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 fromIceland
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.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
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.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
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.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway
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.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted hotels
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
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.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland
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.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
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.
Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland
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.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
On the night before her wedding, a girl was tracked down by a ghost sent to kill her. Who was behind the haunting, and where did the ghost go after their encounter?
Once there was a farmhand at Hvítárvellir who is not himself named, nor is it said who his master was. Hvítárvellir is an old large farm and mansion in Borgarfjörður at the mouth of the Hvítá River. 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.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland
As an old farm with a long history, there have been more than one ghost passing through the place. But unlike the more vengeful ghost of Stormhöttir and the Hvítárvellir-Skotta that caused misery, accidents and even deaths, the spectre that became known as the Ghost of the Hay, was a more tragic figure.
The Ghost of the Hay
Before he came back as a ghost, he was a gardener at Hvítárvellir and harvested all the hay, and he had plenty of work, for there was then a large herd of cattle, both cows and steers. This man with no name set his heart on a girl at the farm. Although the farm has a pretty good record of those who have lived there throughout the years, she also remains nameless.
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
Alas, she did not want to have the gardener and she rejected him. Because of this the man became depressed and isolated himself from the others and only focused on his work that was done as it always had been. Now, no one wanted him, and he wanted no one.
One day, he was found hanged in his own neckerchief in one of the haystacks. People believed that he had taken his own life out of grief because he could not have the girl. She had meanwhile become betrothed to another man.
Life went on, and on the evening before her wedding, the weather was fine and the moonlight bright. The girl still had things to get in order for her wedding in the morning, like finishing her bridal shoes. She said to a maid at Hvítárvellir that she should come with her out to the doorway of the house to keep her company as she worked on her shoes, since the night was so fair and bright outside and it was not yet the time when people lit lamps.
They sat on the doorstep for a while, the bride-to-be working on the shoes and the other maid relaxing beside the bride-to-be until the maid got sleepy and yawned before calling it a night. The bride-to-be sat still as before and finished the shoes. When she had completed them she happened to look out and saw a man coming up from below the field.
He looked rather imposing, and he did not greet her. She addressed him first and asked who he was. According to the sources, he introduced himself, but there are no signs of her knowing or recognizing him. He claimed he had business with her. She said: “It is good then that I was not in bed since you have business with me, but what is your business now?”
“I intend to kill you,” he said.
“I think you will not do that,” she said, “and now do either this: go to the lowest and worst hell, or go to the damned north to a hayfield and row there for eternity. You will have nothing else from me.”
“I’ll rather go north to the hayfield a thousand times,” said the ghost, and he quickly turned and went there, and clairvoyant men have often seen him rowing there. After that the girl was entirely free of him and she was married in the morning.
It is, in short, common talk that although it is often stormy at Hvítárvellir, as in many places in that district, never there does hay break apart in the yard if neither stones nor people are put on it, and men credit this to the ghost who lies on the hay and protects the hayyard from all hay damage, provided that he may be alone on the stack. But if people lie there on the hay or put stones on it, it is said that the hay breaks apart and is whirled away down to the fence-lines.
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.
Once when the weather grew stormy there were in the hayyard at Hvítárvellir two haystacks among others, one newly stacked of loose and light meadow hay and unturfed, but the other compact and settled hay, turfed and well cared for. But all the same, all the turf and stones were flung off the latter haystack as if they were thrown, and the hay itself was scattered everywhere, while the newly piled hay was not disturbed in the least.
The Icelandic Ghost of Vengeance
About this ghost it is quite remarkable that he is one of the few who does good and not evil. 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.
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.
Who was this ghost that came to her door the night before her wedding? Was it the man who took his own life, or perhaps a ghost he raised as revenge before leaving the world himself? There has also been speculation that the ghost who lies on the hay is the Skotti or the Hvítárvellir-Skotti that were mentioned earlier. Some also say that it is Stormhöttur who guards the hay there, as is mentioned regarding the Hvítárvellir-Skotta. But that’s another story.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
Meant to be a peaceful summer residence in Sissach, outside of Basel in Switzerland, the Ebenrain Castle turned into a haunted one after one of its former inhabitants is still haunting it.
In the peaceful town of Sissach, nestled amid the soft hills and dense forests of Baselland, stands the elegant yet somber Ebenrain Castle. Built as a summer residence for the rich and wealthy from Basel city in 1774–1776, it is considered the most significant late baroque residence in northwestern Switzerland.
Today it serves as a venue for art exhibitions, concerts, and cultural events, but behind its grand Baroque façade lingers a chilling story — one of guilt, scandal, and restless spirits.
Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland
The ghost said to haunt this stately estate is none other than Johann Rudolf Ryhiner-Streckeisen, a wealthy Basel merchant whose checkered past and tragic end cast a long, eerie shadow over Ebenrain.
Haunted Castle: Ebenrain Castle in Sissach, Basel-Land canton, Switzerland. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of a potential slave trader. // Source: Ikiwaner/ Wikimedia
A Man of Wealth and Sullied Reputation
Martin Bachofen (1727-1814), Basel silk ribbon manufacturer, builder of Ebenrain Castle
The story of Ebenrain begins with Martin Bachofen (1727–1814), a prosperous Basel silk manufacturer who built the castle as his country residence. But it was in the hands of Johann Rudolf Ryhiner-Streckeisen that the estate’s most notorious chapter was written.
Ryhiner was a man of considerable means, but also of questionable morals. Whispers surrounded him — not only for his extravagant lifestyle and tangled personal affairs, but for his alleged ties to the transatlantic slave trade, a grim and unspoken stain on Basel’s mercantile history. These rumors would cling to his name, long after his death.
