Assistens Cemetery

Köpenhamn · Danmark · Kyrkogård · Uhygge 4/5

Giertrud Bodenhoff was buried in 1798 – merely in a deathlike trance. When grave robbers came for her jewels, she woke in the coffin.

Assistens Cemetery in Nørrebro holds Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard – and Copenhagen's most talked-about horror story. In 1798 Giertrud Birgitte Bodenhoff, a young widow and one of the city's richest women, was buried at just 21. According to family tradition she was only apparently dead: the night after the funeral, grave robbers broke open the coffin to steal her jewellery, and when the young widow woke from her trance they murdered her where she lay. The story fed the era's hysterical fear of being buried alive. In 1953 the physician Viggo Starcke, a descendant, obtained permission to open the grave – the skeleton showed no marks of violence, but was found to have shifted in the coffin. The riddle was never solved, and Giertrud's restless spirit is said to wander among the graves still. The National Museum of Denmark has devoted a podcast series to the mystery.

FAQ

Hvor uhyggelig er Assistens Cemetery?

Assistens Cemetery har en uhyggefaktor på 4/5 ifølge Haunted Places’ verificerede vurderinger.

Hvor ligger Assistens Cemetery?

Assistens Cemetery ligger i Köpenhamn, Danmark.