Legends from Denmark - Clausholm

Much has been said about the ghosts at Clausholm. The most wellknown tale is about the 22 steps and a guest at Clausholm experienced this in 1918. He describes: "When evening came the broad castle yard between the long grey wings was filled with shadows  and the dusk was creepy. Every hour  - just when the bells died out - a figure came out from the gable, stopped in the middle and began to sing. It was the watchman who all night through sang the old watchman-songs, while the bats flew in the light of the dusk".

When people heard the echo from the songs they could sleep tight.  He told he slept tight until the latest night, but  about 30 minutes after midnight he heard the sound of long heavy steps from Anne Sophie's cabinet. In the same moment he remembered what he had promised the matron -  that he had to lock the outer door. He was sure that some tramp tried to get in to have some night lodgings, and he went with a candle in his hand to the small tapestry door where he counted the last 22 steps of the creature behind the door - he opened the door very fast - but the room was empty! But one of the double doors which was locked the evening before was now wide open.


One of the owners of Clausholm wanted to reveal the 22 steps, which were said to be the steps of Anna Sophie Reventlow (d 1743) Frederik IV 's queen of the  left hand. He sat one night in the room where the haunting took place. He placed a table with two loaded pistols beside the chair. His  servant was ready beside him. At midnight the steps started and the servant handed the pistols to the lord. The lord cried"Stop or I shoot!" but the steps went on and he fired two shots which made a terrible noise through the castle. When the echos had died out the rest of the 22 steps were heard. Since then no one has tried a ghost hunt again at Clausholm.

There is much unrest at Clausholm. In the night sounds from wagon rumbling are heard in the castle yard and clairvoyants say they can see a coach with four black horses -  some even say the horses have no heads. There is also a secret passage somewhere but no one knows where it begins or ends.

Once in the beginning of the 20th century a box was found upon the attic. It contained some documents and it was carried it down into the sitting room in order to investigate it further. But while people were searching the box an arm with a lace cuff came out from the air and took one of the documents and disappeared. The paper was never found again.


Source: Gorm Benzon, Sagnenes Danmark, Midtjylland/Himmerland/Djursland . 1984.