Harastølen

I have officially been a part of two trespassing endeavors in Europe. I can go ahead and check that off my bucket list.

Yesterday, Anne, Kristin, Kaia, and I took a road trip to Harastølen, a town on Sognefjord. We drove for an hour or so on the curvy roads and in the long tunnels through the mountains. We made several stops along the way...some for a photo op, some for the view, some for the food...and sometimes the stop was all three.



The reason we travelled to Harastølen was more out of curiosity than anything else. And to say that we "went there." You see, from the late 1800s to the 1980s, Harastølen was home to hundreds of tuberculosis victims, mentally ill patients, and quarantined immigrants. It was a place for people who were deemed harmful to the rest of the society. Anne and her friends have heard stories and rumors about this town. Before we went, they told me it's like a ghost town. Everything is still intact; all of the furniture, the clothes, even the medical files are still there.

I'm not one to be scared of ghosts or to be creeped out by old buildings, but everyone was making this place sound freaky. Really freaky.
When we made the turn to Harastolen, we started to make the steep climb to the top of the mountain. The zig-zagging road was enough to make anyone carsick...especially me. Just as we were all starting to get apprehensive, the car stopped. Just stopped. On the side of the mountain. Luckily all it needed was more oil but as Kristin was getting the VW ready to drive again, a big dog just appeared out of no where. Kaia screamed, then Kristin screamed, which made Anne screamed and so I screamed too...because everyone else was screaming. It was just like a scene out of a badly made horror film geared for preteens.

We all laughed it off then started driving again. The road was bumpy and there were hardly signs of civilization. I will never say I live in the middle of nowehere ever again, because after living in Norway for two weeks, I know what "the middle of no where" is like.


At the top of the mountain, we made the final turn and this huge white structure filled the entire spectrum of our view. The building, the insane asylum and tuberculosis sanitarium, is certainly one of the eeriest buildings I've ever seen. And definitely the eeriest one I've ever been inside.

We parked the car and quietly walked around the building, peering into windows and sneaking across the grass and shards of glass. In the first room, I saw wooden weaving looms and bolts of dusty fabric. The next room must have been the boiler room or something...it was full of pipes, wires, dials, and a big metal tank. The third room was the spookiest. It was lined with tile from the floor to the ceiling and facing the window was a metal chair. I think it must have been a dentist chair but it was so morbid looking that it could've passed for a torture device. So creepy.

Our group of four kept exploring. The outside of the old building appeared to be the scene of a few teenage parties, lot of truth or dare games and several trash can fires. There was evidence all around.

As we circled the building, I saw a door. I didn't think it would open but of course, with my luck, it did and then it was pretty much a given that I had to go inside. The others weren't as eager. Kaia told us how there's a groundskeeper who roams around, kicking trespassers like me off of the property. I walked in anyway and Kristin followed. Kaia and Anne watched the door so they could warn us if the groundskeeper (who looks like Filch in my mind) appeared. So nerve-racking.

Kristin and I walked up the spiral staircase to the second level. This particular corridor was fairly undisturbed. Chairs lined the walls...it seemed like it might have been a waiting area. I was too busy taking pictures to notice the smaller details, but Krisitn got my attention and we both looked to the floor. In the corner there was a pair of tiny baby slipper. So eerie.


On the third floor, we saw pretty much the same thing. Old books, some clothes, and old furniture strewn about across the hallway. So bizarre.

While walking back down the staircase, I stepped on a piece of plastic, sliding and making a terrible scratching sound. It's really ridiculous how something so silly can make four perfectly intelligent females scream bloody murder.

Kristin and I switched places with Anne and Kaia and kept watch so they could venture up the sinister stairs.

I would've loved to stay and explore a little bit longer. As creepy and morbid as it is, the entire concept and history of the building fascinates me. But, unfortunately, we left so before we (ahem, Kaia) got too freaked out.




I won't be able to shake the creepy feeling Harastølen gave me anytime soon. When we got back to Anne's and I googled the old building and the purposes it served, there's hardly anything at all online. And that makes Harastølen that much more disturbing.