectacles smiling faintly back.
If you do, raise your glass. It might just be that James Joyce has come back for one last drink in the pub he never could forge
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
A maid who once worked at the hotel allegedly took her own life at the old Visnes Hotel, deep in the Norwegian fjords. Now it is said she is lingering in the afterlife in the old rooms she once worked in.
Visnes Hotel stands quietly on the edge of Stryn, its Swiss style facade looking out over the dramatic landscapes of western Norway. Surrounded by fjords, mountains, and deep history, the hotel is known today for its charm, warmth, and long tradition of hospitality.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway
But what is it about the haunted rumors that seem to follow the hotel, even after several rebrandings and renovations? It is said that behind its carefully preserved rooms and peaceful gardens, a far darker story is said to linger.
Haunted Hotel: Visnes Hotel in Stryn, Norway. Wooden hotel built in 1850. It is said to be haunted by a maid who took her own life in the hotel. // Source: Jorid Martinsen/Wikimedia
A Hotel Built on Long Memory
The story of Visnes began in 1850, when Anton Visnes opened his farmhouse to travelers passing through the region. Over the decades, the property slowly evolved, until his son Arne formally transformed it into a hotel in 1887.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted hotels
Since then, Visnes Hotel has remained in operation, carrying the marks of many eras within its walls. The large courtyard, the old barn, and the historic interiors give the building a sense of deep continuity, as though the past never truly left.
It is perhaps this unbroken history that has allowed one restless spirit to remain behind.
Local legend speaks of a young maid who once worked at Visnes during its early hotel years. Both her life and death carries almost no details and proof, and little is known about both her and the legends she left behind.
She was said to be hardworking and quiet, spending long days tending to guests, cleaning rooms, and moving silently through the halls.
Over time, sorrow settled over her. Some say she fell in love with someone she could never have, while others believe she was overwhelmed by isolation and hardship. What is agreed upon is that her life ended tragically when she took her own life within the hotel grounds.
Her death was quietly buried in time, but her presence, according to many, was not.
Signs of a Restless Spirit
Guests and staff have reported unexplained footsteps in empty corridors late at night, doors that open and close on their own, and a feeling of being watched when no one else is nearby. Some claim to have seen the faint outline of a young woman in old fashioned clothing near the rooms once reserved for staff.
There have been reports of strange knocking sounds in the walls as well as the sound of someone crying, although the rooms and corridors are empty. Others describe soft sounds, like someone tidying or moving furniture, long after the building has gone still.
The old barn on the property, now being restored, is also said to carry an uneasy atmosphere. Workers have spoken of sudden cold air, strange noises, and the sense that someone is standing just out of sight.
A Gentle but Lingering Presence
Unlike many ghost stories filled with terror, the spirit of Visnes Hotel is often described as sad rather than threatening. She is believed to be bound to the place where she lived and worked, repeating the quiet routines of a life that ended too soon. Some say she appears most often to those who are alone, as if drawn to familiar loneliness.
Today, guests come to Visnes Hotel for its history, beauty, and tranquility. But as night falls and the halls grow silent, some believe the young maid still walks softly through the building, unable to leave the place that defined her life and her death.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
A church with the sinister name The Black Church in Dublin has a legend that claims if you follow the ritual, you will be able to summon the devil.
In the quiet streets of Dublin 7, where old stone and shadow mingle, there stands a building that has said to hold the power to summon the devil. Surprising enough, it is a former church and chapel.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland
St Mary’s Chapel of Ease, better known as The Black Church, is built of dark calp limestone that seems to drink in the light. When it rains the limestone takes on a dark hue when getting wet, hence the name it was given. Once a place of worship, it now serves as offices, yet few locals can walk past it after dark without glancing over their shoulder. The reason is simple: the devil is said to dwell here.
Built in 1830, protestant chapel, The Black Church was designed to serve parishioners who lived too far from St Mary’s on Marlborough Street. It even has a mention in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Over the years, however, its eerie appearance earned it a far darker reputation. The rough, blackened stone gave the building a funereal air, and as the decades passed, stories began to grow about strange whispers, cold drafts, and the feeling of being watched even in daylight.
When the church was deconsecrated in the 1960s, many claimed it was not just falling attendance that led to its closure, but something more sinister. Some even said that during its final service, the candles flickered violently and the air turned ice cold as if something within the walls had awoken.
Summoning the Devil
Every haunting has its ritual, and The Black Church has three. Locals whisper that there are only three ways to summon the devil himself.
One version says you must run around the church three times at midnight, your footsteps echoing on the empty street.
Another insists you must walk around it in reverse exactly thirteen times without looking away from the building.
The final, and perhaps most blasphemous, claims that if you stand before its door and recite the Our Father backwards, the devil will appear before you.
No one admits to trying all three. Some say a student once dared to, only to vanish without a trace, his friends finding his shoes by the entrance the next morning.
