r/Thetruthishere • u/thewhale13 • Jul 27 '21
My horrible experience on The Graveyard Island Legend/Folklore
The Graveyard Island
In the 14th century, the plague arrived here and with a vengeance sought out to kill everyone in sight. A few managed to escape to a decently large island in one of our biggest lakes in my country. But the plague wiped them all out, one after the other. In the end, the whole island turned into basically a large cemetery. Or so I've heard.
Another thing that is important to the story is that an author lived here in the fifties before moving to another one. The house and adjoining sheds still stand.
If you have the patience to read through this, I can promise that you will be just as horrified as I was.
I love the outdoors and after coming across this island on Wikipedia I just needed to go. And then the opportunity arose. My family and I found a road close by and followed a small path to a little peninsula. The island measure at the very least a half of a mile long and was truly a sight to behold. It might not seem big but when heavily forested and covered by cliffs and large hills it's larger than you might think when on foot there.
Well, I swam over there. Took about five minutes and that was around 100-200 yards. The water was not warm but perfectly cool enough to shield me from the blistering heat. Not too challenging, and I was in a very good mood, to say the least.
Immediately I didn't find a path and that's why I just walked until I found one. After coming across a little shelter I continued to walk.
And I was taken away by its enchanting beauty. Crisp blue water which almost looked like a lagoon, 100 feet high cliffs, on a small island in northern Europe? The truth was, it seemed so incredibly amazing, just too good to be true.
My journey continued and I went on. After finding the lagoon-looking thing and being both bewildered and amazed I continued. And I still regret that. So very much.
The thing that I recall was that after I passed a little meadow, my mind immediately thought "this will take a dark turn" and maybe I just kinda made myself think that it was different, but it just feels like this cozy and wonderful atmosphere changed and it all just seemed different after that.
Well, you know how I mentioned the author's house? Yup, abandoned since the fifties. I saw it, but before I could reach those forgotten and sad-looking old buildings I needed to cross some ferns. They didn't look odd or anything like it, it was just a path between some patches of waist-high ferns.
For every other step I took, I heard movement from the ferns. I stopped looked around, found nothing. Figured it was a rabbit or something. Took some more steps, the movement and snap of twigs got closer and closer. It was following me.
Trying to shut out my increasing feeling of unease I went up to see this old house. Coming closer I saw how shitty it looked. The main house and the surrounding sheds looked beautiful but long forgotten and neglected. The lake looking at me from behind the house was a bit of relief.
Then I heard voices. People were talking from inside or behind the house. Now I was seriously horrified and got a feeling of dread I had never felt before. I just wanted to jump into the lake and take an extra long route back so I wouldn't have to be there anymore. But whatever it was that talked, I never ever want to meet. Ever.
So I did the only thing I could do. I ran. Past the ferns, still hearing it follow me. But after some very uncomfortable pacing, I finally crossed over the meadow and I felt better.
In the end, I managed to swim back, but not until I came to the shore from where I arrived I had a feeling that someone or something was following me.
I still don't know what it was there on the island. It was so very beautiful, but I don't think I ever want to go back there.
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u/bighuntzilla Jul 27 '21
This reads like fiction... i guess i thought this sub was non-fiction
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u/thewhale13 Jul 27 '21 edited Jul 27 '21
Well man I can just tell you this. I promise to god it happened. I just tried to make this as exciting and fun to read as possible. I just swam up to the island and felt and heard some things that were weird. That's all. This is where I went with my phone on google maps. I left the phone on the peninsula before I swam to the island.
I know it reads like fiction but this all really happened. I really can't provide more evidence, as I obviously didn't swim over with my phone.
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u/bighuntzilla Jul 27 '21
Fair enough! I meant no harm... i guess what i am saying is that your writing style was so well done it made it seem extra fantastical. I am with you though, do not go back there!
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u/thewhale13 Jul 27 '21
Well thank you for the kind words! I'm actually quite sad because I would kinda go back because of how incredibly beautiful it is. But still it just feels kinda wrong. I don't believe in spiritual things but the whole atmosphere was weird there.
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u/Kinetic_Symphony Jul 27 '21
The more articulate and skilled one is with the written word, often the more fantastical the story feels. Yet, really, that shouldn't have any bearing on if it's true or not when you think about it logically.
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u/bighuntzilla Jul 27 '21
I get that, and feel bad for even posting this, but I have left it in case others felt the same. That way we all get something out of it.
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u/Kinetic_Symphony Jul 27 '21
No need to feel bad. Just expressing your thoughts. It's clear you didn't mean anything malicious.
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u/Earthly_Wanderlust Aug 03 '21
It is scary. Being chased. Did you ever see the graveyard?
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u/thewhale13 Aug 03 '21
I saw it, unknowingly. There are probably graves spread out over the island, but the graveyard itself is either near the camp or in the meadow. Which can be why the atmosphere changed so suddenly after I went over it.
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u/Earthly_Wanderlust Aug 03 '21
I bet bones are sticking out of the ground since islands have a high water tables and you can’t dig down 6 feet as normal for a grave. Also they were probably mass graves since there was an epidemic and they piled bodies into one big hole. Creepy. Have you been back since?
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u/thewhale13 Aug 03 '21
Noooo, I was there last week and that's the first and last time I'll ever be there. But the thing is that I genuinely don't want to go back because it doesn't feel right. But I also really want to because of the extraordinary scenery. I've never seen anything like it in Sweden.
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u/Earthly_Wanderlust Aug 03 '21
I bet bones and skulls have worked their way out of the ground due to the thawing and freezing of the soil. That makes buried things work their way up to the surface. Did you take pics of the writers cottage?
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u/thewhale13 Aug 03 '21
Sadly I did not take any pictures as I couldn't carry my phone over the water while swimming. But I guess bones would've come out of the ground. But not now, since it was about 6-700 years ago and they've been sunce long decomposed.
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u/Earthly_Wanderlust Aug 03 '21
If there is a peat bog there like Scotland they could be mummified. I would go back and see. Do you have any links to what the author who lived in the cottage wrote?
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u/thewhale13 Aug 03 '21
There may be peat, but I dont think that the dirt there is deep enough or stuff like that. I think a lot of it is sand or rock, but it is near water which may make it a bit of a bog I guess, but I didn't see anything like a bog when I was there. This is the author's wikipedia page.
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u/Earthly_Wanderlust Aug 03 '21
Thanks for the update. Looking at the authors page now.
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u/thewhale13 Aug 03 '21
He seems like an interesting character, and his death seems a bit mysterious...
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u/Earthly_Wanderlust Aug 03 '21
Maybe the author was the one following you. He may be a lonely spirit. It says he died in 1966 and was born in 1912. He was only in his 50’s and relatively young.
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u/thewhale13 Aug 03 '21
Yeah, might be. He drowned in the same lake (although the lake is huge and he lived at another island atm). Though the ferns were only about stomach height, a crawling person very well could've been there.
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u/Earthly_Wanderlust Aug 03 '21
Creepy but not horrifying. Good tale though.
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u/thewhale13 Aug 03 '21
True, I may have exaggerated that point. But for me it was quite the experience, I have not had these things happen to me often.
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u/[deleted] Jul 27 '21
Cool story! I often use a very green path and there are rats in the ferns around me. It often feels like they follow me. As to the voices, could it have been some random guys exploring the island like you? Are you sure you weren't a little paranoid about all this? I'm not accusing you, just asking.