Dam Square
Originally this square was used as a fish market, during the 14th and early 15th century. It was formed from two squares, the actual dam and the Plaetse, an ancient plaza to the west of the Dam. The Dam gradually expanded until it was large enough to accommodate a market. It became a common place for ships to load and unload goods. During the Spanish Inquisition of the 16th century, Dam Square was the site of more than 1000 public executions, mostly of which were live burnings of those accused as witches.And at the end of World War II Dam Square was the site of more horrible tragedy. On May 7th, shortly following the German surrender, Amsterdammers began to gather on Dam Square to wait for the arrival of Canadian troops to liberate the city. A unit of Kriegsmarine, the navy of Nazi Germany,were in a club on the border of the square – they watched as the Amsterdammers began to dance and sing. These Germans began to fire into the crowd, killing 22 and badly wounding around 120. The massacre is part of the reason the Dutch National Monument is placed here.Many believe tortured souls still haunt this place in the heart of Amsterdam. Reminding visitors and locals of it’s gruesome past.
Anne Frank House
During World War II, Anne Frank hid from Nazi persecution with her family and four other people in hidden rooms at the rear of the 17th-century canal house, known as the Secret Annex (Dutch: Achterhuis). She did not survive the war but her wartime diary was published in 1947. Ten years later the Anne Frank Foundation was established to protect the property from developers who wanted to demolish the block.The house – and the one next door at number 265, which was later purchased by the museum – was built by Dirk van Delft in 1635The room they occupied was only 450 square feet (42 m2),[8] though Anne Frank wrote in her diary that it was relatively luxurious compared to other hiding places they had heard about. They remained hidden here for two years and one month until they were raided by the Nazi authorities, arrested, and deported to their deaths in concentration camps. Of the hidden group, only Otto Frank survived the concentration death camps.
West Church/Jordaan
Across the canal is the popular neighbourhood of Jordaan.The origins of Jordaan area can be traced back to the 17th century where it was built for the city's labourers and immigrants. Many of these immigrants originated from France or near, then being the agricultural part of town, was subsequently named Jardin which is French for garden.There was a very famous fortune teller from this Jordaan area, who went by the name of Aunty Cor and would read people's future in her cards. She always asked to be paid in pawn receipts, so she would not need to identify herself at the bank. One day, Aunty Cor was visited by a man whose wife had been having fits of deliriousness, as if she was possessed. Aunty Cor told him that his wife had refused a pushy merchant’s wares. Aunty Cor cackled at the man and informed him that this merchant was an especially wicked man and he had bewitched the man’s wife.Aunty Cor threw a powder into the flames of her stove, and the fire rose up. "There he is," she told the man!! The man leaned forward to look into the flames and sure enough he saw a figure in the glow. "Go ahead and give him a good cut across the face, so you’ll recognise him later," Aunty Cor whispered, "He deserves it." The man took his pocket knife and slashed it through the flames. It is said that from then on, no doors were ever opened for the merchant again, for he had a deep, nasty red scar running from his ear to his mouth.Here we are in front of the Westerkerk, it was one of the first purposely built Protestant churches and remains the largest church in the Netherlands built for Protestants. It was built between 1620 and 1631 in Renaissance style according to designs by architect Hendrick de Keyser, but finished by his son Pieter de Keyser after his father’s passing in 1621.The tower, called the Westertoren ("Western tower"), is the highest church tower in Amsterdam, at 87 meters. Rembrandt is said to be buried somewhere under a tombstone in the Westerkerk but the exact location is unknown.
The 9 Streets
De Negen Straatjes or Nine Little Streets was contructed in the first half of the 17th century. As we walk around this historic area I can teach you a little about Ghost Folklore in the Netherlands.The Witte Wieven are among the more famous classic ghosts in Dutch folklore. The term translates as "white women", or "devious wise women" in older Dutch. They are said to be the spirits of medicine women. They are pale wraiths, wisps and ghost like images said to be pranksters. There are stories of them hiding treasures in caves and under burial mounds, stealing babies, dancing in the moonlight as wisps of fog, and luring people to their deaths.Witte Wievens supposedly live in pits and there are multiple stories of people trying to kill them by throwing sharp weapons down into their pits. However, no one has ever been able to kill one. It is said if you try to they will catch you, chase you down and kill you will the weapon you tried to kill them with.
Begijnhof
This is one of the oldest collection of houses surrounding a courtyard in Amsterdam. It’s inner courtyard was founded during the Middle Ages and it’s still at medieval street level – which puts in a meter below the rest of the old city center.It unclear when exactly when it was founded but there are record of beguines living here in 1346. Benguines lived in semi monastic community but don't take formal religious vows.The gable stone above the gate depicts Saint Ursula, the patron saint of the Amsterdam beguines.The most famous beguine in the Begijnhof's history is sister Cornelia Arens, who died on 14 October 1654. Her date of birth is unknown, but she professed the vows of chastity and the Catholic faith on 6 July 1621.Rather than be laid to rest in the Chapel, which she considered "desecrated" by Presbyterians, she chose to be buried in the gutter of the court. Contrary to her wish however, she was in fact buried in the Chapel, however her coffin was found in the adjoining gutter the following day. The returned her coffin to the chapel but twice more her coffin was found in the gutter and returned to the Chapel.After the third time of this back and forth strange activity started taking place. Items would go missing, people would report strange noises. This continued until once more her coffin was found in the gutter. This time the coffin would remain in the gutter and no more strange disturbances took place again.