A Warning in Stone
Though time has softened its purpose, The Black Church remains one of Dublin’s most enduring legends. Whether or not the devil ever walked its grounds, its stones hold a strange gravity that draws the curious and the foolish alike.
If you ever find yourself near St Mary’s Place on a still night, take care. You may feel tempted to test the legend, to run around its walls or whisper a forbidden prayer. But remember the warnings of the locals and those who call upon the darkness at The Black Church may find that it answers.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
An ancient ghost coming from the depths of graves across the nordic countries, the Haugbúi Draugr could be both dangerous and even deadly. Not merely a specter, but the rotten flesh of the dead, the ghosts are remembered as The Walking Dead of the North.
The draugr is not a distant spirit or a whisper in the dark, but the body itself, risen from the grave, swollen with death and driven by hatred, envy, or an unbroken will.
To the Viking mind, death did not always end a person’s power. A strong, malicious, or deeply wronged individual might carry their force beyond the grave. And even after the vikings are long gone, the stories of the draugr haunting the lands remain.
The Norse Draug: The word draug itself is derived from the Old Norse word draugr , which originally could mean the ghost of any deceased person. The draugen was originally a dead person, either living in a mound (in Old Norse called haugbúi ) or going out to haunt the living. They were corporal ghosts. // Illustration: Kim Diaz Holm
The Living Corpse of the Draugr
Unlike ghosts made of mist or memory, the draugr is corporeal. It has weight, strength, and substance. It can leave footprints in snow, crush bones with its grip, and wrestle the living like a man made of cold iron. In many stories, the draugr guards its burial mound or the land it once owned, attacking anyone foolish enough to trespass.
Haugbúi Draugr: In the Bronze and Iron age, people of power were often buried inside huge mound dwellings or tumuli. This led people to believe that the hills were haunted, and that these corporal ghosts resided inside of them. Although the Haugbúi is rather a type of draugr, it’s used as an umbrella term to separate it from the Norwegian Sea Draug. // Image: Osberghaugen / by Karl Ragnar Gjertsen.
Descriptions vary, but certain traits return again and again. Draugrs are often bloated and dark, their skin stretched tight by decay. They reek of death, a thick, sour stench that announces their presence before they are seen. Their eyes may glow with an unnatural light, or stare blankly from faces frozen in rage.
Some draugrs grow in size and strength after death, becoming far more powerful than they were in life. Others can change shape, slipping into the form of animals or mist, or riding the night winds to terrorize farms and villages. The draugr’s motivation was primarily envy and greed.
Glámr and the curse of the draugr
One of the most famous draugrs appears in Grettis saga. Glámr was a shepherd whose arrogance and defiance marked him even before death. When he died under cursed circumstances, he rose again, haunting the countryside, killing livestock, and driving men mad with fear. Glámr’s draugr is not merely violent, but malevolent, spreading despair wherever he goes.
The Icelandic Draugr Types: The Draugr tale evolved differently in the nordic countries. In Iceland, the closest draugr ghost after the viking age and the saga era would be the Skotta or Mori. They also fall under the Old Norse Mythology of a Fylgja, that were supernatural spirits that followed or latched onto people. But the tales of the Fylga evolved and when we read about Skotta, they were not like totem animals or someone coming with your prophecy like in the old sagas. Icelandic ghosts are often described as being not like apparitions, but in real flesh that interacted with the living, like the nordic Draugr. And when we read about Skotta, the female version, she was highly dangerous and also deadly.// 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.
When the hero Grettir finally defeats Glámr, it requires enormous physical strength and courage. Even then, the victory is incomplete. With his final breath, Glámr curses Grettir, ensuring that the shadow of the draugr follows him for the rest of his life. This reflects a core belief in draugr lore: even destroyed, the dead can still leave scars.
A second death
In Norse belief, killing a draugr was rarely simple. Weapons alone were often useless. To end its reign, the animated corpse had to suffer a second death. This might involve beheading the body, burning it, or destroying it so completely that nothing remained to rise again. Burial mounds were opened, corpses pinned down, and ashes scattered to the wind.
The main indication that a deceased person will become a draugr is that the corpse is not horizontal and is found standing upright, or in a sitting position, indicating that the dead might return. Breaking the draugr’s posture is a necessary or helpful step in destroying the draugr.
The Sea Draugr of Norway: Originally, the word draugr simply meant ghosts, and there are stories about them across Scandinavia since before the Viking area. This ghost is not the same creature as the draugr of the Viking sagas, the corporal ghost even though they share a name. The sea draug belongs to coastal Norwegian folklore and is shaped by centuries of fear, loss, and respect for the unforgiving ocean, especially along the coast of western Norway stretching up to the north, the draug is almost always a ghost from the sea. Read More: The Sea Draug: The Ghostly Fisherman of the Norwegian Coast
Heavy stones were placed on graves. Bodies were buried with care, or weighted down, to ensure they stayed where they belonged. The most effective means of preventing the return of the dead was believed to be a corpse door, a special door through which the corpse was carried feet-first with people surrounding it so that the corpse couldn’t see where it was going. The door was then bricked up to prevent a return.
