What a title to start of with. The story goes like this. In the town of Dalland, there was once a horrible disease that plagued the people. The people there were desperate and became convinced their town was cursed. At one point, they almost burnt the town down to the ground, hoping they could start again from scratch. Then, one day on an old man from Finland visited, a wise old Save was with him. They said they knew how to stop the plague. The sage told them that only a sacrifice would save them - they needed to bury a living being in the ground.
At first, they buried a rooster alive in the center of the town, but nothing changed. Then, they did the same to a goat - this also failed. Finally, they decided the only sacrifice worthy enough would be a human being. They chose a small orphaned boy and lured him into a hole with some bread. As soon as he was in there, they began piling dirt on him. They didn't stop until he was buried, only his muffled screams could be heard. The plague didn't stop, only getting worse. The villagers claimed they could still hear his cries as they continued to die. Other towns have reported hearing the same cries, almost as if his death has become an eternal warning against the horrors of human sacrifice.
9. The Evil One and Kitta Grau
One day, a girl named Kitta Grau met the devil. She recognized him and said -Where have you been, old man?- … -Well- said the devil -I have been out on the farmstead where the newly wedded couple live. This is the third time I have tried to break them up, but they think so much of each other that it is impossible- … Kita scoffed -You sound stupid. I could have done that the first time I went there- … -If you can do it, I will give you a splendid pair of shoes- said the Devil. Kitta accepted and headed to the farmstead.
There she found the woman home alone, her husband had gone to the forest. Kita told her she had a splendid husband. -That is the truth- the woman replied -for he grants my every wish before it is spoken-… Kita smiled -Take my word though, there is still a bit of deceit in him. He has a pair of long hairs under the chin - if you can cut them off in his sleep, then he will have no malice in him at all- the woman said - Well if you think that will help, I'll do it during his afternoon nap- … then, Kita went out to the forest to see the husband. -You really have a very good wife- she said -She could be no better- the husband replied. -Well you might be wrong- said Kita -when you come home, be on your guard for when you take your afternoon nap, she will try and cut your throat- The husband didn't really believe her but later that day, during his nap, his wife came up softly behind him and took hold of his chin with one hand, razor in the other. He jumped up and flew into a rage -You want to murder me?- he cried. From that day on, there was no peace in the house. Kitta went to get her shoes from the devil as promised but he was so afraid of her, he passed them on a pole from the other side of a river. -You are ever so much worse than I am- the devil told Kitta Grau - many Swedes have heard the tales of this woman who bested the devil, who may be eviler, and who still wanders the land to this day.
8. Nacken
According to ancient Swedish folklore, the Nacken is a supernatural man who lives in seas, lakes, streams, rivers - every body of water imaginable. He is inescapable, which is scary as his only mission in the world is to drown people. He is said to do this by enchanting them with his incredible fiddle playing. When people hear the music coming from the water, they helplessly walk towards it. They walk into the water and keep going, further and further, chasing the music, until they are submerged by the water and drown. Those who have seen him say the Nacken wears no clothes when he plays, hence the name, which means naked. He has long brown hair with seagrass in it. He also looks very sad, like something is torturing him forever. Legend says the reason he lurks in the water and draws people into their deaths is that he is simply lonely. Those who tell the Nakens story often say it was more common to hear him in the past, but some still say they hear his fiddle by pools of water, on dark nights with a bright full moon.
7. The Draugen
A number of Scandinavian countries are home to the legend of the Draugen, and Sweden is one of them. They are said to be evil ghost spirits with an eternal connection to water. In life, they were sailors in fishermen who lost their leaves at sea. Now, they are doomed to haunt the waves forever. The curse changes them, the Draugen is always described as being huge in size and covered from head to toe in seaweed. They are only ever seen after dark during stormy seas, always rowing the remains of whatever broken boat they died in. Quite often, sailors hear the Draugen before they see it. The creatures are said to let out a piercing cry as they row towards their victims - somewhere between a deathly howl of pain and a cackle of pleasure. Faced with such a terrifying creature, many sailors resort to the only way of escaping a Draugen - reaching the shore before it. Of course, the Draugen knows this too and will try and drag them down to the depths of the sea. Even if they succeed, there have been stories of the Draugen stepping ashore to continue their pursuit. Truth be told, there seems to be no limit to what this creature will do get the kill it desires.
