The Ghosts of Finland

The Owner Is Still On Watch

Burgher's House in Helsinki is the oldest wooden house and today it is a museum. It lets visitors see how a middle-class family lived in the 1860s. You can see most of the original furnishings. The house also comes with a ghostly spirit. The former owner Alexander Wickholm has never left his home, After he passed on the boulder in the garden which was his favorite spot to sit was moved and placed next to his gravestone. It was after this that people started hearing noises in the house. Perhaps the ghostly apparition did not like to find his boulder moved from its original spot which was under the kitchen window. After the boulder was replaced the noises stopped but people have said that you can see a man either by the window or sitting in the garden.

The Old Woman in White

Tuomarinkyla Manor's main building is a museum and on the property is a horse farm and restaurant. The small museum has eight rooms which have been restored in the styles of the different periods that have passed by in the last two hundred years,

Johannes Weckstromin, who was a military treasurer, built Tuomarinkyla Manor in the late 1700s. It is one of the best historic homes in Helsinki. Legend has it that the daughter of the original owner, Natalia Kavaleff has chosen to remain in her home. As an old woman dressed in white her spirit has been seen in the attic and the park of the manor.

Haunted by a Headless Colonel

Kruununhaka district has a well-known ghost. It is the ghostly spirit of a headless colonel haunting the building that stands on the corner of Vironkatu and Meritullinkatu. People who have been in this building have heard the spirit, named Aleksi talking in the empty rooms. Other times he is seen riding the elevator while holding his head under his arm. University researchers work in the building and while they are doing their job Aleksi likes to look through their papers.

The Six Ghosts of the Theater

The National Theater in Helsinki has six restless spirits roaming about. One is the ghost of Ida Ahlberg, who is forever searching for her diary. There is the spirit of Beretta Lindberg haunting the women's restroom. In the backstage area of the theater you can find the apparition of Kaarlo Bergholm and the spirit of Urho Somersalmi quickly vanishes whenever anyone sees him. And some more spirits that at one time had something to do with this theater.

The Phantom of the Opera

As far as I know, the original Phantom of the Opera might or might not be still haunting the Paris Opera. However, the Alexander Theater originally built as an opera house in Helsinki in 1879 also has a phantom. The bricks that were used to build the opera house came from the Bormarsund Fortress in Aland after the fortress had been bombed during the Crimean War. Along with the bricks came a ghostly apparition that has become known as the Phantom of the Opera and likes to roam about opening doors.

Colorful Ghosts

The Svenska or Swedish Theater is home to colorful ghosts. Some of the stories told are about four ladies dressed in grey, black, turquoise, and white. Besides these ladies, there are three ghostly lords dressed in grey, black, and white. The lord in black is the most feared who becomes quite angry whenever the play "Axel" is performed at the theater. Perhaps at some time, he was turned down for the lead role.

Haunted Execution Sites

In the 1700s Lestimaki in Suutarila was the site of executions of major criminals. The land and forests of the site belonged to the Parish of Helsinki in 1776. The spirits of the criminals still roam about.

The oldest execution site was built along the Arabianranta shoreline in 1550. Since at this time there was no executioner in Helsinki, executioners came from Turku and Hammeenlinna. Many executions of thieves, murderers, and nobles connected to Sigismund III were executed here. Today this is the Bokvillanin Puisto Park and you are sure to run into one or two ghostly apparitions.