The Mound Dwelling Ghost Across the North
The draugr is not confined to one land. Variants appear across the Nordic world, from Iceland to Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Each region shaped the creature slightly differently, but the core idea remained the same. The dead could walk. The past could rise up and harm the present.
The Nynorsk terminology, which often differs from the Bokmål usage by being more closely related to Old Norse, still defines the draug primarily as a revenant. Ola Raknes could therefore define a vampire as a “Blodsugar-draug” in his English-Norwegian dictionary .
Today, draugrs are often portrayed as Norse zombies or vampiric undead in games, films, and novels, mostly because of their slowness in movement and how sometimes, their form and fate could sometimes be contagious and they could make the living one of them.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
In the dark Hendrick Street in Dublin, there once were two houses said to be some of the most haunted ones in town. Occupied by at least six ghosts, some say they still linger in their old street.
In Smithfield, Dublin, once stood a narrow, unassuming street that locals long avoided after dark. Not much was known about the street between the corn and cattle market of the city. Hendrick Street, now mostly vanished from the map, was for generations whispered about as Dublin’s most haunted street where more than one house had a haunted story.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland
Though the old Dutch Billys houses from the 1730s were demolished in the 1960s, the ground where numbers 7 and 8 once stood is said to remain restless and was the worst location for the haunting going on in the street. The stories claim that no fewer than six spirits are bound to this cursed patch of land, forever replaying the tragedies that once unfolded behind its doors.
The Six Ghosts of Hendrick Street
The haunting of Hendrick Street began long before the bulldozers came. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the area was densely packed with tenements, where poverty, sickness, and despair clung to the air like a fog. Numbers 7 and 8 were said to be especially ill-fated. This is said to have especially been from the 1920s and leading up to the house’s demolitions.
By the turn of the 20th century, Hendrick Street’s reputation had darkened beyond repair. Residents spoke of six distinct apparitions that haunted the adjoining houses.
Tenants rarely stayed long, claiming to hear knocking on the walls at night, furniture moving by itself, and cold hands brushing against their faces in the dark. It was especially inside number 7 and 8 in the street that people were bothered by ghosts.
The Dark History of Number 7
One story in particular tells about a family who moved into number 7. An old house where many people had lived and died. It isn’t really specified exactly when this family moved in, but it is more likely to be from the early to mid 20th century. When they arrived they were warned to not go downstairs after dark. Apparently a woman had died in the house and was heard walking up and down the stairs from midnight to the clock struck five, every night.
The father of the house came home one evening and couldn’t unlock the door. He heard someone coming running down the stairs inside and the door flew open. But when he looked inside, there was no one there, and he only felt the sensation of a cold wind passing him by.
The Ghost by the Fireplace in Number 8
In the neighboring house there was an elderly couple living once. According to the story, they hated each other in life, but seemed to be unable to part in the afterlife. After the man, a horrid mad according to the rumours passed, he remained in the house to haunt his wife.
She hated him so much, she was glad he had died. But one night he came back to shout at her. He was also said to have been lingering by the fireplace. Because of his torment even beyond death, she eventually said to have gotten an exorcism.
Both number 7 and 8 were said to have been demolished as far back as 1953 because of the poor state of them.
Hendrick Street No. 15-19
Not only were the two houses on the street said to be haunted, but so were the buildings right across from them as well. It used to be an industrial block that has now turned into a retail outlet.
According to the rumours, there was a young girl said to haunt the building and would appear in front of people. People walking by would report about seeing faces in the windows of the building when no one was supposed to be inside.
Dublin’s Forgotten Haunting
Today, Hendrick Street is little more than a memory, yet its ghostly reputation has never faded. In its place, The Hendrick Smithfield Hotel has been built in its place. Although the hotel acknowledges the streets’ haunted history, there isn’t really much to go on in terms of newer ghost stories. It is however still a stop on many ghost tours in the city.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
Said to be haunted by headless prisoners who tried to capture Dublin Castle, this storied building has shadows lingering in the corners.
Few places in Ireland carry as much history, blood, and shadow as Dublin Castle, or Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath, in the midst of the city. And if we are to believe the rumours, it is also said to house a few ghosts.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland
Built on the site of a Viking fortress and later serving as the seat of British power in Ireland for over 700 years, the castle has seen centuries of political intrigue, imprisonment, executions, and rebellion. With such a dark and turbulent past, you would definitely believe that it could be haunted, but the truth is, that it’s not often that Dublin Castle makes it on the top most haunted castles in Ireland.
The Headless Haunting of Dublin Castle
There are however a few ghost stories here as well though. The most chilling tales speak of the headless spirits of men who tried to storm the fortress long ago. What the battle and time someone tried to storm it is not really mentioned, but there are plenty of battles and sieges that have tried to take control over the castle.
According to this ghost legend, the prisoners of the attack were executed swiftly and without mercy, their remains were buried within the castle grounds. Locals and visitors alike claim that the headless dead have never truly left. Their spectral forms are said to wander the grounds in silence.
