The Most Famous Ghosts

There is no register of ghosts and no measure by which one is more famous than another. The figures people name are literary or legendary, which is a different claim from haunting. Copenhagen has three worth knowing, and all three are told here as what they are: two palace legends and one unsolved police matter.

A ranking of ghostsDoes not exist

RosenborgA guard's cat, said to be seen after dark

FrederiksbergFrederik VI as a small dog

LaksegadeSeptember 1826, never solved

Holger DanskeA sleeper, not a ghost

All labelledLegend, or record, never blurred

The two palace stories

Rosenborg Castle is said to be haunted by a ghostly cat that belonged to a guard killed in a shooting accident, and the story goes that it unsettles Royal Life Guards after dark. Frederiksberg Palace is said to be haunted by King Frederik VI in the form of a small dog. Both are published as legends by the Danish national tourist board, and neither has anything behind it but the telling. See the Rosenborg ghost cat.

The one with paperwork

Laksegade. In September 1826 the residents of no. 210 fled as windows shattered and objects were reported flying. The police issued a statement on 15 September 1826 conceding that windows had been broken from the outside and dismissing the rest as fabrication, and nobody was ever identified. That is not a famous ghost. It is a famous unsolved case that produced a phrase Danes still use, Fanden er løs i Laksegade. Full account on the Laksegade page.

The one people mistake for a ghost

Holger Danske is not a ghost. He is a sleeper: the legend says he lies in Kronborg's casemates and wakes when Denmark is threatened. He first appears about 1060 in La Chanson de Roland, and H.C. Andersen attached him to Kronborg in an 1846 fairy tale. Kronborg is in Helsingør, a day trip from the capital, and no walk here goes there — the Holger Danske page and the Kronborg page deal with both points.

The guided ghost walk in English tells the Copenhagen material in an hour and a half from Nytorv, storytelling only, with no special effects: the guided ghost walk.

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Frequently asked questions

Who is the most famous ghost in the world?

There is no measure and no register, so there is no answer. The figures people name are literary or legendary rather than documented.

Does Copenhagen have a famous ghost?

The best-known Danish ghost stories are the Rosenborg cat and Frederik VI as a dog at Frederiksberg, both told as legends.

What is the scariest story in Copenhagen?

The Laksegade case of September 1826, because it was never solved. See the Laksegade page.