Are There Any Haunted Places In Reykjavik?
Iceland is a unique country and it’s capital city is just as strange and interesting. Reykjavik is the world’s most northern national capital city, giving it bizarre weather and beautiful scenic surroundings. If the mountains and forests surrounding Reykjavik weren’t enough to impress you, it’s brightly colored buildings and Scandinavian ways will win you over. It has a certain charm and romantic feel that a city founded by Viking explorers should have. Being the only large city in it’s entire country, Reykjavik is the beating heart of Iceland, drawing in millions of tourists each year.
But you might want to rethink things before visiting – as there are emerging reports of paranormal encounters within Reykjavik. Some places are more haunted than others and there are not many haunted places in Reykjavik. But I’ve been told of a handful of locations to avoid if you’re scared of ghosts, which you should be because they’re ghosts. They fly through walls and stuff like that. Also they throw chairs and stuff like that. Getting back to the point, here are the most haunted places in Reykjavik that you should probably stay away from.
Hofdi – The Haunted Embassy
Copyright Polarlys / (CC BY 2.5)
Hofdi is a grand house built in 1909 for the French ambassador to Iceland. It has a long history of witnessing political activity, hosting the British embassy in Iceland after the second world war. Then in 1986 it hosted a meeting between US president Ronald Reagan and leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. The two men sat down together and had an open discussion about nuclear weapons. They both agreed that reducing the size of their nuclear arsenals would be good, but nothing much came from it. But they almost agreed to eliminating all nuclear weapons in their possession and their meeting is considered a sign that the cold war was coming to a close.
Still today the flags of America and the Soviet Union hang within Hofdi. Iceland was chosen for the meeting as the nation was seen as a neutral entity in the cold war, isolated both physically and politically from both sides of the conflict. The physical appearance of the building is haunting in itself, with it’s Edwardian feel and chilling surroundings, overlooking the ocean and facing large cloud-topped mountains. Such an appearance alone could inspire legends of ghosts and demons. Shortly after Hofdi was built it’s inhabitant claimed to witness the ghost of a young woman. She would walk through the house at night and move objects around slowly, but never causes any harm to visitors.
The British ambassador who lived in the house in the early 1950s was desperate for the British embassy to be moved to a new location as he believed Hofdi was haunted. That very year the embassy did move to a new location, causing some to believe his claims of paranormal encounters held weight. Hofdi became well known internationally as “the most haunted place in Iceland”. Even the Icelandic government eventually felt the need to comment on the issue – saying: “We do not confirm or deny that the Hofdi has a ghost”. So that’s wild. Other stories tell that the spirits of ancient Vikings often enter the house and get drunk. So that’s wild.
The Old Harbor – The Ghost Coast
Reykjavik’s old harbor is a calming place, with it’s clear coastal waters stretching into the distance. With it’s sound – the sound of wind and waves crashing together. The sight of snow covered mountains in front of you, and the small charming shops behind you. The eerie silence that can sometimes fall on the harbor with the mist of a cold morning. And if legend is to be believed, there is something more mysterious that emerges on the harbor on days like this. It is a ghostly ship – a viking ship from long ago.
Look closely when it appears. You will see it sail towards the coast, and after it docks, a crew of vikings will leave it. Each ghostly viking now goes his own way. Some head to a local tavern for a drink. Several fight with one another, and others disperse into Reykjavik. These are just a handful of ghostly vikings who haunt Reykjavik, a remnant from the early days of Iceland settlement. Of course, Reykjavik was literally founded and settled by Viking warriors.
These are just two of a series of haunted places in Reykjavik. It seems like every building in the city is rumored to be haunted in some way or another. I suppose that’s just a way to attract tourists, given how much of an international attraction Iceland is becoming. Or maybe there just really are a lot of haunted places in Reykjavik. Anything is possible for a city as old and with a past as bloody as this.