Haunted Mansion (Stockholm)
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The Palace of Scheffler, located at 116 Drottninggatan-Street in Stockholm, is actually much more known by its nickname, the Haunted Mansion (Spökslottet). The house, which was built in the 1690s by the merchant Hans Petter Scheffler, is the most famous, so called "haunted house" in Stockholm. Since the 1920s, the estate is owned by Stockholm University and mostly used for storage of art and to occasionally hold conferences.
There are many different ghostly stories about the house and its park.
- Reports of ghost sights in and around the house have been told since the 18th century. Strange sounds, unexplainable music and singing have been heard, mirrors and windows have been broken.
- It is said that a young couple was murdered and bricked-up in the wall in the basement of the house.
- At least one grave has been found in the park by the house, and in 1907 the grave was dug up and the unknown skeleton was moved to a cemetery. But it is believed that more people are buried in the park.
- The opera singer Gustaf Sandström once lived in a rented room in the house, where he in 1879 committed suicide.
- It is said that one of the 18th century owners of the estate, Jacob von Balthazar Knigge, was in alliance with the Devil. When Knigge disappeared in 1796, wintesses claimed he had been taken away in a black carriage and that the coachman had horns and a tail.
- The legend says that a priest once was called to the house to try to get rid of the ghosts there. However, the priest was so frightened that he ran away. Some versions of the story says he was tossed out through a window on the upper floor, although no other human was inside the building at the time.
[edit] Reference
- Linnell, Stig. Stockholms spökhus och andra ruskiga ställen. (ISBN 91-518-2738-7).