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.
Deep within the endless forests of Finnskogen stands Flisberget cabin, alone among towering pines and moss covered stones. Outside of the cabin, the poisonous Badger’s-bane grows. It has been voted the scariest cabin as well as the people’s cabin, operated by the Norwegian Trekking Association.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway
By day, Flisberget is described as a jewel in the northern trail network. It is easy to reach, even for families with children. The path is clear. The cabin is welcoming. Smoke curls gently from the chimney. But when night settles over Finnskogen, the forest changes character.
A Place Apart from the World
Flisberget is part of the DNT cabin network north of Finnskogen, a place settled by lumber farmers from Finland centuries ago, creating a new culture, with their own customs and language. Because of the foreignness and shamanistic traditions of the Forest Finns, the Norwegians looked at these parts of the woods as a mysterious and supernatural place.
The cabin is the main house on an old Forest Finn farm. The first known residents of Flisberget, or Ulvimäki as it is in their language, lived there in 1703. There was never much housing on Elverum Finnskog, but Flisberget is one of the places that the Forest Finns used. Some think that this place used to be a farm before the Black Plague even. People lived permanently on Flisberget until 1973. Today’s farmhouse was built c . 1850.
DNT proudly promotes the cabin as peaceful and accessible. Visitors, however, tell another story once darkness falls. They speak of uneasy sleep, of sounds that do not belong to wind or wildlife, and of a persistent feeling that someone is standing just beyond the tree line.
The members have spoken. From time to time you will find phrases in the guest books at Flisberget that “there is a lot of good in the walls here”, “there is a special peace here”.
When the Forest Breathes
Those who stay the night often report the same sensations. Footsteps circling the cabin without leaving tracks. The sound of movement between trees where no animal can be seen. Knocks that come once, then never again.
Inside, the wooden walls creak as if responding to unseen pressure. Some wake abruptly with the certainty that they are not alone. Others refuse to sleep at all. The last people that lived in the cabin, Oline and Hans Olastuen, told about strange things going on inside of the walls as well.
But what is lurking around the cabin? The farm was written about in a book about Finnskogen and magic, or trollskap, as it’s called in Norwegian. There he talks about trollkjella, a monstrous troll woman that was nearby the farm by a water, and where a “trollkar”, a sorcerer who lived on the farm, sacrificed goats. Legend has it that they found a huge amount of bones at the bottom of the water.
Every Jonsok night, midsummer, he went there with other sorcerers. The sorcerer at Flisberget was also believed to be behind at least the murder of several men he cursed.
Outside of the cabin it is said that he buried his black book of magic together with his silverware, hidden away.
The Old Saying of Finnskogen
According to Åsmund Skasdammen, chairman of Finnskogen Tourist Association, the region has its own understanding of such things. In Finnskogen, the supernatural is considered natural.
For centuries, these forests have been home to wanderers, hunters, and people living on the edge of society. Finnskogen has always been a borderland, both geographically and spiritually. Folklore speaks of spirits tied not to buildings, but to the land itself.
The cabin remains popular. Visitors continue to arrive, keys in hand, unaware of the stories waiting for them. Many leave with nothing but memories of nature and quiet nights. And when the forest grows dark and still, it becomes clear why so many believe that something else has always been there, watching patiently among the trees.
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Flisberget ble kåret til folkets hytte