The Haunted Upper Yard
The Upper Yard is often spoken of as one of the most unsettling areas here as this was the location of the original medieval castle that stood before a huge fire burned it to the ground in the 1600s. Some visitors have described the uneasy feeling of being watched, while others claim to have glimpsed fleeting apparitions disappearing into the ancient stonework.
There is also a building in the upper yard that is said to be haunted where the original motte-and-bailey castle was. Details are vague about the specific, but some think the haunting is a woman who is mourning her lover she lost in one of the many battles fought on this land.
Other Ghost Stories
One particular haunting experience was told through Spiritedisle’ about a Garda sergeant who was stationed at Dublin Castle in the 1950s. One night the light went out by itself when he was alone in the dormitory. Then he heard something like coal being shoveled into the fire in the kitchen and went to check that he was truly alone. When entering, the room was empty, there was no coal in the fire and the shovel hadn’t moved at all.
Today, Dublin Castle stands as a celebrated historical site and a major tourist attraction. Yet beneath the surface of grandeur and state occasions lingers the weight of all who suffered and died there and are perhaps even haunting it to this day.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
Old cities carry old ghost stories, and Bern in Switzerland is no exception. From the old buildings filled with history to the depth of the Aare river, here are some of the most haunted places in Bern.
In Switzerland’s capital, behind its postcard-perfect streets and golden sandstone facades, Bern hides a much darker side when the lights go out. Beneath the Gothic spires, along narrow alleyways, and on timeworn staircases, ghost stories have lingered for centuries and still linger underneath the modern city. Tales of restless monks, cursed people forced to live out eternity as monstrous spirits, weeping mothers, and endless funeral processions to the afterlife.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland
From the shadow of the mighty cathedral to the crooked passages of the Matte district, Bern is a city where history and legend intertwine, and where the past refuses to stay buried. Although far from a complete list, here you have some of the most haunted places in Bern and some of their haunted tales.
The Headless Ghost Woman of Bern at Junkerngasse 54
The Haunted Street: Junkerngasse street in the old part of Bern in Switzerland and was once a place were the rich lived. Today many of the old houses still remains, including the abandoned ones.//Photo by: Tony Badwy/wikimedia
Among the grand façades of Bern’s most historic street, Junkerngasse 54 stands out not for its elegance, but for the eerie silence that surrounds it. Abandoned for over a century, this seemingly ordinary building has long been the subject of chilling tales, most notably that of the Headless Ghost Woman that has become one of Bern’s most well known ghost stories. It is said that at the stroke of midnight, the spirit of a woman said to be headless appears at the window, haunting the quiet street below. Though the building likely served mundane purposes in its past, its shadowy interior now invites only speculation and spine-tingling legends, adding a dark twist to Bern’s beautifully preserved Old Town.
The Sinful Monk Haunting the Former Monastery House on Junkerngasse
Before Junkerngasse became the street it is today, it used to house a lot of church buildings. The former monastery building, Frienisberghaus on Junkerngasse, once a residence for Cistercian monks from the Frienisberg Monastery, was long believed to be haunted by the ghost of a sinful monk. According to legend, the monk violated a nun during his time in the city, and after the Reformation turned the building to secular use, his restless spirit began to appear at midnight, silently climbing and descending stairs, sighing in torment. Even during the building’s demolition, tools dulled
The Cursed Butcher Apprentice Haunting Rathausgasse in Bern
Rathausgasse: Die Berner Rathausgasse im Regen, 1992, Hotel Glocke. //Source: Christian Boss 1965/Wikimedia
In the heart of Bern’s Old Town, the legend of the ghostly butcher’s apprentice haunts the cobbled streets of Rathausgasse that was once known as Butcher’s Lane. Centuries ago, a cruel apprentice tormented and killed a calf for amusement, and as punishment, he was cursed to roam the area for eternity in the form of the very creature he tortured. People still claim to hear the eerie clatter of hooves echoing down the alleyways at night, though no horse or calf is ever seen. His restless spirit is also said to haunt the nearby Schlachthaus-Theater, formerly a slaughterhouse, where unexplained noises, spectral voices, and falling objects disturb the quiet.
The Mattentreppe, a steep staircase linking Bern’s majestic cathedral to the old Matte district by the Aare River, is said to be one of the city’s most haunted sites. As this list will show, most of Bern’s old stairs have a couple of ghost stories attached to it.
Known for its ties to bathhouses, brothels, and even Casanova, the area holds lingering traces of sorrow and scandal. One ghost is a despairing nobleman who leapt to his death after a maid he’d seduced became pregnant; another is a crippled man who vanishes in laughter when offered help. But the most haunting figure is that of a woman in a wide-brimmed hat who appears each New Year’s Eve, silently ascending the steps from her grave, returning to the home where she once murdered her child. When the cathedral bells toll midnight, her ghost walks again before vanishing into the night mist.
