The Vikings - The Ring Castles in Denmark

1) Trelleborg

Trelleborg house, photo: grethe bachmann 2004

A special class of monuments from the Viking Age are four ring castles or military camps in Denmark  The earliest found is Trelleborg at Sjælland (Zealand). It lies in the western part of Sjælland ab. 4 km west of the town Slagelse, between this and Storebælt, where two rivers meet - and from here they are running as one river out into the sea north of the town Korsør. The Viking ring castles are colloquially known as "Trelleborge". The ring castle Trelleborg at Sjælland was placed upon the land between two rivers in the late Viking period, the excavations showed that it probably was built upon an ancient blót-place, which was seen from several sacrifice pits and from some house-rests. After comprehensive fill- and levelling work the castle was built, according to a thoroughly worked-out  project, which by skilled engineers were laid out in the field with extraordinary mathematical precision. The ring castle consisted of two components: a main castle and a front castle.

map from wikipedia

The main castle is a circular place, surrounded by a strong and still existing ring bank, which towards the land side (south and east) is further strengthened by a curved broad and deep moat. This ring bank had four gates, one to each corner of the world, and these gates were interconnected  two and two (crosslike) with wooden streets crossing in the center of the place and dividing it in four equal sized sections. In each section were 4 equal size houses, arranged in blocks, a total of 16 houses. With their curved long walls and their straight cut ends these houses looked like ships with cut bows. Each house was divided in 3 rooms, one smaller in each end and a large mid-room, 18 meter long. The planks of the houses have disappeared, but have left marks in the earth in several places, which show the plan and the contour of the buildings.

A few lesser houses were noticed, partly guard houses at two gates, partly chief houses in the middle of two blocks, and finally a ship-shaped house in smaller dimensions north of the northeastern block. It seems furthermore that inside, along the ring bank, was a ring street. The ring bank had palisades on both sides and was in several places strengthened with an inside timber reinforcement. The 4 gates, which behind the palisades had strong stone packings, were covered by a timber loft and worked as tunnels. Outside they could be closed by a couple of gate wings (iron rings and big keys were found by the entrances). Outside, towards the landside, the ring bank was dressed with a mantle of stiff clay, held together by wooden sticks and branches. Towards the meadows, to the northwest and southwest, the bank rested upon a foot of stone and post work and was higher up covered by vertical palisades.

Trelleborg, the castle site, wikipedia

The second component of the castle was a reinforcement belt towards the landside = a front castle. This belt, which was curved to the south like the curve of the main castle, but square to the north, was fortificated with a low bank and a flat moat. Upon the curved section was built in a radial construction: total 13 elliptic longhouses in the same shape as the 16 block houses of the main castle, but of a little smaller size. Upon the square section of the belt were near the castle (outside its eastern gate)  two similar houses placed parallelly; and further to the east was the castle's burial site with ab. 150 graves, probably  following the ancient sacrifice place, which before Trelleborg's building belonged to the sacrifice place out on the isthmus. The  entrance to main castle and front castle were both from the south.

Trelleborg, photo H. Stiesdal 1948/ Johannes Brøndsted, Vikingerne, Gyldendal 1960  

An impressive  plan like Trelleborg was made by engineers. The used unit of measure is an approximated Roman foot (Roman normal foot: 29,57 cm - the calculated medium size of the Trelleborg foot is 29.33 cm ), which is shown in all the main measures of the castle. The block houses are 100 feet long, the front castle houses 90 feet, the ring bank is 60 feet broad, the small houses in the middle of the two blocks are 30 x 15 feet. Radius from the center to the inner edge of the ring bank is 234 feet, the distance between the two moats is also 234 feet, while the distance from the center to the nearest gables of the front castle houses has the double measure = 468 feet. In the construction the center was chosen first, from where the circular curves were marked which limit the banks and moats; the same center is also the cutting point of the two mutually perpendicular main axis, which divide the main castle area in four equal large sections, which continue through the four gates. All over the constructors have used extremely care and precision.The whole building plan inside the ring is constructed in squares.

