In 2023, Dizarranged launched a 31-day horror-movie challenge to gear up for the Halloween festivities, then suddenly disappeared; creating a ghost haunting of its own, dissipating and forgotten, lost in the mist of nothingness. Two years later, Dizzy, the half-human/half-alien, has made its attempted resurrection, resurfacing like a zombie apocalypse just in time for another Halloween season—this time exploring 31 haunted places across the globe you can travel to.
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Place: Starting things off with an exception, the Codex Gigas (The Devil’s Bible)
Codex Gigas (The Devil’s Bible) History
Paranormal is how you take on it; you can put in skepticism, fully believe in the legend, lore, and mystery, or call it “a bunch of hocus pocus.” Hey, being a half-alien-half-human who disappeared for two years doesn’t make it any easier to get anyone to believe me, Dizzy, sharing these documented tales of lore and paranormal findings. On a list of most-documented books tied to being haunted, cursed, living with a hex surrounding its binding, Codex Gigas (The Devil’s Bible) tends to land at number one. Other titles worth mentioning for future explorations: Voynich Manuscript, The Book of Abramelin, Grand Grimoire (Le Dragon Rouge), Shams al-Maʿārif (The Sun of Knowledge), the Book of Saint Cyprian (Livro de São Cipriano / Libro de San Cipriano), Galdrabók (Icelandic Grimoire), Black Book of Carmarthen (Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin), The Sworn Book of Honorius (Liber Juratus Honorii), and Historia del Huérfano (The Orphan’s Story).
Before we get to the location, let’s explore the history behind The Codex Gigas, Latin for “giant book.” Created in the early 13th century at the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice (Bohemia, today Czechia), it is reportedly the largest surviving illuminated manuscript of the Middle Ages, about 36 inches tall, 20 inches wide, nearly 9 inches thick, and weighing roughly 165 pounds. More than a Bible, it holds an extensive collection of historic treasures, the Vulgate Bible alongside Josephus’s histories, Isidore’s Etymologiae, medical treatises, calendars, exorcism formulas, and magical spells. Its most famous feature is a full-page portrait of the Devil set opposite a full-page depiction of the Heavenly City, a visual contrast that helped earn the codex its nickname, “Devil’s Bible.”
Legend says a condemned monk promised to produce a book that would glorify his monastery in a single night; when the task proved impossible, he bargained with the Devil in desperation and painted the Devil’s image in thanks. However, the incredible uniformity of the hand implies decades of painstaking work, likely by a single scribe, on parchment made from the skins of approximately 160 animals (commonly described as calf or donkey). The codex is bound in heavy wooden boards covered in leather; over time, popular retellings have described the binding as goatskin, or perhaps undocumented private copies created as early as the seventeenth century, rumored to be made from black-coated goatskin. At the same time, the leaves themselves are vellum. After centuries in Bohemia, the manuscript entered Emperor Rudolf II’s collection in Prague and was seized as Swedish war booty in 1648 near the end of the Thirty Years’ War. It ultimately survived the 1697 Tre Kronor castle fire in Stockholm, reportedly by being thrown from a window, and, apart from brief exhibitions abroad, now resides at Sweden’s National Library. A replica version of Codex Gigas is currently available on Amazon.
Reported Activity
There’s a possibility the Devil’s Bible could be linked to misfortune, at least in the way people retell its story, tied to the unfortunate events surrounding the book itself, like the 1648 seizure of Prague and the 1697 Tre Kronor fire. There’s no reported evidence that the manuscript causes plagues or personal curses, and the only authenticated Codex Gigas remains in Sweden’s National Library. Still, there’s a lot we don’t know about the unexplained, hence the term unexplained phenomena. Are we all losing our minds, are some people lying, or could there be an existing replica of this book, bound in goatskin, said to curse its owner? The lore around demonic possession tends to arrive in secret forms. And the internet is filled with mystery: a rare-book collector might stumble upon a seller offering antique items, including a copy of the Codex Gigas, which is undocumented and later scrubbed from the web, perhaps because of persistent disturbances or simply because it never existed. Or was the seller full of it?
