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The Haunted Dungeon at Rosenkrantz Tower

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The Rosenkrantz Tower in Bergen Norway is one of the oldest buildings still standing and was once the house for kings. Today it is used as a museum and perhaps they also have some of the oldest ghosts still lingering in the dungeon. 

On the old dock in Bergen city you mostly find old buildings dating all the way back to the middle ages when Bergen was the capital in Norway throughout the city’s time as a Hanseatic trading city. Today the fortress the Rosenkrantz Tower is a part of a museum and is considered one of the most important renaissance monuments in Norway. 

One of the old buildings is Rosenkrantz Tower, which still is one of the taller buildings in the city and was once known as “The Castle by the Sea” as it used to be a residence for kings when Bergen was the capital in Norway. 

The Kings Tower

Rosenkrantz Tower was originally built for the king Magnus Lawmender in 1270 and a lot of the original building can still be seen today. King Magnus Lawmender got his nickname after working extensively on the laws in his country, and much of today’s Norwegian constitution comes from his work. 

After the capital in Norway was moved to Oslo and Norway became a part of the Danish kingdom, the keep the tower is part of lost its importance as a royal seat, but was still used as a military keep.

Although the cannons in Rosenkrantz Tower have only been fired one day during war in 1665, the tower has seen its fair share of war. In 1944 during world war two the Rosenkrantz Tower was heavily damaged when a cargo ship with explosives exploded right outside. The upper floors collapsed, but the foundations of the tower still remained, like the dungeon in the tower. And deep down in the darkness of the dungeon in the tower, some former prisoners are said to still linger. 

The Haunted Dungeon

The dungeon in Rosenkrantz Tower was added on to the tower around 1500 and the final tower as we see it today was finalized in the 1560s by Erik Rosenkrantz who was a governor of Bergen Castle during a time when Norway was under Danish reign. He was at the time one of the wealthiest men in Denmark-Norway and work on the tower was done by Scottish builders, explaining the Scottish look from the time. 

The

The dungeon served as a prison where they kept the prisoners who were considered to be very violent and often some of the poorest. These are the prisoners that are rumored to be still haunting the dungeon. 

An architect named Peter Blix reported in 1884 that old people living at the time still remembered the last prisoner in the cell in Rosenkrantz Tower. So perhaps the dungeon was used in the early 19th century? 

You can walk inside of the tower and follow the hollowed and wobbly stairs down to the basement where you can barely stand up straight. The cells are small and the only light is from the cracks in the walls. Still to this day you can see claw marks from the prisoners that were confined into the dark small cells when it was used from the 16th to the 19th century. 

The irony of it all is that so many of the prisoners were convicted by the laws that the original builder, King Magnus Lawmender, made during his reign just a couple of floors above the dungeon they are forever kept. 

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Featured photo: Wikimedia/Rüdiger Stehn

The Most Haunted Places in Bergen 

Rosenkrantztårnet – Lensherrenes slott i Bergen sentrum – Bymuseet

The Bergen Map | Rosenkrantztårnet

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Ghost Stories of The Haunted Prison Alcatraz

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Explore the eerie secrets and dark history of the most haunted prison, Alcatraz! Get ready to be chilled to the bone by these haunting ghost stories from both the prison guards and inmates.

If you are curious about the darkest secrets of Alcatraz, then you have come to the right place. Get ready to be spooked by tales of death, hauntings, and other eerie happenings in one of America’s most notorious prisons – Alcatraz.

What is the History of Alcatraz?

Alcatraz was a prison in San Francisco Bay that operated from 1934 to 1963. Located on a rocky island, the prison housed some of America’s most dangerous criminals, including mobsters Al Capone. 

Alcatraz is notorious for being home to some of America’s most dangerous criminals, including gangsters and murderers. Al Capone, known as “Scarface” from his days as a Chicago mobster, spent four years in Alcatraz before being released due to poor health. 

Other notable prisoners included Machine Gun Kelly, Robert Franklin Stroud – the “Birdman of Alcatraz” – and the John and Clarence Anglin who attempted the iconic 1962 escape attempt.

Despite strict security, escape attempts were said to be frequent even after they closed it down as a prison in 1963. Today it is a tourist attraction and many believe the infamous prison is haunted by the ghosts of its former inmates and guards.

Read about more haunted prisons around the world: Here

Paranormal Activity Reported Inside Alcatraz

In addition to its infamous inmates, there have been reported sightings of paranormal activity inside the prison walls. Reports claim that the ghostly sounds of laughter, screams and metal clanging can all be heard throughout Alcatraz at night. 

Others report seeing apparitions standing in front of bars as well as mysterious figures roaming around the deserted hallways of the cell block. These spooky tales have remained a mystery over time.

