Dragsholm Castle

This castle located in Odsherred, Zealand, Denmark is named after a “drag” which is a narrow stretch of land that the Vikings used to “drag ships across” in order to avoid the dangerous waters north of Zealand Island.

Dragsholm Castle in 1896

Dragsholm Castle is near several lakes so its full name means “islet by the drag.”

In the 12^th century Peder Sunsen, the Bishop of Roskilde designed Dragsholm.

Today, 100 ghosts haunt Dragsholm. Its long tragic history is believed to be the reason for this.

In the Middle Ages Dragsholm was used as a fortification by its noble owners.

After the Protestant Reformation, in 1536 King Christian lll degreed Denmark a Lutheran state--all monasteries, abbeys, church schools and cathedrals were ordered to denounce their Catholic beliefs for Lutheran ones.

For the next 128 years, 1536-1664, Dragsholm was used as a prison for ecclesiastical and noble prisoners.

Bishop of Roskilde during
Reformation.

Joachim Ronnow, the last Bishop of Roskilde was imprisoned within his own castle in 1436. It is said he haunts Dragsholm’s tower where his captivity began.

Ejler Brokenhuus, a nobleman known as the “mad squire” was also imprisoned in the castle’s tower room. He was chained to one wall. It is not known if he became mad before or after his imprisonment.

Today, Dragsholm hosts two restaurants, conference rooms and a hotel.

Visitors to the castle report hearing moaning as well as Catholic chanting coming from this haunted tower room.

Mary, Queen of Scots third husband James Hepburn, the 4^th Earl of Bothwell, was captured in Norway in 1573. King Frederick ll of Denmark had him imprisoned at Dragsholm.

Earl of Bothwell--James Hepburn

One report states he was given only enough food and water to keep him alive. He then was chained to a pillar and left. Before he died in 1578, he went mad.

Witnesses state they have seen the Earl of Bothwell riding into the castle courtyard in his carriage. Several reports state people have heard his horses’ hooves hitting the cobbled yard late at night.

One female ghost that haunts Dragsholm is nicknamed the White Lady. It is believed she was Celine, a daughter of the noble Bovles family. She fell in love with a commoner that worked at the castle. She then became pregnant.

When her father discovered her secret he ordered servants place her in one dungeon, chained to a wall, they then bricked her in while she was still alive.

This story is believed confirmed because in the 1930s workmen at Dragsholm repairing the plumbing found a skeleton enclosed in a small space, wearing a white dress.

The White Lady‘s apparition has been seen at night wandering about the castle. Not surprising, it is stated that she is looking for her lost love. Other witnesses have reported hearing her moan.

Dragsholm Castle today.

Another ghost seen is that of a young “fair maiden.” She worked at the castle and finding herself with a painful toothache she approached the castle’s noble owner. He had a poultice made which helped.

She unfortunately died after this but it is believed her ghost lingers because she is still grateful for her master’s help. She is seen at night--on a regular basis.

Many believe she is a protective spirit--still watching over Dragsholm out of gratitude.

The White Lady, the Earl of Bothwell and the Grey Lady are said to be the most active of all the ghosts at Dragsholm Castle.

Oregon’s Heceta Head Lighthouse

This is a well-known Oregon Coast ghost story.

What was once known as Devil’s Elbow State Park, is now called Heceta Head Lighthouse Scenic Viewpoint State Park.

This lighthouse is located just north of Florence, Oregon. It sits 205 feet above sea level, on the west side of 1,000-foot-high Heceta Head. It is situated in a cove at the mouth of Cape Creek.

This lighthouse is one of the most photographed spots in Oregon, and is considered one of the most beautiful in the world.

Heceta was first illuminated in 1894 and has a 56-foot tower. It was named after a Spanish sailor Don Bruno Heceta, who discovered the area in 1755.

Heceta Head Lighthouse was automated in 1963, and is the strongest light along the Oregon Coast--it can be seen 21 miles from shore. It was renovated in 2013.

The Assistant Lighthouse Keeper’s house--built in 1893-- still sits near the tower. Today this building is known as Heceta House. It is run by the U.S. Forest Service, and today is a bed and breakfast.

Visitors staying at this house can see the grey whale migration as they travel to and from Alaska to Baja California. This 549-acre park offers day campers, seven miles of trails, of varying degrees of difficulty, spectacular viewpoints, tide pools, natural caves, a variety of wildlife, and a pristine sandy beach.

Needless to say, this bed and breakfast is a popular spot, and there is a 3-month waiting list for reservations. More information can be found about it here.

Both the Lighthouse and Heceta house, are on the National Register of Historic Places. “Heceta” is pronounced by most as “ Ha--SEE--Ta,” others pronounce it “HECK--ah--Ta.”