Regardless, however you stir the stories around owning an alleged haunted book, dare you try to purchase one just to see what happens, to it, to you, or to someone you love? Add a rare “Devil’s Bible” to a shelf of firsts and fine bindings, and you might find that the goatskin-bound prize is ready to wreck your life. It starts small, then tightens its grip: the owner grows agoraphobic, reluctant to leave the house; a lightning strike finds the roof at the worst possible moment; the outside world fizzles, with electrical outages, sick pets, and even multiple deaths surrounding the owner’s circle. Finances crumble. A business folds. All because the book looked cool. And when you finally trace the bad luck back to the thing, you lock it away, wrapped in cloth, boxed, hidden; add rosary beads, protective crystals, sage, the works…, and it does what possession tales say it does best: knocks in the walls at 3:00 AM, pounds, begs for attention until it’s back in plain sight. How long the hex lingers after you hide it, or worse, after you ship it back to the seller, is unknown. Privately documented, perhaps, but not for public threads, and maybe dangerous to write down at all. Or we’re making it up. You decide. What’s certain is that you can visit the book, contained in one place, under glass, both to preserve its contents and, just maybe, to keep its particular brand of doom from escalating any further.
How to Visit
Go to: National Library of Sweden (visit their website), Humlegårdsgatan 26 (in Humlegården park, Östermalm). The Codex is exhibited in the Treasury Room (in the Library annex).
Transit: Metro (Tunnelbana) to Östermalmstorg (Red Line) or Hötorget (Green Line); short walk via Stureplan. Several city buses stop at Stureplan/Humlegården.
On arrival: Follow signs to the Treasury Room; you’ll see the Codex closed in a climate-controlled case with a large screen to browse the full book.
Nearby Haunted Sightseeings
Spökslottet / Scheffler Palace:
A 10-20 minute walk away from Sweden’s National Library lives what is referred to as The Haunted Mansion. Built in 1690 by Hans Petter Scheffler of Silesia, it has a long history of ghost sightings tracing back to the 18th century, with reports of strange music, windows shattering, and the location itself had some skeletons hidden in the closet, such as murders, disappearances, and the unexplained. One story is of former owner, Jacob von Balthasar Knigge, who was a devil worshipper who disappeared in 1796, last seen climbing into a black carriage led by someone sinister with devilish details. According to viewstockholm, the mansion is currently unavailable, but you can walk and see the outskirts of it from afar.
Stockholm Royal Palace:
You can make an entire vacation touring around Stockholm, exploring haunted locations. One that remains open to the public is the Stockholm Royal Palace, based on the northeast side of Old Town – Gamla Stan. One of the largest on the globe, with 1430 rooms, the Palace is reportedly haunted by the “White Lady” and the “Gray Man.” Documented in one of King Oscar II’s memoirs, reported by viewstockholm, the White Lady, “Vita Frun,” would appear just before one of the royal family members would suddenly die. People who visit the Palace claim to have a feeling of dread and hear the clinking of keys that the White Lady once carried.
Gamla stan (Old Town) & Stortorget:
span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The entire old town area is a hotspot for ghost sightings with a bleak history of executions, plagues, and the 1520 Stockholm Bloodbath. You can join a ghost walk touring across the haunted streets.
Riddarholmen Church :
Built in the late 13th century, known for being a royal burial site, a final resting place for the Swedish Kings, including the Tortensson family, and is recorded as a hotspot for haunted sightings. Stockholm’s only preserved medieval abbey is open during the summer, including a list of concerts and events. Most succeeding rulers of Sweden are reported to be buried in the Riddarholmen Church. Reports of banging and knocking have been heard from inside the tombs, with footsteps and heavy breathing surrounding the area adding to the hotbed of paranormal activity.
Drottningholm Palace (Lovön):
Built in the late 1500s for Queen Catherine Jagiellon, rebuilt after a 1661 fire, neglected in the early 1800s, and revived from the 1840s, Drottningholm is now Sweden’s royal residence landmark, and haunted, of course. Residents and staff speak of knocks with no source, doors that open or close on their own, and rooms that seem subtly rearranged. Notably, two figures appear most, the hooded Grey Man, said to appear to Sweden’s kings, and the White Lady (often linked to Agnes of Orlamünde), felt or seen around times of death in the royal family; Queen Silvia has even referred to these presences as “little friends.” Visitors can tour selected interiors, the park and formal gardens, and (seasonally) the Court Theatre and Chinese Pavilion.
Nearby Accomodations
There are plenty of places to stay near Stockholm’s historic center, Gamla Stan surrounding area, giving you time to explore, join ghost tours, sightsee, or simply wander a new city. Here are a few highly rated options.
Hotel Hornsgatan
Malardrottningen
Villa Dahlia
Collectors Victory Apartments
Hotel Rival
Dizarranged can further explore instances of Demonic Possession and book hauntings. Follow-us for more and check out Metal Insider’s 31 Haunted Venues for more paranormal fun.