 Example of house at Fyrkat/ photo grethe bachmann

Example of house at Fyrkat: photo: grethe bachmann 2010


Trelleborg has a splendid location in the large meadows with its back to the higher mainland. The holes in the underground from the houses are marked in the grass by cement -  the ring banks and the moats are partly rebuilt, and the visitors will get a stunning impression of how a Viking garrison looked in the Viking period. The National Museum has constructed a modelhouse in full size, it's like one of the front castle houses. It was  placed upon the site in a short distance from the castle. The modelhouse is built in wand construction with walls of broad vertical planks. The roof is constructed above cross beams where stand vertical short posts, it has a length-curved ridge and is thatched with wood chippings. Outside along the longwalls run a low gallery with its own roof; its purpose might have been to guard the longwall against rain and snow. A house had usually door in both gables and in both cross walls, and there were two side-doors in the long mid-room, one placed in each longside and always counterposed diagonally. The gable rooms had sometimes digged cellars ( maybe storerooms for food or waste pits or even dungeons). In the large mid-room was a plank or clay floor and a fireplace in the middle, and at the sides were probably broad sitting- and lying benches. In the roof probably an air hole (a lyre). The Trelleborg house is like this description. It is not certain and can never be if this house is exactly like it  really was. The construction has been critizised and there have been suggestions about other Trelleborg houses. The Fyrkat houses can tell us more ( see the coming article about Fyrkat). The Trelleborg house was renovated in the 1980s.

Trelleborg, common burial, photo 1948 NN/ Johannes Brøndsted, Vikingerne, Gyldendal 1960.  


The burial site of Trelleborg tells us as expected that the main part of the buried were young or younger men (20-40 years); but there were also several women, a few children and some old people. The gifts in the graves were relatively few. Nothing indicates Christianity, unburnt burials with the body placed east-west were known in Denmark before Christianity arrived and marked the burial customs. Three graves were common graves, the largest with ten burials. The grave gifts included only few weapons ( most remarkable was an unusually  broad-edged, but also narrow-bladed silverplated war axe ) - there were several tools, like blacksmith tools and agricultural tools (scythe blades and a ploughshare). And furthermore jewelry, claypots and things for spinning and weaving. These things give Trelleborg a safe dating: namely to the last part of the 10th century and the first half of the 11th  (ab. 975-1050). The life of the castle was not long, but obviously it did exist, when Sven Tveskæg conquered England and when Cnut the Great fought the Three King Battle at Helgeaa.

 Trelleborg, silverchain with Thor-hammer, Danish/ Johannes Brøndsted, Vikingerne, Gyldendal 1960.


It is also obvious that Trelleborg was a military camp and a naval base. The location is classic with an easy access to the sea and however with protection and shelter from assault and floods. Ship could supposedly be trailed up the river stream to the castle, and each ship-shaped blockhouse housed a ship's crew. The contents of the graves (as for agricultural tools) indicate that the people of the castle had to provide supplies so they did not have to rob the farmers from the neighbourhood.

Trelleborg gives witness about a strong organizing power. This can only be a king, who was able to build such great plans. There are no supporting points, which indicate that a hostile power was stuck in Denmark. The archeaological finds do not tell about this -  and not history either. But history tells another story: that this period was marked by a Danish display of power. Trelleborg had room for 1200 men. It is not known when the Trelleborg camp went out of use. There are no traces after a finishing fire.

Text/translated: grethe bachmann 
Source Johannes Brøndsted, Vikingerne,Gyldendal 1960. 
 Next:  Aggersborg, Fyrkat, Nonnebakken. 

Information from Slagelse Municipality 2013:
Trelleborg is a fantastic piece of cultural heritage from the Viking period and the best and best preserved of the three circular castles Fyrkat, Trelleborg and Aggersborg. Together with among fx the Jelling monuments and Dannevirke the ring castles tell us about a very exiting and crucial time in Danish an European history.
The location Trelleborg was never forgotten, the main part of the earth banks were directly visible right up to the beginning of the excavation - and the circular inner bank is seen clearly upon maps from the 1600s and onward, but the character of the installations was first known as a Viking fortification when the National Museum started the excavations in 1934 under the leadership of archaeolog Poul Nørlund.  The excavation was provoked by a local motorcycle club who had rented the area in 1933 for the purpose of converting it into a motocross track.   
(Source:  Slagelse Kommunes hjemmeside. )




Other Informations (Source: wikipedia):

Trelleborg was the first discovery of a circular castle in Denmark.
 
The Trelleborg area is about 6 ha = 12 football fields. F

The excavation, the registration of findings and the reconstruction of building works were published in 1948 in a scientific paper written by Poul Nørlund. 

In 1979 it was succeeded to do a dendrochronological dating of wooden pieces from Trelleborg, and it was detected that the trees were felled in June or July 980.

For the building of Trelleborg was felled half of the oak woods which existed at Sjælland.