6. Lindworm
In a number of Scandinavian countries, including Sweden, the Lindworm is an old a fabled creature. Some still speak its name. The Lindorm is described as a giant, limbless serpent. It has a serpentine body, a dragon-like head, scaled or reptilian skin and two clawed arms in the upper body. They are often associated with pestilence, eating cattle and human bodies - sometimes even invading churchyards and eating the dead from cemeteries. Their sighting is thought to be an exceptional sign of good luck. Their skin was believed to greatly increase a person know about nature and medicine. For centuries, there have been stories of people fighting the Lindworms - there was even the story of the King Lindworm - it was born to a queen who was told the only way she could have children was to eat two onions - however - one of them wasn't peeled which caused one of her twin boys to become the fearsome King Lindworm.
5. The Clarion Grand Hotel
This building is located in Helsingborg and is home to a number of creepy tales. People will tell you to stay away from the 5th floor and room 585. Guests who have stayed in this room have reported feeling watched, felt icy draughts that pass through them or even being pushed out of bed in the middle of the night. Its believed that just one ghost is responsible for all these spooky goings on. In life, she was a former mistress who was murdered by a married couple in the 1920s when the wife discovered what her husband had been doing. In a desperate attempt to save the marriage, they decided to bump off the other woman, who then disappeared without a trace. All this happened in the 1920s, not long after the hotel was built. Some believe that the building and the ghost will forever be intertwined, that she has found her home at the hotel - and you're the one whos invading it.
4. The Christmas Ghosts
The story goes like this - a woman was preparing to head to church for midnight Christmas mass. She and her friend decided to get some sleep before they went. The woman got up when she thought she heard her friend saying it was time to leave. She grabbed some bread that was in the shape of the cross to eat later on. On the way to the church, she was stopped by a couple of evil witches who wanted to kill her - they couldn't approach her though because of the cross she was carrying. The woman was unaware of all of this however and made her way into the church. Inside, she sat down and heard something that sends chills down her spine.
A voice in her head told her that he was her godfather and that someone wanted to kill her but she would be spared. The woman spun around in a panic and suddenly saw that everyone in the church was headless. She fled the scene as ghostly figures tried to grab her, they only managed to take her veil though and the woman escaped. When she returned to retrieve the veil, she found that the ghosts had shredded it to bits and scattered the pieces among the graves outside the church. There was no doubt in her mind that they would have done the same to her if she had been caught.
3. Blå Jungfrun
This is the name of a Swedish Island in the Baltic Sea. Its name literally translates to The Blue Maiden - and it has a historical link to the supernatural. Since ancient times, locals have regarded this as an evil place, steeped in dark magic. The name of Blue Maiden was intentionally nicer than what people thought of it. That's because sailors wanted to appease the evil spirits who lived there. According to a widespread belief dating back to the 16th century, witches met there every holy Thursday.
People said that those go there will never return, at least not in the same way they arrived. The beaches and stone labyrinths have many smoosh stones which are illegal to remove. Some say this is because of the island's status as a national park, others claim that people suffer endless bad luck until the stones are returned. The nearby town has stones from former visitors to the island, often with an accompanying letter describing the misfortunes and disasters which had happened to them since removing the cursed stones.
2. The Kraken
For millennia, the people of Sweden joined many other cultures in their belief of the mighty Kraken - the most fearsome creature of the seas. Its been described as a mile wide octopus or squid-like creature that is often mistaken for an island. It was said that only 2 existed because any more and there would not be enough food in the oceans for them. Although it mostly fed on fish, the Kraken was never known to say no to human flesh. Legend says that the Kraken could devour a ships entire crew in one go. If it didn't want to eat but simply kill the sailors, it would send one of its massive tentacles slamming down onto the deck of the ship, snapping it cleanly in half and dooming any sailors who hadn't already been killed. Some people like to imagine that the Kraken never really disappeared, it just sunk to the bottom of the ocean, waiting for the right time to return to the surface and assert its dominance over us.
1. The Trolls
Sweden has been no stranger to reports of the centuries. In recent years, there was a case involving a woman referred to as sm93. She was a farmer in a remote area who noticed that her cows had been let outside one night. She then noticed her tools and containers were going missing. One night the horses snorting in the stable woke her up, she found them outside of their paddock. When she got to them, she looked up to see whats been reported as a troll. It stood about 6 foot 3 tall with incredibly long, this and muscular legs. Its head was oblong, body ears and it had big ears high up on the head. The creature was greyish brown in color and looked dirty and veined - its torso was covered in fur but not the arms or legs.
As the creature noticed her, it grunted, flapped its ears and leaped away - running quickly into the woods from where it came. No sooner had that happened when she turned around to see her stable was on fire. The fire department determined it was an electrical cable to blame. A few months later, a neighbor who had previously found his cows let out at night had his barn burn down too. Again the cows had all been released so only the building was damaged. The cause of the fire was determined to be arson and a farm worker was convicted. People are convinced that these trolls are real, mysterious, creepy looking - but seemingly caring for humans, or at least the animals they keep.