Faced with accusations of bigamy — a scandal that threatened to unravel both his public and private life — Ryhiner’s world crumbled. On July 29, 1824, he took his own life with a pistol shot in one of the castle’s stately rooms, leaving behind a legacy of shame and whispered curses. Two years later, his widow sold the castle to Ludwig Vest, a businessman from Liestal.
A Restless Presence in the Dusk
But death did not silence Ryhiner. According to local legend, the merchant’s spirit returned to Ebenrain, condemned by his crimes and cowardice to linger in the place of his demise.
At dusk, when the mist gathers low along the castle’s lawns and the evening air turns chill, a tall gentleman has been seen strolling through the park. He swings a walking stick, his posture stiff and his gaze vacant. Some witnesses even claim he is accompanied by another indistinct, shadowy figure — perhaps a former accomplice, or one of the countless lives entangled in his dark dealings.
Those who have wandered the castle grounds after dark speak of sudden cold drafts, of unseen hands brushing their skin, and of a bloodstain in the west room — the very chamber where Ryhiner ended his life — that no servant or owner has ever been able to scrub away. Even after renovations, it is said to bleed through fresh plaster and paint, a grim, unyielding mark of guilt.
The Weight of an Unquiet Past
While Ebenrain Castle today stands as a proud cultural landmark, its ghostly past endures in local memory. The story of Johann Rudolf Ryhiner-Streckeisen is a reminder of the unspoken histories that linger in beautiful places. His restless spirit is said to prowl not for revenge, but tormented by a lifetime of sin and silence — a phantom burdened by the weight of lives lost and wrongs unrighted.
Schloss Ebenrain, Sissach, Schweiz. // EinDao/Wikimedia
So should you find yourself in the gardens of Ebenrain as the sun sinks behind the Jura hills, watch the tree-shrouded paths carefully. You might just glimpse a figure in 19th-century dress, cane in hand, forever pacing through the estate he could neither truly possess in life nor leave in death.
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.
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.
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 the pre civil war Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the mausoleum of W.W Pool is said to be the grave of The Richmond Vampire. A more recent urban legend is now also connected with The Church Hill Tunnel collapse.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Haunted by its former Fellows, Trinity College in Dublin is said to be filled with eerie spirits where even the bell tolls after dark when the shadows take over campus.
A true story morphed into a fairytale, the life and death of the French Countess Marie Louise St. Simon-Montleart has become the stuff of legends. Buried in the forest close to Wildegg Castle in Switzerland, it is said she is haunting the castle and the forest, her sanctuary.
Back at a time when the hills of Münsterberg were called Spittelsprung in the really old parts of Basel in Switzerland, it was also said a monk was haunting the streets. Gliding in and out of the houses frightening the children, he took no notice of the world of the living, always deep in his prayers. The question is, prayer for what?
In the tangled web of Basel’s medieval streets, history lies thick as mist, and nowhere more so than on the Münsterberg, the quiet hill crowned by the grand sandstone edifice of Basel Münster. The old town rises and falls with small hills, each carrying the weight of centuries.
The Münsterberg is the most storied of them, its cobbled alleys flanked by 18th-century palaces, austere official buildings, and the venerable Naturhistorisches Museum. Yet long before these elegant façades graced the streets, this hill bore another name: Spittelsprung.
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In the days when death came swiftly and often, a hospital and almshouse once stood here. A place where the sick and dying clung to what comfort the Church could offer, and where sins were whispered to unseen ears in dimly lit corners.
And it is from this time that one of Basel’s most quietly unnerving hauntings is said to have begun.
A Monastic Shadow Along the Streets of Münsterberg
According to accounts passed down through generations, a spectral monk used to make his mournful rounds upon the Münsterberg back when it was called Spittelsburg. It is told that on certain nights, when the wind sighs low through the narrow alleys and the bell of the cathedral tolls its midnight note, he appears without warning in one of the houses along the hill.
It was said that the pale glow of a flickering lamp or hearth reveals his dark robes and tonsured head as he silently crosses the living room floor, eyes never lifting from the pages of his ancient breviary. His lips move in soundless prayer, and the room fills with a sense of something ancient and sorrowful.
Children, watching from behind chairs or half-open doors, would scream at the sight of him, but the ghostly monk didn’t seem to even notice them, never pausing in his devotions or lifting his head from his books. It was only when an adult stepped forward to confront him, hand outstretched or voice raised in command, that the figure would vanish like smoke caught in a draft, leaving nothing but the lingering scent of old candle wax and dust.
The Forgotten Sins of Spittelsprung
Why this monk’s restless soul should remain is lost to time. Was he a healer who succumbed to one of the plagues that ravaged Basel? A sinner seeking penance? Or perhaps a witness to unspoken horrors within the hospital walls?
He was certainly not the only monk that used to haunt the city of Basel. On Herbergsgasse there used to be a poorhouse that used to be haunted by one as well. At least back in 1626 where fire crackling in the stove could be heard when there was no fire seen. A monk in a dark robe appeared with a small dog in his arms in the rooms several times and the farmers who stayed overnight at the inn to pay their rent to the landlords were said to have been paralyzed when they laid in their beds, watching the monk glide through their rooms.
The street, now called Münsterberg, seems tranquil in daylight, its medieval square echoing with little but the footsteps of museum-goers and students. But come nightfall, when the ancient stones remember their past, the air can turn heavy. Locals whisper that in certain houses, a shape still moves by lamplight, and prayers too old for memory still pass through unseen lips.
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