The Ghost Story of the Birdman

The most well-known ghost story of Alcatraz revolves around an inmate named Robert Stroud, also known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz.” It has been said that haunting cries of birds can still be heard echoing off the walls of Alcatraz after the prison shut down in 1963. 

It is believed that these are the same cries he kept hearing while caring for birds while he was incarcerated. Additionally, some have reported seeing his ghost wandering around the prison grounds late at night.

Other Notable Spooky Legends Related to Alcatraz

Other than the story of Robert Stroud, there are a few other notable legends surrounding Alcatraz that make it one of the most haunted places in America. Reports of strange glowing orbs, mysterious whispers, and fountains running with blood have all been attributed to this infamous prison. 

Additionally, some believe it is still haunted by its former prisoners who died during their time here. Whether or not you believe these stories, the dark history of Alcatraz will leave you feeling like you’re being watched…even today!

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The Ghosts From Security Prison 21 in Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

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Cambodia is a land with a lot of hauntings. One of them being in the old prison known as Tuol Sleng or Security Prison 21 where almost 20 000 people were tortured and killed during the Cambodian Genocide. And even today, the building is known for its ghosts. 

In Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum that used to be a prison, some of the prisoners were never really freed. Even in their deaths, their souls lingers in what used to be their own prison cells. However, they have now people taking care of them. 

The people working in the former prison now turned into a museum are well aware of the past and try their best to honor the building’s gruesome history. There are many occurrences that are being reported on that the museum’s staff cannot explain. Objects are being thrown hard to the floor and high pitched screaming has been heard.

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The staff working there also leave out food for the ghosts when they go on lunch break as they can’t enjoy their own lunch because of the loud noises the ghosts will make when they don’t leave an offering. 

The Cambodian Genocide

To understand the hauntings of this museum, we must first understand a little bit of Cambodia’s dark past and how so many could die in a place like Tuol Sleng. 

After years of devastating civil war, Cambodia had already seen its fair share of bloodshed. But the worst was still ahead of them and from 1975 to 1979, Cambodia went through a systematic killing, later known as the Cambodian Genocide which killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population at the time. The exact death toll is uncertain, but it ranges from everything from 1.5 to 2 million people. 

The genocide was done by the Khmer Rouge, a popular name given to the communist party called Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), led by Pol Pot who wanted to ‘cleanse’ the population in order to establish a pure, self-sufficient communist state. 

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum: Known as Security Prison 21 or S-21 during its time of torture and killings where thousands of Cambodians died. Here is one of the buildings of Tuol Sleng in 2013 // Photo: Dudva/Wikimedia

The Story of the Prison Turned Museum

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (សារមន្ទីរឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មប្រល័យពូជសាសន៍ទួលស្លែង) literally means, ‘Hill of the Poisonous Trees’. It used to be a secondary school in the capital Phnom Penh until the Khmer Rouge regime took over and used it as a prison during the genocide. 

Prison Cells: The former school turned the classrooms into prison cells the museum has kept intact to this day.// Photo: Gerd Eichmann/Wikimedia

Known as Security Prison 21(មន្ទីរស-២១) or S-21, it converted the classrooms to prison cells and torture chambers in 1976. It is estimated that over 18 000 were killed in the S-21, including children. Of course, this is an estimate since the real numbers are uncertain and could also be much higher. Only 12 former inmates survived from the prison. 

When the prisoners arrived at S-21 they were photographed, forced to undress and had their personal belongings confiscated. Many of the prisoners didn’t even know why they were taken. There would often be nonsensical reasons like wearing glasses or speaking multiple languages, a sign of being an intellectual that could potentially speak against the communist regime.

Also religious, ethnic and political reasons were why you were being singled out as a potential threat to the regime. Often whole families would be taken at the same time so that no one would be able to seek revenge for them. Pol Pot said himself: “if you want to kill the grass, you also have to kill the roots”

After a grueling questioning to make them give up information, they were taken to their cells. Some were shackled to the floor in small prison cells, others were shackled together with others in large rooms. One of the common hauntings people report on is the sound of shackles rattling from the cells. The prisoners were forbidden to talk to each other and had to follow the rest of the rules. Any action, just sitting up or turning over had to be approved by the Khmer Rouge guards, and they would be severely punished if they broke the rules. 

The goal was to get the prisoners to confess before executing them. Either that they themselves were betraying the party and the revolution, or give up names of those that did. They got the prisoners to confess to anything by the use of torture and submersion in water, electric shock or being hanged from the gallows by their hand until unconscious were some of the methods. Once they got a signed confession, they had to face their execution. 

The Killing Fields

The prisoners were killed on site at first, but then they also started to execute at what would be known as the killing field outside of the city known as Choeung Ek. The prisoners often had to dig their own graves before being killed. 