The Grey Lady

Heceta House

Unlike most hauntings near a lighthouse, this ghost is not seen in the Heceta Head tower. Instead, The Grey Lady or “Rue” resides in the Assistant Lighthouse Keepers home--Heceta House.

It is believed that Rue’s spirit stays because the grave of an infant girl was discovered on the Lighthouse grounds. It is said Rue still watches over her baby girl.

Rue was dubbed the Grey Ghost because she is seen as a grey mist, with a human form. Her ghost is considered friendly, and sometimes mischievous.

She often moves items and opens and closes cabinet doors. She is heard walking upstairs in the house.

Many encounters with her have been reported since the 1950s.

At one time a volunteer crew was sent out to paint Heceta House. This crew spent the night but did not get much sleep.

Throughout the night, the fire alarm kept going off--no fire was discovered. Tired of being woken up, a member of this crew removed the batteries from this alarm. It did not work, the alarm sounded again.

It seems Rue didn’t like the color of the new paint.

Her ghost is most active when construction or renovations are taking place in the building.

Another encounter with Rue was when a workman came face to face with her in the home’s attic. He was so startled, he fled the house and refused to return to the attic.

A few days later, he accidentally broke the attic window, while working on the exterior of the building.

Refusing to go into the attic, he instead repaired this window from the outside. As he did this, he pushed the broken glass into the room and it scattered.

That night other workers heard scraping sounds across the attic floor. When they inspected the room the next morning, they found the glass neatly swept into a pile beneath the repaired window.

Rue is most often seen peering down at people from the upstairs.

New Zealand: The Grey Lady of Cumberland College

Cumberland as nurse's home 1916

Cumberland College is a student residence hall run by the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Cumberland was established as a residence hall in 1989 but the building has a long history. It was originally built in 1916 across the road from the Dunedin Hospital and the Queen Mary Maternity Hospital. It was used as a nurse’s hostel or home. Today Cumberland College is still linked to these two hospitals via underground tunnels.  Renovated in 1989, Cumberland houses 328 students today.

The building has one permanent resident, a ghost known as the “Grey Lady”. Her presence dates from when Cumberland was used as a nurse hostel.

In May of 2012 a media-frenzy took hold when it was reported that several students and staff at Cumberland had seen the Grey Lady. These sighting scared the residents to the point where they were keeping their lights on all night and rooming with others so they would not be alone. One sighting involved two female students who at 1:00 a.m. one Tuesday morning encountered the ghost as they made their way to the laundry room on the first floor.

These two women smelled “something weird” so they turned around. They felt a cold spot then they saw a large figure in the middle of the hallway. They described it as being dark but glowing at the bottom. These two women were not the only witnesses. Kitchen staff and an RA had also seen this apparition that same month. One resident of Cumberland even took a photo of the Grey Lady as she stood looking out one of the resident hall’s windows, silhouetted by the room’s light.

These most recent sightings resulted in a lot of students being frightened--the university did not make an official comment about the matter--but at one point Cumberland was put on “lock down” mode. * The media was encouraged not to use terms, such as “utterly petrified” and “sheer terror”. Most students at Otago do not know the history behind this haunting but many of the 7000 students that have lived in Cumberland since it opened in 1989 have seen the Grey Lady.

She is believed to be a woman who was a patient who gave birth at Hayward College--when the building was Queen Mary Maternity Hospital. It is stated that this woman was deemed “unfit to be a mother” at which point the nurse who was attending her took her baby away. This patient died shortly after this. The nurse who had been ordered to take her baby then started to complain the ghost of this woman was haunting her where she lived. She was staying at the nurse’s hostel that is today Cumberland.

Cumberland today

Cumberland College in an attempt to restore calm “amidst the hysteria” called in some outside help. On May 10^th the University Chaplain Reverend Greg Hughson and a local Kaumatua ** visited the college to lead a prayer and bless both the area and the students in order to reaffirm “the presence of God”. Hughson afterwards stressed that he had not performed an exorcism. This was the third time Reverend Hughson had been called in to help with the ghost, which had scared students in the past during the years he has worked at the university.***

* This climate of fear was not helped when student pranksters started to take advantage of the situation. They were successful at rattling people’s door handles etc. This worked, for many students became afraid to even go to sleep.

**  A Kaumatua is an elder among the native New Zealand Maori. They are leaders that impart guidance and wisdom. Their role in the modern world is similar to grandparents.

*** In my humble opinion--At some point what Cumberland needs to do is just sit down and be honest with these residents. This ghost has never harmed anyone--with the right perspective these students instead of being afraid could be re-educated just to ignore or even accept living side by side with this restless spirit.