Burgtreppe in Bern: Castle stairs from Mattenenge to Nydegghöfli. // Source
The Burgträppe-Balzli is a familiar name to the people of Bern interested in a ghost story. It is said to be a violent ghost said to haunt the staircase near the long-vanished Nydegg Castle, destroyed in 1268 to prevent rival claims after the fall of the Zähringen dynasty. Though the castle is gone, Balzli’s presence remains, targeting young men with phantom beatings on cold winter nights. Some say his fury is tied to the castle’s mysterious past. Another ghost story tied to the location of the former castle whispers of ghostly builders said to be cursed spirits of those who dismantled the fortress. They return in the fog to tear it down again and again.
Burgtreppe: Castle stairs at Nydegg Church // Source
As it happens, The Burgträppe-Balzli is not the only ghost said to linger in this area. Nydegg Church in Bern stands on the ruins of the old Nydeggburg Castle, once home to Duke Berchtold V of Zähringen, the city’s founder. Though the duke died in 1218 and his dynasty ended with him, legend says his spirit still haunts the area, particularly the narrow alley of Kreuzgasse. On misty nights, he is said to step down from the Zähringer Monument to roam the streets, displeased with what his city has become. Locals also report eerie noises beneath the church from ancient tunnels linked to the old castle and nearby monasteries. This area of Bern, steeped in history, remains haunted by its founder’s restless legacy.
Kindlifresserbrunnen Fountain and the Spirit of the Discarded Children
Ogre Fountain: The Kindlifressenbrunnen literally means the Child Devour Fountain. There are many legends surrounding it, one being that the area around it is haunted, // Source: Andrew Bossi /Wiki
The eerie Kindlifresserbrunnen (“Child Eater Fountain”) stands as a grotesque 16th-century sculpture of an ogre devouring children, shrouded in mystery and unsettling legend. While historians debate its meaning, ranging from mythological Kronos to a jealous brother of Bern’s founder, local folklore speaks of a darker truth. Beneath the fountain once lay tunnels where unwanted children were said to be abandoned. According to legend, their spirits rise at midnight, dancing in the mist for one hour before vanishing again. The fountain is not just a chilling sculpture, but a symbol of Bern’s haunted past, where ghostly children still wander beneath its stone gaze.
Beneath the historic charm of Bern’s Old Town lies the haunted Fricktreppe, a covered medieval staircase said to be stalked by the ghost of former mayor and military commander Hans Franz Nägeli. Though he died in 1579, Nägeli’s restless spirit is rumored to appear at midnight to those who dare stand at the base of the stairs and call his name three times. Locals, especially daring youths, attempt the ritual, but legend warns that Nägeli slaps those who mock him. Haunted by duty or pride, the stern mayor-turned-phantom is said to still patrol the steps he once governed, a spectral guardian of Bern’s storied past.
The Frick Stairs in Bern are haunted by many ghosts. In addition to the military commander, legends also tell of a ghostly funeral procession of mutilated children and crippled dwarves, a headless woman carrying her severed head with bats swirling from her neck, and a pale noblewoman eternally reenacting the murder of her child. These chilling visions, tied to guilt, infanticide, and punishment, have earned the stairs a reputation as a place where Bern’s darkest sins replay themselves in endless, spectral loops.
The Ghost of Könizwald, Bern: The Ghost of General Robert Scipio von Lentulus
The Former Manor in the Woods: The former Campagne Mon Repos estate, once home to General Robert Scipio von Lentulus, now a haunting memory in the woods of Könizwald.
The legend of General Robert Scipio von Lentulus haunts the former estate of Campagne Mon Repos near the Könizwald forest in Bern. A celebrated military figure from the 18th century, Lentulus is said to rest uneasily in a shuttered garden pavilion, rising only when Switzerland is in peril. According to local lore, those who gather at midnight and call his name three times may witness his ghostly form appear to offer a grim omen as well as reassurance. Though the estate was demolished in 1955 and the area is now a wooded green area in the city, the legend endures, portraying Lentulus as a spectral guardian of the nation, summoned only when its fate hangs in the balance.
The Bern Town Hall (Rathaus), a 600-year-old Gothic landmark in the heart of the Old City, is not only a center of politics but also a hotspot for eerie hauntings. Among its ghostly residents are a mourning treasurer who weeps for lost gold, a spectral protector who appears in a golden carriage during times of crisis, and a council of black-clad skeletal officials who argue endlessly at midnight. The corridors echo with the presence of a headless execution victim and the furious cries of a caretaker’s ghostly wife scolding invisible children behind a stove. Together, these restless spirits create an atmosphere of haunting mystery within Bern’s historic seat of power.
During the Christmas season in Bern, ghostly tales come alive with chilling beauty. Locals speak of the Dancing Beguines, spirits of young women once confined to the Klösterlistutz monastery, who rise as flickering lights above the Aare River to dance briefly before vanishing at midnight. Another phantom, a silent old gentleman in 18th-century attire, takes his ritual walk toward the Studerstein, bringing eerie storms and crashes in his wake. And within a quiet house in the Old Town, a homesick ghost of a young woman in traditional dress returns each year to revisit her childhood home.