Already in Poul Nørlund's paper the building master was identified as either Harald Blåtand or Sven Tveskæg, mostly all scholars,who have commented this question, agree that it must be the same person, who was the building master of these castles. One of the essential arguments is the precise geometry in the main line of the plan and the common characteristics in the craftmanship. Another argument is the great  similarities in the design of the plans. The dendrochronological datings from Trelleborg points at Harald Blåtand as the building master and because of the dating the historians now mostly agree to point at Harald.

There are no written sources which mention the ring castles in a direct way. The known Scriptures close to the events are the chronicle by bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, written 1013-18, and an unnamed monk of St. Omer's tribute to Cnut the Great's widow, written about 1040. Here is a possible reference to the Trelleborgs, since it is told that Sven Tveskæg fortified his kingdom with castles, which had to be a protection against the enemies who had invaded and occupied the country.

Adam of Bremen's work from ab. 1070, descriptio insularum Aquilonis, illustrated a number of factors related to the Danish Viking period , but there has not been identified any mention of the ring castles. The Danish chronicles from the Middle Ages (Aggesen and Saxo) have no direct references either. It is remarkable that the ring castles are not mentioned, and it seems that the writers did not know the existence of the castles - and this is an indirect evidence of the short lifetime of these castles.


Latest info: 

Wooden shield from Trelleborg, exhibition Moesgård Museum Århus

In September 2008 archaeologists from Sydvestsjællands Museum and from Moesgård Museum (Århus) found a wooden shield during an excavation at Trelleborg. It is the first time a wooden shield was found in Denmark. The shield is about 80 cm diameter with a characteristic hole in the middle for the shield boss. The shield is dated to the Viking period and to the castle's usage period in the end of the 900s.

Anders Dorset, one of the leading archaeologist at the excavations, also considers that the examination shows evidence of that Trelleborg had a clear maritime significance.

Sønderborg in Sønderjylland, a Market Town and a Castle

                                                                                       


















  I sometimes forget which posts are in this blog, because I had to delete my old blog about Denmark and start a new last year, but I now see that I haven't told you about some of the southern cities of Jutland like Sønderborg and Tønder.


Well, then I'll start with a lovely day in Sønderborg in May in 2007. The harbour was a wonderful sight with lots of fine yachts and other sailing boats. There was a regatta. I love the colours in a harbour, and on such a summer day they are extra bright and beautiful. The hawthorn was blooming, one of my favorite bushes with their thousands of little white flower heads. That was summer in all its splendour.





Sønderborg castle lay there, close to the edge of the coast, imposant and heavy in the middle of all the easyness of the day. Along the circular shape of the castle run a beach road with cosy corners with benches and flowering hawthorns.The castle dates back from 1169, it was built in order to protect the Danish kingdom from the harrassing Wendic pirates, and sheltered by the castle at Als Sound and Sønderborg Bay grew up gradually a small town, which in 1461 had its municipal rights confirmed. the town became gradually an important harbour at the ferry station from Jutland to the island of Als.

 












Sønderborg castle is now a museum which holds archaeological collections and exhibitions about church art and the history of the city, about shipping trade and the wars in 1848, 1864 and the two world wars. In the castle is the oldest preserved church room in the North from the Renaissance. At the museum is also an art collection.



The castle is by Danes especially known from their history school book. King Christian II was imprisoned here for 17 years (1532-49), and a Danish painter immortalized a scene in a painting, where he let the king walk around a circular table in the castle, where he wore down a groove in the wood. This was all in the artist's imagination - actually the king enjoyed a good portion of freedom and was often seen in the streets of the city. So the school children later lost their illusions.






Sønderborg was like other towns in Sønderjylland and North Schleswig marked by gable houses, but much of it was destroyed under the German bombardment in 1864, and the new houses were extensively built in late classististic architecture. There are many pretty houses from the 1700s. In Sct. Mariæ church are fine woooden carvings from the 1600s.

Sønderborg, the bridge

Sønderborg is known for its yearly "Riding at the Ring"-festival which in the second week-end of July turns the city and the whole neighbourhood upside down.  In connection to the festival are held large processions with ab. 500 horsemen , riding from the castle up through the streets of the town.

Dybbøl Mølle

A few km west of Sønderborg is Dybbøl, one of the most famous places in Denmark's history with Dybbøl Banke, the church and the mill, to where the Danish army withdrew from the Preussians in 1864 to defend themselves from the primitive and unfinished entrenchments. This ended as a catastrophic defeat on 18 April. Denmark lost Sønderjylland until the Reunion in 1920. At Dybbøl are many memorials, the soldiers' graves and other memorials. Here is also a new History Center.

