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Haunted places in Sweden
What are the most haunted places in Sweden? The best-known are Borgvattnet Vicarage, The Vanishing Hitchhiker and Will-o’-the-Wisp.
Sweden’s most haunted house is, unusually, a vicarage. At Borgvattnet in Jämtland, priests of the Church of Sweden reported a grey lady in the dining room and a rocking chair that tipped them onto the floor, and in 1947 the chaplain Erik Lindgren told a newspaper all about it. Since 1970 the house has offered overnight guests a certificate for surviving the night.
- 3 hauntings
- 5 recorded sightings
Haunted places in Sweden
Borgvattnet Vicarage
A remote wooden vicarage in Jämtland where priests reported grey ladies and a rocking chair that tipped them out – ‘Sweden’s most haunted house’. Widely reportedThe Vanishing Hitchhiker
A driver picks up a young woman by the road; she gives an address, then vanishes from the car – a ghost story told in a thousand towns. Folklore
Will-o’-the-Wisp
Pale flickering lights over marshes and bogs that lure travellers off the path – folklore’s ghost lights, and a puzzle chemists are still trying to solve. FolkloreThe ghost lore of Sweden
Swedish folklore is full of beings from the forest and the farm – the skogsrå, the forest woman who lures hunters, and the tomte who watches over the homestead – and the Scandinavian vardøger, a spirit double that arrives before its owner. Medieval castles such as Glimmingehus in Skåne carry their own ghost traditions.
Visitors can stay at Borgvattnet, join ghost walks in Stockholm’s old town or attend the summer storytelling evenings at Glimmingehus.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Glimmingehus, Skåne
A medieval stone castle described in local folklore as home to several ghosts, with summer evenings of ‘bizarre stories and terrifying tales’.
- Gamla stan, Stockholm
The capital’s medieval old town is the setting for many of its ghost stories and guided ghost walks.
- Norrland forests
The vast northern woods are the home of the skogsrå and other figures of Swedish folk belief.
Timeline
- 1927Laundry torn from the line Borgvattnet Vicarage
The curate Nils Hedlund reports that his washing was ripped from the attic drying line, the first event in the house’s written history of hauntings.
- 1930The Grey Lady appears Borgvattnet Vicarage
The priest Rudolf Tängdén describes a grey female figure in the dining room, the apparition most associated with the house.
- 1947A priest speaks to the press Borgvattnet Vicarage
Chaplain Erik Lindgren tells Länstidningen Östersund about footsteps, noises and a rocking chair that threw him to the floor, making the vicarage famous across Sweden.
- 1970A guesthouse with a certificate Borgvattnet Vicarage
Shopkeeper Erik Brännholm buys the vicarage, opens it to guests and starts awarding diplomas to those who last the night. Thousands visit in the first summer.
- January 2009Ghost Hunters International Borgvattnet Vicarage
The SyFy series investigates the vicarage in its first season, introducing it to American audiences.
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