Sweden's Top Five Haunted Locations

Welcome to Unsolved Mysteries of the World, Season Six Episode Nine Sweden's Top Five Haunted Locations

As the largest country in Northern Europe the Scandinavian Nation of Sweden is home to thousands of coastal islands and inland lakes, covered in boreal forests and glaciated mountains as well as ancient sites and historical events. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats (Swedish Götar) and Swedes (Svear) and constituting the sea peoples known as the Norsemen.

There is a deep history of Vikings, of Kingdoms and Empires and of course, with such a history brings about legends and lore and ghosts and hauntings. In this episode we will go over Sweden's most haunted locations.

#1 The Royal Palace

Stockholm’s Royal Palace attracts numerous visitors each year, and it has served as a royal residence and symbol of the monarchy for centuries. With over 1400 rooms, it’s also one of the world’s largest palaces and notably one of the most haunted. Even the current Queen of Sweden says her residence is haunted by many ghosts.

Besides the usual phantom footsteps, cold spots and banging of doors, one ghost in particular seems to resonate through space and time.

Vita Frun, the White Lady appears in connection with the death of a member of the royal family. King Oscar wrote that she is tall, wears a white dress, a long white veil, and dark gloves clutching a ring of keys.

In 1971, Princess Eugenie saw her three days before Queen Louise’s death. More than 50 years before, she appeared as Princess Margaret lay dying. The princess wasn’t dead yet, but the flag at the palace was lowered to half mast and a guard allegedly saw her on the roof. Two hours later, Margaret was dead.

But is the White Lady truly a ghost, or is it some sort of other paranormal manifestation? The White Lady is a myth that appears all over the world and the story often say that before she died, she underwent some form of trauma One common theme is that she has lost or been betrayed by her husband or lover.

Several legends say that White Lady haunts castles in several European royal houses. The oldest known descriptions of this form of White Lady originates from the 17th century, but the greatest spread of these stories took place during the 19th century.

So is this White Lady a ghost or is she a paranormal entity – a harbinger of death?

#2 Gamla Stan

The Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520 is one of the most gruesome events in Swedish history. When Danish King Kristian II successfully invaded Sweden, 92 members of the Swedish nobility who opposed the Dane were beheaded or hanged in Stortorget, the main square in Old Town – the Gmla Stan. Some say that people can see their blood flowing across the square’s cobblestones in early November. It is said should one of the 92 white stones in the red building near where the nobles were murdered—which represent the slain men—be removed, the ghost of the person represented will rise from the dead and haunt the streets of Stockholm for all of eternity. To this day, nobody has removed any of the bricks.

#3 Scheffler Palace

Possibly Stockholm’s most notorious-haunted building, reports of ghosts at the Palace of Scheffler (known as Spökslottet or ‘the ghost castle’) date from the 18th century. Witnesses have reported seeing mirrors and windows shattering for no reason as well as music and songs filling the air from seemingly out of nowhere.

The palace has been the site of a number of murders and disappearances with one former owner (an alleged worshipper of Satan), Jacob von Balthasar Knigge, last seen entering a black carriage being pulled by a coachman with horns and a tail.

Meanwhile, a priest who came to exorcise the building was allegedly thrown from an upper window, a famous opera singer committed suicide here, and a young couple was murdered and bricked up behind a wall in the basement. The palace is now owned by Stockholm University, who uses it mostly as a storage space. Caretakers still tell of strange goings on within the walls of the old Palace.

#4 The Ghost Station

If you're standing at one of Stockholm's metro stops and a silver-coloured train slowly grinds past – don't get on. It is called the Silver Arrow ('Silverpilen') and is heading to an abandoned station in the middle of the forest and is carrying the souls of the dead. Those who get on never return.

The creepy part is there is actually a ghost station in the forest. The station was built in the 1970s but was never completed and is a popular abandened venue for urban explorers. Meanwhile, the Silver Arrow was a prototype train in aluminium that was used in the Stockholm underground from 1966-1996. Most of its carriages were later scrapped, but a couple remain in museums.

So is this just an urban legend? A good campfire ghost story?

#5 Borgvattnet Vicarage

Built in 1876, the humble house for holy men started getting its first reported hauntings in 1927 when the resident vicar reported strange happenings including his laundry being torn from the line. Tales of supernatural events continued in the ensuing decades with almost every new vicar or their family or guests claiming to experience ghostly antics. Things have moved, screams have been heard, shadow people have been seen, and the old rocking chair keeps on rocking. The legends surrounding the origins of the haunting tell of abused maids and even of babies buried in the backyard although it is now also said that the old vicars themselves haunt the house.

In the early 1980’s the renowned site caught the attentions of an outsider priest named Tore Forslund, the ghost priest. This devoted enemy of the occult came to the town promising to rid it of the apparitions that the citizens had already begun capitalizing on. Unfortunately his exorcism’s seem to have met with little to no success and he left the area within a year.

Today the vicarage is run as a small bed and breakfast for those curious enough to stay the night, with the option to rent the whole house. Anyone who makes it through the night will receive a diploma to mark their honor.

Sweden is a beautiful country full of energy and history. It is the home of many mysteries and many more haunted locations. If you plan a visit, make sure you are aware of your surroundings – there are many phantoms and creatures about in Sweden.

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