 A lovely place to take a rest!

A little north of Dybbøl is Nydam Mose. Here was found the Iron Age ship: Nydamsbåden, dated to ab. 320 A.D . and the oldest known rowing vessel in Northern Europe. Nydambåden is displayed at exhibition in Gottorp Castle in Schleswig.





Source: Potitikens Store Danmarksbog ; Danmarks Købstæder; Se dit land Danmark.
Photo Sønderborg 20 May 2007: grethe bachmann

Mysteries - 5) Koldinghus

 Icy Cold Cellar and The Man with the Iron Hand

Koldinghus by the Castle Lake

The long staircase leading deep down into the cellar of Koldinghus is not a problem in the tourist season. But some people have made attempts going down alone. It is said that most of them came up in faster than an Olympic 100 meters run. The atmosphere in the cellar is very special. The thick walls deaden all sounds. There is a half darkness and the air is stuffy and dusty. Some claimed that they suddenly was in an area where the air was cold as ice, others had the feeling that they were not alone. Someone stood behind them, breathing them in the neck. No one of those who made the bold attempt wanted to go down there again.


Koldinghus

The legends from Koldinghus are similar to ghost-legends in other castles. In the 1500s a vasal at Koldinghus, Jørgen Rosenkrantz had a lovely young daughter, who had not less than three proud knights for suitors. It was in 1558. She turned down all three , and when her father discovered that she was in love with a young carver, who had been working at the castle, he went furious. He arrested the carver and forced his daughter to witness his execution in the court yard. Three days later he celebrated a ball at the castle where he ordered nine knights to dance with his daugher until she dropped dead. She succeed in dancing with all nine knights and still be alive - and at last Jørgen Rosenkrantz had to dance with his daughter until she died in his arms.

A very cruel story, but not quite true. Jørgen Rosenkrantz was a vasal at Koldinghus in 1558, but he was a childless bachelor. It is a reality though that a lady named Gjertrud Kaas died during a ball at Koldinghus in 1590. Gradually those thwo stories have been mixed ,but they have influenced the legend and increased the thrilling atmosphere in the massive castle.


The court yard


The church room

Christian 3's queen, Dorothea, cannot let go of the contact with the castle she was so fond of, so she's walking the rooms and corridors every night to see if everything is in order. People claim that they have either seen her or heard the noise from her bunch of keys. She's harming no one, but if they won't step aside, she stands still and send them a very fierce look. So they say!

Maybe it is Dorothea who is the so-called "Man with the Iron Hand". This invisible power has a habit of beating the hat off people who walk through the church room. There is much force in the blows so people thought it had to be a man. But maybe Dorothea gets angry when someone walks through the church? Maybe it's one of those powerful bishops, who's haunting the guests in the church room? Who knows. No one can prove anything at all.

Koldinghus is situated upon a hill in the middle of the town Kolding by one of the lakes of the town. Today Koldinghus is a museum. Open daily 10-17, except closed at Christmas and New Year.

See: Koldinghus Museum


Next and last: 6) Gurre, " The Wild Hunt."

Source:
"Det mystiske Danmark", en rejseguide til spøgelser, uhyrer og andre mærkværdigheder.
Lars Thomas, Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, 2005.

photo 2004: grethe bachmann, Koldinghus, Southeast Jutland

Mysteries - 4) Borreby Slot

"The Alchemist and the Doppelgänger"


When Valdemar Daa in the 1600s owned Borreby he had lots of trouble with his economy. Like so many others at that time he experimented with the alchemy in the hope that he could grow rich by making gold himself. Like so many others he did not succeed. He had to leave Borreby and died a ruined man in 1691.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote a compassionate fairy-tale " Vinden fortæller om Valdemar Daa og hans døtre". (translated by Jean Hersholt, see: Valdemar Daa ). Borreby slot is marked by the medieval history about Valdemar Daa. He is said to be walking restlessly in the cellars and corridors of Borreby, still thinking and experimenting, stubbornly trying to make gold.



Borreby was taken over by one of Valdemar Daa's neighbours, Ove Rand, and his lucky star wasn't shining either. People said he had sold his soul to the Devil in order to gain richness. He died in 1685 after having seen a big black dog in his study. The dog was staring at him with flaming eyes and then disappeared through the wall. People were convinced that the dog came for him when he died and brought him to a special hot place.