The Antoniterkirche in Bern, once home to the Antonite monks who cared for the sick and dying, became a place of unrest after the Swiss Reformation of 1528 forced the brothers from the city. Known for treating “holy fire” (ergotism) and for their distinctive blue Tau cross, the Antonites also carried a reputation for superstition, greed, and moral decline, a resentment that exploded into violence when the city turned Protestant. Their Gothic church was desecrated, its sacred objects destroyed, and the monks cast out, but legends claim some never left. Over the centuries, as the building served as a granary, fire station, and now a Lutheran and Orthodox worship space, reports of ghostly chanting, cold drafts, and apparitions of black-robed monks have persisted. One woodcutter famously claimed to have seen the sorrowful prior himself, silently watching.
The Calf Haunting of the Käfigturm: Bern’s Grotesque Ghost of Guilt
The Käfigturm, once Bern’s medieval city gate and later its notorious prison, carries with it a chilling legend of cruelty and punishment that outlived its walls. Said to be haunted by the Käfitier, a grotesque calf ghost, the tower’s curse stems from a jailer infamous for denying prisoners clean water, offering only filth to the thirsty. Condemned by his own cruelty, he is believed to have returned after death in the form of this monstrous beast, forever running between the tower and the Anna Seiler Fountain, drinking desperately yet never quenching his thirst. Witnesses claim to hear heavy thuds and see the ghastly calf rise from the cobblestones, howling into the night. Echoing the tale of the cursed butcher’s apprentice who haunts Rathausgasse as a calf, this story underscores a haunting Bernese motif: cruelty transforms the guilty into the very beasts they once abused. Today, though Käfigturm serves as a center for civic debate and political discourse, its stones still whisper of suffering, judgment, and the ghostly reminder that merciless deeds may earn merciless fates.
Looking closer at the ghost stories told through time, it paints a picture of the history that helped mold the Swiss city to today, but it also shows us what people feared and dreamed about. As mentioned, these are just a few of the many haunted places that make up Bern.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
Centuries after the vampire panic starting with the death of Petar Blagojević, another vampire was said to haunt the Serbian village, Kisiljevo. Who was Ruža Vlajna and what happened to her?
In the dark heart of Eastern Europe, along the mist-veiled banks of the Danube, lies the unassuming Serbian village of Kisiljevo. While most of the world remembers Kisiljevo for the infamous Petar Blagojević case of 1725, fewer have heard of a more recent and equally unsettling tale: the haunting of a spectral woman known as Ruža Vlajna.
Kisiljevo’s (Кисиљево) long, uneasy relationship with the undead casts a pall over its history, and even in modern times, villagers recall stories of strange apparitions and restless spirits.
A Village Marked by the Undead
Kisiljevo first gained international notoriety in the early 18th century, when Petar Blagojević, believed to have risen from his grave to torment the living, was staked through the heart by terrified townsfolk. This event is widely considered one of the earliest recorded vampire cases in European history and ignited a wave of vampire hysteria across the region.
But Blagojević was not the only revenant said to haunt this remote riverside community. And some of the last vampire stories coming out of this town are not that long ago at all.
The Ghostly Legend of Ruža Vlajna
Unlike Blagojević, whose story was penned into the records of Austrian authorities, Ruža’s tale survives through recollections passed down by generations of villagers. According to those who have tried to look further into the vampiric cases from the village, the locals have been hesitant at best to divulge any information about the town gossip.
The town used to be a river port town of the Danube, but a dam was built to stop flooding in 1971. Although an old village, it has seen its decline in modern times and in 2022, it was said to be 444 residents. The church is one of the oldest parish churches in nabob preserved in Serbia from 1822.
As told by one resident, Mirko Bogičić, Ruža Vlajna’s sinister activity took place within the lifetime of his own grandfather — suggesting that her hauntings occurred well into the 19th or even early 20th century. She was no distant, ancient legend, but a tangible specter of recent memory.
Villagers claimed that Ruža was an old woman who became a vampire after her death. Her nickname used to be Žapunjica and she would announce her otherworldly presence in an unnerving manner in the middle of the day. She would climb up to the attic and throw things around. When people went to investigate what the sounds were, she would be nowhere to be found. She would also be striking the pots hanging from the eaves of homes at night. The metallic clanging was a warning that the restless dead roamed the streets once more.
But perhaps most unnerving was the claim that Ruža Vlajna was seen walking on the surface of the Danube River.
Was Ruža Ever Staked?
Unlike the detailed and grim fate that befell Petar Blagojević, it’s unknown whether Ruža Vlajna’s haunting was ever resolved as the old lore would have it solved. The oral histories passed down in Kisiljevo never confirm whether the villagers dared to stake her corpse or exhume her grave. Perhaps they could never locate it, or perhaps they feared that disturbing her final resting place would only provoke darker consequences.