Het Spinhuis
The Spinhuis is the old spinning house. It was founded in 1597 as a penitentiary for women, convicted women were kept here and forced to sew garments. Young ladies who were guilty of fornication in brothels and inns, arrested for drunkenness or had committed adultery were put to work here to be chastened and corrected. Women convicted of theft or greater offenses were kept separate from the others, and were required to read and reread from the Bible.Above the entrance reads “to shun paltry girls, maggots and women, beggers, this spider house was founded here". Spider house being the name used for a women’s prison where work was performed to better the economy under discipline.A a gate with a relief was added during the 1645 rebuilding depicting the flogging of two women. Below it are two lines:Do not be alarmed I do not avenge evil but force goodPunishment is my hand, but sweetly mineThe most famous story around this place is that about a young girl and a monk. Opposite of this spin house was a clergy house, now a famous hotel. A priest from there fell madly in love with a young girl, and remember young back then meant young… when they were found out she was sentenced to spend the rest of her life working at the spin house while he was protected by the church.The monk felt terrible. His room overlooked the spin house and the pain was too much for him. He hung himself in that room. Do so meant the committing of two cardinal sins and he is said to be condemned to repeat this hanging of himself every night forever.Guests staying at that hotel complain of being awoken each night at the same time by a strange noise, many believe that is the sound of his repeated hanging.
Weigh House/Gate House
The Nieuwmarkt square is dominted by this squat medieval building called the Waag, or Weigh House, which had many functions through out the centuries. The oldest gable stone in Amsterdam adorns the facade of the tower at the corner of Zeedijk and Geldersekade. It carries the inscription MCCCCLXXXVIII de XXVIII dach in April wart d'eerste steen van dese poert gheleit. ("The first stone of this gate was laid on 28 April 1488") and at that time would have been surrounded by water and the city walls. However it could very well have been build sixty years earlier when the city was expanded, going through multiple modifications.The Waag is the oldest remaining non-religious building in Amsterdam.At that time it would have looked like a traditional castle gate, guarded by the city watch, where they checked cargo and collected duties and taxes. The city walls were armed with turrets and ran all the way up to the city docks. All that remains of the wall is some sandstone in the Geldersekade canal wall.It lost it function when the city was once more expanded, the walls being knocked down from 1603-1613. In 1617 it was repurposed as a weigh house. The original weight house on Dam square had become too small for the needs of this rapidly growing city.One job of the weigh house was to determine who were witches – if you weighed less than a specific set of weights you were burned, otherwise you were cleared, but one had to pay for that privilege, so as such many poor women would burned as witches in this very spot.The upper floors were occupied by a number of guilds – each guild having it’s own entrance gate, the guild emblems still visible over these entrances. These builds were the blacksmith’s guild, the painters’ guild, the masons’ guild and the surgeons’ guild.As part of the surgeons’ guild, a Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, the city’s chief physician and one of its most revered residents, performed public dissections here, and in the winter of 1631-2, dissections commonly taking place in winter because the cold kept the stench down, the young Rembrandt tramped up here to make studies for what would be his first great painting. “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.” This painting known for highlighting science, the human body and the distinctive personality of the physician, is a kind of trifecta of Dutch liberalism.The surgeons guild never lacked for fresh bodies to experiment and practice on. A massive amount of witches, heretics, zealots and criminals were executed here. Even Napoleon installed a guillotine here during his occupation to ensure a high body count.From here blood would always be running and based on the slope of the ground it would travel from here right down blood street – our next stop.
Bloedstraat
Bloedstraat (Blood Street), connects the old city gate to Amsterdam’s oldest canal and many claim it named after the blood of executed prisoners, which drained down the Weigh House/Gate house and into the waters. But there are actually multiple stories on how the street got such a gruesome name – Blood street. The current street holds the outline of an old Francisican monastery from the 13th and 14th century and remnants of the monastery can be seen in the walls and grounds of the homes. There was even a graveyard under the current ground where we stand. During renovations of the houses here people will continue to find remains of bodies from those times with a large amount of bodies excavated from this site in as late as 2001.The monastery housed what was termed a blood room. A kind of medieval hospital were the poor and injured were sent to have limbs hacked off. And apparently blood would typically flow from this room and into streets, thus the name of the street.But there’s more. During the Spanish Inquisition St. Francis of Assisi and the Duke of Alba were sent to occupy this monastery and hold it as a home base to secure Amsterdam in the Low Countries on behalf of the king of Spain. While here they ruled with an iron fist and become known as the Council of Blood. Anyone who disobeyed the Spanish Inquisitions or didn’t share their philosophy or religion was killed – their murders conspired and plotted in this very place.This street is continued partically haunted from all the death that took place here. Vistors to these streets frequently report hearing moans and groans, but perhaps they are just hearing noises from some people behind certain curtains.....