The dog is still at Borreby, but now outside. As late as in 2003 a bird-watcher , a banker , was visiting Borreby Mose close to Borreby Slot, a popular bird-locality. He was looking in his binoculars and accidentally discovered a black dog among the trees by the castle. At first he didn't wonder about this, but then the dog turned its head and stared directly at him although he was about 200-300 m away. He got so scared when he saw those shining eyes of the dog that he let go of the binocular. But then he tried to look again and the dog had disappeared. He hasn't seen it since although he often is visiting the place.

It can be scaring to visit Borreby at night. Sometimes screams are heard from the moat. It sounds as if someone has fallen into the water and is now is fighting for his life. People who wanted to rescue the drowning man, couldn't find anyone in distress. Is it the echo from a long time forgotten event..........?

One of the latest residents at Borreby was Frederik Berregård who died in1805. He had some trouble with the supernatural too, but it was his own abilities he couldn't control. He was a Doppelgänger. People saw him fx supervising in the field, and at the same time he was seen sitting by the window in his study. Belive it or not!

Borreby Castle is situated in Southwest Zealand 3 km south of Skælskør. Public access to the park in summer.

Next: 5) Koldinghus, "Cold in the Cellar and the Man with the Iron Hand."

Source:
"Det mystiske Danmark", en rejseguide til spøgelser, uhyrer og andre mærkværdigheder.
Lars Thomas, Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, 2005.

photo 2007: grethe bachmann, Borreby, Zealand

Mysteries - 3) Voergård Slot

The Hovering Ghost



The legend says that fru Ingerborg Skeel every New Year's Night comes a crowfoot closer to Voergård, and when she reaches her own magnificent building work, then it will break down.
She's the most wellknown ghost at Voergård. She lived in the 1500s and she was the building master of the beautiful Renaissance castle. She loved to do inspections in the whole building and she still does. Several groups have seen Ingeborg Skeel looking into the window as if she is standing in the air outside. During her lifetime there was an external gallery all the way round the building, and of course she's not aware of the new conditions!

Ingeborg Skeel has got a very bad reputation . She was said to be flogging and torturing ther peasants and servants, she cut the fingers of a thievish child, she threw her building master in the moat and brought a ship aground on her beach in order to plunder it. Known documents tells quite another story. She was a very diligent and enterprising woman , and she was actually very charitable and took care of the poor people in her district.

As a ghost she's very noisy. The top corridor in the east wing is equipped with a door in both ends, and these doors must never be closed, or else she makes a terrible noise in the night if there's no free passage. Being a ghost she should be able to walk through doors shouldn't she?



Like in many other haunted places there is an indelible blood spot at Voergård, it is showing upon the floor in the north east tower room. When the floor was grinded in connection to a renovation and a laquer in 1997, the blood spot came up again. After every new grinding the spot turns up again and again.

Deep down in the cellar is Rosedonten, the prison. Here is a scary monster which can cause the most hardened criminal to break down and confess all his crimes after just one night in the dark. Rosedonten is very small and stuffy, so the monster might probably be a hallucination caused by lack of oxygen.

However an old tradition continues. Every New Year's Night a bundle of straw is put into the prison room to the monster to keep him calm.

Voergård Castle is situated in Vendsyssel in North Jutland, ab. 12 km southwest of Sæby. Open daily in holidays and in the summer season. A fine art museum. Public access to the park all year.

See: Voergård Slot

Next: 4) Borreby Slot, The Alchemist and the Doppelgänger

Source:
"Det mystiske Danmark", en rejseguide til spøgelser, uhyrer og andre mærkværdigheder.
Lars Thomas, Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, 2005.
"Vore Gamle Herregårde", Per Eilstrup, Kay Nielsen, Holger Rasmussen, Forlaget Union

photo 2003: grethe bachmann, Voergård, Vendsyssel, North Jutland

Mysteries - 2) Dragsholm Slot

The Earl of Bothwell and a few Ladies.



A grey and a white lady, a nobleman, strange noises and ghostly scenes take place repeatedly at Dragsholm Castle in North Zealand. Some of the ghosts are very peaceful, others scare people out of their minds. The grey lady is an old baroness who isn't able to let go the contact to her dear castle. She walks around night after night securing that everything is in order. She's of the peaceful kind like the strange noises from a carriage in the courtyard at night. Nothing is seen and no traces are found on the ground after the wheels the following morning. No one has found an explanation of this phenomenon.