Who was she though? Her name and life has not been confirmed through anything other than village stories. The house she used to haunt is said to be torn down. When did she die though? There was one man who allegedly went on TV to talk about this who claimed to have seen her in the 1930s. By then, it was said she had already been dead a century.
Kisiljevo Today: A Town Still Haunted
Though modernity has softened some of Kisiljevo’s superstitions, the town remains indelibly linked to its vampire lore. The sleepy town seems at odds with itself. On one side reluctant to accept its vampiric history, on the other keen to capitalize on it. Stories of restless spirits and inexplicable phenomena still surface from time to time, as though the soil itself remembers.
Ruža Vlajna’s tale endures, not through official records, but through the frightened accounts of villagers reluctant to speak of her after dark. In Kisiljevo, history and horror walk hand in hand — and some legends refuse to die.
Meanwhile, the people of Kisiljevo have many local traditions about death. When a person dies, they keep a lit candle next to the body from the moment of death until the body is placed in the casket at home and perform rituals against evil spirits before placing the body in the coffin. Gold coins were placed over the eyes of the deceased, although today they use regular coins so the dead won’t be broke in the afterlife.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
Said to be the mass burial place for the dead Irish Independence rebels from 1798, the Croppie’s Acre in Dublin is said to be haunted by their lingering souls.
Just beyond the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, near the banks of the River Liffey, lies a stretch of green ground known as Croppie’s Acre or Acra na gCraipithe. To the unknowing passerby, it might appear as nothing more than a tranquil patch of grass and trees, but beneath that quiet surface lies one of Dublin’s most haunted and sorrowful places.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Ireland
This was once a mass grave, the final resting place for the rebels of the 1798 uprising and the men known as “Croppies” for their short-cropped hair, a symbol of revolutionary defiance. Hundreds were executed, their bodies dumped without ceremony into the earth, their names and faces forgotten by time. Yet if the stories are true, their spirits have never forgiven such an ending.
The Blood of Rebellion
In the summer of 1798, Ireland was swept by rebellion. Inspired by the ideals of liberty and equality, the United Irishmen rose against British rule. The United Irish were betrayed by one of their leaders and fell into a well-planned ambush.
Many were captured and executed, hanged, beheaded, or shot, their remains discarded in pits near Kilmainham. Croppie’s Acre became their unmarked grave, a place heavy with grief and anger. The monument on 98 Street commemorates fallen Irishmen.
Croppies Acre: Overlooking the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin. //Source: dronepicr/Wikimedia
There have been many archeological investigations in the area, and they have not found any human remains and there have been theories that the bodies was actually tossed in the nearby River Liffey and taken away by the tide. Was the place really a mass grave as the story claims? Local tradition certainly thinks so and it has become a memorial. And with the bloody history, the legend of the place being haunted grew.
A Playground for the Dead
For years the field was used as a football pitch. Children played where rebels once bled into the soil. Players reported feeling strange chills even on warm days, or seeing figures on the edge of the pitch watching silently before fading into nothing.
Some claimed that balls kicked toward the far end of the field would veer suddenly off course, as if struck by an unseen hand. Others refused to play there at all, saying they felt the ground itself shift beneath their feet, as though something was stirring just beneath the surface.
Shadows by the Liffey
In the years since, Croppie’s Acre has been recognized as sacred ground, a memorial to those who died for Ireland’s cause. Yet the hauntings have never fully ceased, although the nature of the haunting remain vague, more like a haunted energy that lingers around the field.
The field has also been closed down for years after being a place were heavy drug users gathered, not really helping the haunted rumours.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
Once a green paradise, the legend says the fairies protected the people of Val Gerina valley in the Swiss alps. Driven by greed to impress a woman however, the son meant to continue the tradition and friendship with the fairies, brought it all down.
Deep in the Swiss Alps, where the mountains whisper ancient secrets and the wind carries echoes of forgotten songs, there once existed a valley so green, so lush, it seemed untouched by time or sorrow. This was Val Gerina, a valley close to the Swiss-Italian border in the alps. In Italian sources, it is also known as Valle Aurina.
Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland
It looks like the Val Gerina valley is found in San Vittore in the Moesa Region, a place hidden away where a lot of the valleys are uninhabited. There is also a Valle Aurina (Ahrntal) in South Tyrol, Italy. Now, it is not certain this is the valley referenced in the story, as the valley in the story vanishes, or at least becomes barren. Back when the story takes place, it was said to be a lush and fertile land and called The Green One. In the middle of the valley was a lake, and on the shore was a little village. It was a place as beautiful as it was mysterious, veiled in alpine mist and guarded by a legend that has outlived the valley itself: the tale of the fairies of Val Gerina.
A Daily Offering to the Hidden Folk
The story begins with Aimone, an old man who lived in a quiet alpine village on the edge of the valley and owned the lush pastures and fields. Solitary by nature, Aimone was known to carry a bucket of fresh milk every day up the mountain, placing it reverently on a flat stone near the summit. Without fail, by morning, the milk would be gone with not a drop spilled, not a trace left behind.
