Amsterdam might not be one of the most haunted places in the world – the scariest sight you’ll find in the city these days is a stag do in the Red Light District – but Amsterdam’s past is filled with some grisly horror stories.
October is the perfect time to imagine which ghosts are haunting the canals. So, if scrolling endlessly through Netflix to find the perfect horror movie isn’t doing it for you this Halloween, here’s a rundown of haunts around old Amsterdam that will leave you with shivers running down your spine.
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See them swing at the Galgenveld
If you head to the back of Centraal Station and look across the Ij at A’dam Tower , you’ll see people swinging. Journey back 400 years and look across the Ij from the same spot and not much will have changed.
The site where the Eye Film Museum now stands was once the site of the city’s Gallow Hill… although this being the flat Netherlands, they opted for the term, Galgenveld (gallow fields).
A different kind of Red at Bloedstraat
You don’t have to go far from Centraal before you arrive at Amsterdam’s next sordid spot. It doesn’t take a detective to find out that bloed means blood, and while the street is more synonymous with a more neon shade of red nowadays, it definitely earned its name through blood, sweat, and tears.
Bloedstraat was the home to the Minderbroedersklooster, Monastery of the Order of Friars Minor. Now, that might not sound so spooky, but in 1567, it was a dispensary of death. The Netherlands was experiencing a whole host of problems – mainly not being Catholic enough – and the Habsburgs sent the Spanish in to make an inquisition of sorts. Well, we know how that goes.
The trials that followed earned the catchy nickname of Bloedraad, or the Council of Blood. The head adjudicator, the Duke of Alba, started handing out death penalties like raffle tickets and bish, bash, bosh, Bloedstraat.
Montelbaanstoren of terror
If you’re cruising the canals during summer you’re probably going to pass the Montelbaan Tower by and think, “Aww, isn’t that lovely.”
While the tower screams quintessential Amsterdam, its past isn’t as pretty. Originally part of the city’s defences, it’s rumoured that the tower is haunted by a family who fled there for safety in the 16th century, but died before making it.
Now every year on June 2, an apparition of the family is said to haunt the tower. If that isn’t scary enough, then we can make pretend and say Michael Myers chased the family down along with some creep playing the Halloween theme on a medieval synth.
Get freaky at Vrolik Museum
This one’s scarier than any of the ghost stories we’ve mentioned. It’s got exhibits you’re definitely not going to see in Museumplein, unless Stedelijk is hosting formaldehyde obsessive, Damian Hirst.
The Vrolik Museum is an ode to human oddity, showcasing deformities collected between the 18th and 19th centuries by a father and son. (Worth noting that both were professors of anatomy, so it’s a little less weird). You’ll find abnormal skeletons, jars that preserve unique birth defects including Siamese twins and conditions such as cyclopia, there’s even abject animals.
Dam Square and the tale of Elsje Christiaens
200 years before the destitute protagonist of Crime and Punishment swung his axe and killed a pawnbroker, a Danish expat in Amsterdam did the same to her landlady. The punishment came a lot more swiftly to Elsje Christiaens, though. Unable to pay her rent and being threatened with a broom, Elsje grabbed an axe and let loose. After failing to drown herself in the canal at Damrak – being fished out by onlookers – she was sentenced and executed in Dam Square.
Strangled by garrote until dead and hit with the very axe she used, her body was then transported to Volewijk, the site of the Galgenveld, where it was hung on a pranger and left on display. Along with the axe.
Christiaens was the first woman to be sentenced to death in Amsterdam for more than 21 years. It picked up a lot of attention, and Rembrandt van Rijn, fascinated by the ordeal, did two sketches of the recently deceased Danish girl.
If you’re looking for things to do this Halloween that are more upbeat than death during the 17th century, then check out our blog on Halloween parties in Amsterdam.
Other Ways to Spend Halloween in Amsterdam, 2019
If you’re looking for things to do this Halloween that are more upbeat than death during the 17th century, then check out our blog on Halloween parties in Amsterdam.