A white lady is chasing young lovers at night. She is said to be the ghost of a miss Sechmann who danced herself to death at a ball in the castle. An accident like this was not rare in the 1500s and 1600s. Many suffered from tuberculosis, and a weak patient might easily get a violent haemorrhage at a lively ball. The white lady follows the young people around in the park at night, and many have told they felt an icy coldness in the air and then saw her sitting next to them on the bench. They all got terribly scared and hurried away as fast as possible.



The most famous ghost at Dragsholm is James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, who died at Dragsholm in the last half of the 1500s. He fled to Scandinavia in 1567 in hope of raising an army to put his new wife, Mary Tudor, Queen of Scots, back on the throne. But the result was that king Frederick II of Denmark heard that England was seeking Bothwell for the alleged murder of Mary's former husband Lord Darnly, and he decided to take him into custody. First he treated his important prisoner with respect, but later Bothwell had appalling conditions in his imprisonment at Dragsholm, where he was kept in chains in the cellar. He died ten years later some say insane.

Bothwell is not a shadowy ghost like the ladies. He is said to look like a man of flesh and blood, and if someone addresses him he'll give response. A chambermaid, who was cleaning the rooms for guests, met a tall man dressed in a long cloak in the corridor. She thought he was one of the guests and asked him who he was. He just took a fierce look at her and said: "You wouldn't want to know!" And then he disappeared in the thin air. The Earl is also said to be responsible for the noise from the wheels in the court yard which might come from the carriage that brought him to Dragsholm in 1567.

One of the strangest things at Dragsholm is a dramatic scene taking place time after time. People open a certain window and then they see another window opening in the castle and a human figure is being thrown out from the window landing in the court yard. But in the next minute everything is back to normal. No one knows which event is being repeated like this. Just one of the mysteries. And maybe it is more thrilling not to know.............

Dragsholm Castle is situated between Holbæk and Kalundborg, North Zealand. Today the castle is a combination of a hotel and a restaurant. Regularly guided tours.

Dragsholm Slot

Next: 3) Voergård Slot, The Hovering Ghost

Source :
"Det mystiske Danmark", en rejseguide til spøgelser, uhyrer og andre mærkværdigheder.
Lars Thomas, Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, 2005.

photo 2004: grethe bachmann, Dragsholm, Zealand

Mysteries - 1) Spøttrup Borg

A Lady in every Tower



Spøttrup Castle is one of the most haunted places in Denmark. At least 10 various ghosts are haunting here - and they have all been seen plenty of times. The ghost-collection is very extensive. A blue lady walks in the square stair tower or in the kitchen, a white lady prefers the circular stair tower and a grey lady is in the gate tower. It's best to avoid the grey lady. She once murdered three small children. The ladies are in almost all colours, a black lady is outdoors.

In spring 1997 a bird-watcher was out on an early morning walk. He suddenly discovered a lady dressed in a strange old-fashioned black gown on the field outside Spøttrup. It was four o'clock in the morning, and he was astonished to see other people out at such an early hour. He looked in his binoculars and noticed that she just stood there, completely still, looking at the castle. He saw details of her dress, but then she gradually faded and disappeared.

A man rides into the castle night after night on a white horse. Maybe he's the same man who sometimes emerges in a black carriage with a four-in-hand - often the whole thing is invisible - only the noise from the old wheels upon the stones of the court yard is heard.

Besided the three ladies in the towers two dramatic ghosts are indoors too. One is a knight dressed in armour. No one knows who he is, but at times he walks restlessly in the castle corridors. He might have something to do with the unwashable blood stain upon the wall in the south wing's hall. It is said that a bloody hand imprint is seen there at times. This is the hand print of a lady who was danced to death by a group of knights. She still comes back placing a bloody handprint as a reminder about her tragic death.



It is not advisable to walk too much or too much alone in the castle corridors. There are other ghosts, seldom seen, but they leave a sense of discomfort and coldness when met. Realists might say that the cold comes from draft in the walls.....

Spøttrup Borg is situated ab. 16 km north west of Skive in North Jutland. Today a museum. Open daily during the summer season.

See: Spøttrup Museum

Next: 2) Dragsholm, the Earl of Bothwell and a few Ladies

Source :
"Det mystiske Danmark", en rejseguide til spøgelser, uhyrer og andre mærkværdigheder.
Lars Thomas, Aschehoug Dansk Forlag, 2005.

photo: grethe bachmann, Spøttrup, Salling, North Jutland