These fields have numerous stories of being haunted themselves. In the field in Choeung Ek, a site with mass graves where many graves are visible above the ground. During rainfalls, bones and clothes surface from the shallow graves.

This relentless killing and torture lasted for many years. The prison closed down in 1979 when the Vietnamese army invaded and ended the rule for the Khmer Rouge. And ever since then, Cambodia has tried to rebuild the country, piece by piece.

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Security Prison 21 never returned to being a school for children. It was instead turned into a memorial and a museum that would remember and showcase the atrocities that the people suffered during those years.   

From 1979 until 2002, they displayed a huge map of Cambodia made up of 300 skulls of victims to the regime. It was displayed to show the brutality of the regime until it was dismantled to give the skulls a proper burial at last. 

But did it also bury the rumors of the prison being haunted?

The Haunting at the Museum Today

From the outside rumors about a haunting of ghosts started spreading. Neighbors claimed to hear the rattling of shackles and terrified screams from inside the former prison. Also from within the museum, countless reports of something paranormal going on started to spread. Many of the staff at the museum claim to have witnessed the hauntings, both cleaners, guides and the security guards, especially those working the night shifts. 

Map of Skulls: This is the infamous skull map that was on display in the former S-21 prison camp at Tuol Sleng in January 1997 // Photo

“There was one night that I woke up to go to the bathroom when I saw a black figure bending towards me, and that made my hair stand on end. I was very frightened; I climbed back into my bed and waited until the morning to tell my colleagues,” Nong Saveoun, a security guard who both worked and lived at the genocide museum said to the Phnom Penh Post back in 2016.

There is also a story about a security guard that heard the shower start running after he saw a dark figure opening the toilet door. When he went to investigate, there was no one there. 

Three times a year they hold blessing ceremonies at the Tuol Sleng museum where they invite both government officials and monks to give a prayer to the victims on the Khmer new year, the Pchum Ben festival and on Visak Bochea Day. Perhaps that is the way to appease the soul and finally free the ghostly prisoners from their cells and their shackles to this world. 

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References

Featured Image: Pete Stewart/Wikimedia

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum – Wikipedia

History of the Museum

The 10 Most Haunted Places on Earth – Days to Come

NST Region: Five most haunted places in Cambodia

Land prices undaunted by genocide museums’ history and hauntings | Phnom Penh Post

https://www.wired.com/2002/03/skull-map-dismantled/

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The Ghost Bridge in the Jungle

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Deep in the jungle of Côn Đảo in Vietnam, there is an unfinished bridged called Ma Thiên Lãnh Bridge also called The Ghost Bridge, both because of its dark origin as well as the lingering presence still seen. 

The bridge was built by 300 prisoners from the Côn Đảo Prison during the French colonization of Vietnam. The Côn Đảo Prison was a prison that the French colonists used to imprison those thought to be especially dangerous to the colonial government. The prison was used from the 1800s until the end of the Vietnam war. A number of stories of torture and abuse comes from that prison, located on an island. And some of these unfortunate prisoners were made to build this Ghost Bridge in the middle of the jungle. 

Death on the Bridge

The Ghost Bridge: Several reports about paranormal happenings and ghosts comes from this bridge that were built on the labour of prisoners.
Source: vetaucondao.vn

To build infrastructure on the island with the prison, they needed material. In 1930, French colonialists made the prisoners carry rocks to the Núi Chúa mountain to build this bridge. The purpose of the bridge was to make transportation of materials to Ong Dung Beach to be used as building the infrastructure of the Côn Đảo island. It is said that around 356 of the prisoners forced to build this bridge lost their life, either starving to death, poisonous drinking water, horrible abuse from the French or even the climate or the rugged terrain became too much for them. 

However, in spite of how much effort that was made to build the bridge, it would never be completed. In August 1945 after the revolution, the work on the bridge was left as the French left Vietnam and only parts of the bridge were complete and stands today, now only standing as a reminder of the bloody labour the prisoners were forced to. 

The Lingering Ghosts

Many encounters from the locals have been told of the paranormal kind. One villager that was drinking with his friend told about a man with long hair, white shirt and black trousers, watching him from a distance before suddenly disappearing. 

A female villager saw a woman in a white dress at dawn, standing on the bridge at dawn, and as the villager told, she recognized the woman as a hungry ghost. Another female villager met the ghosts of two boys, none of them were wearing a shirt as they forced her to give them dessert.

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Côn Đảo Prison

I Wouldn’t Go in There (TV Series 2013)

List of reportedly haunted locations

Ma Thiên Lãnh bridge | Photo

DI TÍCH CẦU MA THIÊN LÃNH