FINLAND's
most haunted locations
back to all haunted locations
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
Please Share Your Experiences
By Kari Jokinen, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
History
Opened in 1903 this former tuberculosis sanatorium was built in the Art Nouveau style. It was a direct result of the actions taken by the Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Society (1899).
The location was picked for 2 reasons – the same 2 reasons most locations for sanatoriums were picked worldwide – for fresh air (as that was thought to help cure the disease; in truth it actually helped spread the highly contagious disease) and for distance from all population centres.
The sanatorium was closed in 1932 and all patients were moved to of the more modern sanatoriums created at that time.
A mental hospital was opened in the building called the Roykka Hospital.
The asylum was closed in 1989 and the buildings have been left abandoned since.
The buildings still stand but entering them is both dangerous and considered trespassing.
Paranormal Activity
The most famous ghost of the old hospital is that of a woman who jumped from the roof committing suicide. Her apparition continues to play out the final seconds of her life but, of course, no body is ever found. There have been numerous reports of seeing the woman jump and hit the ground with a very disturbing thud.
Curiously, she is reported as replaying the suicide only at night resulting in the assumption that her original jump was after dark.
Multi-coloured flashing lights are frequently reported as coming out of the building.
The apparition of a teenage girl is seen wandering throughout the building; sometimes she seen looking out one of the windows. She is described as looking very pale and sad with an energy of hopelessness. It is thought she died of tuberculosis at a young age.
Other Reported Activity: Apparitions and shadow figures both in the building and on the grounds; pale faces staring out of the windows; unexplained mists; disembodied voices; phantom footsteps; objects moving on the own; time slips; unexplained noises including loud bangs, laughter and crying; cold and warm spots; touches, tugs and pulls by unseen presences; phantom loud screams described as bloodcurdling from inside the building; light anomalies and feelings of being watched and not being wanted.
HAVE YOU HAD A PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE AT THIS LOCATION?
Please Share Your Experiences
History
Kakolanmäki Hill – where the former prison/hotel is located – is the second largest hill in the city of Turku. The first structure here – in the 18th century – was built on the eastern slopes and was used as poorhouse (almhouse).
The poorhouse was mostly used to house people who were considering too mentally challenged to live with the rest of society. The locals called these people kakot – daft people – and the hill became known as Kakola’s Hill (Kakolanmäki Hill); a place of daft people.
In 1853 the 3 storey building on the top of the hill was constructed. It was first used as a workhouse then a low security prison and finally a maximum security prison in 1864.
The facility was expanded multiple times in the early 1900’s including a detention centre and a criminally insane ward. At it’s height in the 1930’s the facility there were 1,300 inmates.
It is said that every famous (infamous?) criminal in Finland’s history was incarcerated here at some point. The prison held only male prisoners and was considered the most dangerous prison in the Country and home of the worst of the worst.
In 2007 the prison was closed and the remaining 300 inmates were transferred to another correctional facility.
The building remained abandoned and empty – with the occasional tour - and was bought in 2015. In 2018 the renovation began for the hotel, and it was opened to the public in 2020.
You can even stay in the former jail cells including solitary confinement cells.
Paranormal Activity
Many consider this site, even now, one of the most haunted places in Finland.
Reported activity includes apparitions of former prisoners and staff; shadow figures and shadow people; touches, tugs and pulls of unseen presences; empathic feelings of fear, loss and anger; electrical disturbances; light anomalies; objects moving on their own; objects disappearing and reappearing later; phantom footsteps and other unexplained sounds such as knocks; feelings of being watched, not being alone and not being wanted and, rarely, time slips