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Meet 3 ghosts at Engsö Castle

Meet three ghosts at Engsö Castle! Today is 31 October and Halloween, so what could be better than a story about a ghost castle? Last Sunday, Peter and I visited Engsö Castle outside of Västerås, Sweden, where no less than three (!) ghosts live.

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Dice game with the devil

Engsö Castle was built in the 1480s and is located just outside Västerås. In summer you can also see the inside of the castle, including the famous Engsö chain, which Johan Sigismund Sparre won in a "dice game with the devil himself".

According to legend, the devil promised that fire will rage if the chain leaves the castle, and that's what has happened every time the chain has been taken away... But, now it's time to meet some ghosts at Engsö Castle, right?

Engsö slott Västerås
Träd Ängsö slott

Ghost 1: A hunchbacked court dwarf

The hunchbacked 'court dwarf' Anders Luxemburg first worked for Charles XII and was popular for his French and Italian songs and his violin playing. When the king died in 1718, Anders took his horse Brandklipparen with him and joined Count Carl Fredrik Piper at Engsö Castle.

One night in 1740, the horse saw something in the dark and went mad with fear. He broke free, ran straight into a wall and died. Today it is the hunchbacked little court jester who can be seen taking a walk in the park, wearing a grey long coat and hat.

Ängslö slott allé
Allé

Ghost 2: The evil Brita Bååt

If you are inside the castle at night, you can sometimes see a female figure dragging her feet through the King's Room and into the main ballroom. It is thought to be the evil Brita Bååt, who drove two husbands to an untimely death.

One Christmas Eve evening, Brita asked her maid to wake her up early so that she would be able to attend the Christmas service at Engsö Church, which is right next to the castle. When she woke up, she saw that the church was lit, and thinking that the maid had forgotten to wake her up, she hurried away.

When she opened the church door, she was greeted by the dead holding mass and two ghosts, probably her former husbands, attacked her. The shock caused her to faint and three days later she was dead. To this day, the weapons that killed her, a sword and a stone called the bloodstone, remain in the church ...

Port till Engsö kyrka
Engsö kyrka och kyrkogård

Ghosts 3: Dogs Cottilion

The third ghost at Engsö Castle is the dog Cottilion, which belonged to Sophia von Fersen. Sophia lived at Löfstad Castle in Östergötland, but during a visit to Engsö Castle, Cottilion died "at the feet of his mistress", as it says in French on the dog's tombstone. You can sometimes see the dog running from the main dining room into the parlour or hear the rasping sound of the dog's paws on the dining room floor.

Västerås Ängsö slott
Ängsö slott

Ghosts at Engsö Castle - the movie

Peter recorded a Halloween film while we walked around Engsö Castle. Do you dare to watch ...?

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