The Rose Room

Name:            Therese Samdal
Email:           therese02@hotmail.com
Location:        Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim
Type:            Ghost
Date:            Tuesday, June 13, 2000
Time:            07:30 AM

I don't know that this is a ghost story. If it is, it's certainly an unusual one. What I do know is that it's true, and that there are several hundred people in Trondheim, Norway, that have seen what I'm about to tell you. None of them have an explanation for it.

Nidarosdomen Cathedral is a very old church. A few centuries ago, the church basement was used as a tomb where prominent figures in Trondheim were laid to rest. Among others, it holds the bodies of Thomas Angell and his family, and during my confirmation period, we were taken down in the basement to look at them.

While we were there, my friend Louisa strayed off the path and went exploring. When she came back, she told us about a weird little room she'd seen. We all went to look at it.

This room is very small, with a ceiling so low you can barely sit up. No one goes in there - you can hardly get in unless you're quite short - but you can see it pretty well from outside. There were red roses on the floor when we got there. We asked our teacher where they had come from.

She told us that this room always has roses on the floor. Fresh roses appear - and the old ones disappear - about once every week. No one knows who brings them. The entrance to the room is barred and locked at night.

The Rose Room has passed into church legend, but the truth in it is plain to see for anyone who goes into the basement. Which might not be so easy - the tomb section of the basement is closed to visitors on every day but Thomas Angell's birthday.