Bruges Haunted House
Welcome to Belgium! Here, you’ll discover the beautiful city of Bruges. Bruges has cobblestone streets, medieval buildings, castles, bridges, and a lovely canal running through it. It’s absolutely beautiful. There is a house in Bruges called Den Noodt Gods. The locals call it “Het Spookhuis” (the haunted house). And you know how much we love a haunted house here at Scarymatter!
Back in 1802, there was a nunnery next to the River Reie in Bruges. On the other side of the river was an Augustinian monastery. They were supposedly connected by an underground tunnel that connects the two buildings, but it was never used. The monks and nuns used a bridge over the river.
Hortence was a young novice preparing to become a nun. A young priest heard her confession several times and had fallen in love with her. He tried to overcome the temptation by praying, but the more he thought of her, the more he wanted to be with her. When he accidentally discovered the secret passage, and couldn’t help himself. He finally gave up and took the tunnel to the nunnery to find Hortence.
Hortence had feelings for him, too. That night she was in the chapel praying and the monk came in. He tried to kiss her and asked her to run away with him. She said no, but told him to come back the next night. He went back every night for a while (and I thought dating nowadays was complicated!) She was desperately trying to figure out what to do, and he was just desperate to be with her. After a while, he started getting angry.
Legend has it that the monk stabbed her, and ran away with her body. Soon after, the nuns started seeing ghosts. Their ghosts were seen floating through the halls and crying. Some of the nuns left and never went back. They had seen a woman in white floating down the halls, and sometimes the monk.
The Unlackes, an English family, moved into the house a few hundred years later and complained about seeing the ghosts. They had a medium named Eglinton come to investigate and to see what was happening. Eglinton started having convulsions and he almost went into a coma. While that was happening he saw the nun’s ghost. She said, “He loved me and I loved him”.
Eglinton said that he spoke to the ghosts of the nun and the priest. The priest said that after the nun tried to run from him, he was so upset that he stabbed her and buried the body. The priest said, “Pray much for the unfortunate one that I am”. The nun’s ghost reportedly confirmed the priest’s story and asked Eglinton to pray for her killer. Eglinton asked her who it was and she refused to say his name. She said that he was Italian and 31 years old.
The ghost of the nun wearing a white dress has been seen on the property. Sometimes the priest is seen wandering around and looking very sad. They are never seen together, and they always disappear around midnight. Legend has it that they are destined to walk the property forever, searching for their lost love.
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/belgium/articles/belgiums-10-spookiest-spots/