Villagers grew curious. They whispered about wild animals or spirits, and many tried to follow him to discover the secret. But Aimone, fiercely protective of his daily ritual, always chased them away. None dared question him until his son, Pietro, whose curiosity would prove devastating.
Breaking the Pact
One morning, Pietro trailed his father in secret. He watched as Aimone set down the milk on a large altar-shaped stone beneath a rock and left. Determined to see the truth, Pietro waited and waited… but nothing happened. The milk remained. No fairies, no magic.
Disappointed and confused, Pietro returned home only to discover that his favorite goat had mysteriously died during his absence. Seeing his son’s grief, Aimone finally revealed the truth.
For years, he had been feeding the mountain fairies that lived in a cave on the rock overlooking the valley. In return, they had protected his home, animals, and crops. They were shy, unseen beings, living deep in the caves of the Alps, whose magic depended on being respected and left undisturbed.
The Fairy of the Alps from 1885, Henri Fantin-Latour
For generations, their family had been feeding the fairies that protected them and their lush valley. By watching the offering, Pietro had broken the unspoken pact, and the fairies had exacted a price.
When Pietro looked at the rock from far away the next day, it was like he saw two lights, almost white shapes that floated along the path leading up to their cave.
The Seduction of Greed
Years passed. Pietro grew into a young man and fell deeply in love with a woman from the neighboring valley called Lolanda. In some versions she was a foreigner new to town, coming from the city, daughter of a nobleman. She was nothing like the other valley girls and her taste was more luxurious and refined than what Pietro had to offer..
To impress her, he gave her a small black stone inlaid with gold. He had been given it by a shepherd coming with a token so rare and exquisite, she was overwhelmed. Encouraged by her reaction, Pietro promised to bring her more. In some versions she asked him to find more, even handing him a spell that would invoke the help of the fairies.
But precious stones do not fall from the sky, and Pietro knew just where to find them: the fairy caves his father had once told him about in whispers.
Determined and emboldened by greed, Pietro stole into the mountains. Armed with an ancient scroll, said to contain a blood-written spell that could compel the fairies to give up their treasures, he ventured into the heart of the cave. There, with trembling hands, he read the incantation aloud.
The Fall of Val Gerina
The moment the final word passed his lips, the cave began to shake. Stones tumbled, winds howled, and the very mountain seemed to scream in fury. The ground split open beneath Pietro’s feet. He tried to flee, but it was too late. The earth collapsed, swallowing him — and the entire valley of Val Gerina — into a silent abyss.
By morning, the valley they knew had vanished.
Where once there was a verdant paradise, now stood only jagged rock and alpine scree. A barren landscape with no life. Pietro was never seen again. Nor were the fairies — if they had ever truly shown themselves at all.
It is said that no map ever recorded its existence, and no villager could say whether Val Gerina had been real or simply a dream. So, perhaps the Val Gerina mentioned earlier only bares a similar name.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
References:
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
After a humble life as a shoemaker on Santorini in Greece, a man was said to have come back as a Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore. But for this Vrykolaka, it wasn’t to devour human life that kept him going.
Thought to be haunting the dark seas of the north, the Sea Draug is a ghost of the drowned fishermen’s and other unfortunate souls who perished on the waters.
After tragedy struck and the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the surviving crew members were sent to The Jane Street Hotel in New York. According to stories, they are still haunting the rooms, where the trauma of their tragedy lingers.
Who can be haunting the old Hald Pensjonat in Mandal? Playing soft piano music in the afterlife, and rumours about the footsteps of a Norwegian pirate seems to linger.
Hidden among human society, the vampiric Mandurugo creature is slowly draining her unassuming husbands of their blood and life to sustain her eternal youth and beauty.
The MS Nordstjernen spent decades bringing passengers north across the arctic sea, and although the waters can be brought this far north, it always seemed to reach port unharmed. Some think that it could be Ernst, the ship’s ghosts.
The DNT Cabin Flisberget deep in the mystical forest of Finnskogen, bordering Norway and Sweden has a lot of strange tales coming from it. So much so, that it was voted the scariest cabin in the country.
Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?
Soria Moria: The Villa Fridheim is often called the Soria Moria castle, a name from Norwegian folktales about the hidden castle where the hero will find the princess. It has also now turned into an expression for expectations about a great place.
Said to be found deep in the mountain range MacGillycuddy’s Reeks in Kerry, Ireland, the ruins of Dun Dreach-Fhoula castle is said to be the home of bloodthirsty fairies of the Otherworld. Question is if it’s an ancient legend or a modern hoax.
After being stranded on their little island at Struten Lighthouse in stormy weather with the waves crashing in, a woman succumbed to her illness and has since then been haunting it, still waiting for the help that never came.
The once stately Sauda Fjordhotel is said to be haunted by a remorseful colonel, who took his own life when his womanizing ways lost him the love of his life.