Montelbaans Tower
Montelbaans Tower (Montelbaanstoren) was erected in the early 1500s as part of the walls of Amsterdam to defend ship yards from attacks. It was also a location where people would hide when there was an invasion.During an attach from Utercht a family fled to the tower’s safety. However as they climbed the stairs they met their demise. Since them, the same family reappears each June 2nd, reliving those terrible last moments as they fled unsuccessfully to the tower.The Clock tower was added later, and apparently its time yearly become incorrect and has to be fixed on the third of June.
Weeping tower
Amsterdam's "WeepingTower" was formerly part of the city's defensive walls, and used to be connected to The Waag by a wall. It was built in the 15th century. It gets this name "Wailing Tower" from the fact that the wives of sailors would gather there and weep as their men set sail and left Amsterdam's harbour. The fatality rate on voyages to the far east was around 60%, and so many of the women knew that they may not see their men again. Of course, maybe some of those tears were actually tears of joy!Now the tower is actually called the Schreierstoren which is incorrectly translated to the weeper’s tower in English so many dismiss these weeping wive stories as myth. However, there is a commemorative stone here from 1566 that tells a story about a woman going completely insane over the news of her husband’s death and it is claimed that whenever there is a ship wreck, even today, soft crying can be heard in this area coming from an indistinguishable location.This is also the location that Henry Hudson set sail from in 1609 – there is a commemoration plaque for this. Henry Hudson was the Englishman hired by the VOC to find the northern route west to the East Indies, but instead discovered Hudson Bay and Manhattan Island, which of course became New Amsterdam and now New York Hudson Bay. Henry Hudson was a controversial figure suspicious to the British and detested by North American natives and fur traders. On his return voyage he faced a mutiny by his Dutch crew in 1611 where his son and him were can off the ship and died.
Spooksteeg Alley
This is the story of Amsterdam's most famous ghost Helena. In the 18th century there was a tannery "Het verdollde Schaap" on the Zeedijk. The family that owned the company lived there and had lots of visitors as they had two beautiful daughters Diana and Helena. The two sisters were very different. Diana was friendly and calm, while Helena was ardent and jealous.A handsome young sailor had fallen madly in love with Diana and Helena was very angry and jealous over this. Helena tried many things to seduce Wouter, even intercepting his letters to Diana, but nothing worked.When Diana discovered that Helena had been hiding the letters she because enraged and confronted Helena. For days they argued and eventually arguments grew to physical disputes. During this physical fight Helen furiously grabbed her sister Diana and threw her into a deep cellar with tannins. Diana fell unconscious and Helena locked the cellar door. No one saw the crime.Two days later Helena snuck in the cellar and upon examining Diana’s body saw that she was still breathing. On this discovered Helena beat her with a with a piece of wood until she was certain she was dead. She then framed the scene to appears as if Diana had fallen on accident hitting her head on the way down. The death was ruled an accident.When Wouter returned from the sea, he learned the news that Diana was dead and from Helena’s convincing married her instead.She managed to keep the crime a secret until her deathbed on which she confessed. In response her husband turned away from her in disgust and cursed her soul to roam in misery for eternity. Helena died lonely and alone on July 24, 1753.That night, there was an unusual cold front and the other residents in the Zeedijk were reported hearing dreadful moaning and screeching howls as they lay in their beds.Exactly 100 years later, local residents again reported hearing these same dreadful moaning and screeching howls at the place where the tannery had stood.Helena had never found peace.On July 24th, 1953 a large crowd gathered, expected to hear her cries again. Reporters, television crews and thousands of curious people. However Helena did not make her appearance.However many people still do claim to feel a chill and hear soft moans when they walk on the Zeedijk near the haunted alley.So where is the house? Well although this story is very well known there is no trace of the existence of a tanner around 1730, but the name of the family Schaap, does show up in an address book of 1853, matching the family name in the story, and the name of the street has been called Spooksteeg since 1855.
Oude Kerk
This is amsterdam’s oldest building – the Old Curch. Founded circa 1213, consecrated in 1306. It became a Calvinist church in 1578 and remains so today. It use to be a place locals would gather, to gossip, peddlers sold their goods and beggars sought shelter but this was all stopped by the Calvinists in 1681. Even the choir was closed off with an oak screen, above which reads today - The prolonged misuse of God’s church, were here undone again in the year of seventy eight – referring to the reformation of 1578.The floor of the church is entirely of gravestones. The reason for this is that the church was built on a cemetery. Local citizens continued to be buried on the site until 1865. There are 2,500 graves in side the church and 10,000 graves under the church. Which may make this most haunted location in Amsterdam.
Tour End
On the way back to Dam Square (or where you desire to hear) I'll share the story of the notorious spirit of Black Matthew! This creepy story dates back to the 13th century when a shady character called Matthew, a magician, highwayman and thief spent his days gambling and using dark magic and trickery to make sure he’d always win. His luck lasted until one faithful day when he met his match in form of the devil. Now his ghost is roaming the narrow streets of Amsterdam hoping for some luck. You better watch out because he is said to appear all over the city!
