Akershus Fortress — the Malcanisen

OVERVIEW

Akershus Fortress is a medieval castle in Oslo, built to protect the city and to give the king a residence, standing on the banks of the Oslofjord. It has been the centre of the main fief and later county of Akershus since the Middle Ages, and whoever held it effectively held Norway. It was besieged by the Swedes in 1523 and by Christian II in 1531–32, and strengthened after each.

HISTORY

The documented darkness here is recent. During the Second World War people were executed at the fortress by the German occupiers, among them members of the Pelle group. It was handed over to the Norwegian resistance on 11 May 1945, and after the war eight Norwegians convicted of war crimes were executed here, including Vidkun Quisling and Siegfried Fehmer.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The tradition is the Malcanisen — the evil dog — said to have been bricked in alive during the medieval building works, a foundation sacrifice meant to bring luck, and buried at the Maiden or Virgin Tower. A ghost hound is said to have been seen in 1550 in the passage beneath that tower, and the lore holds that anyone bitten by it dies in agony within three months. **vetted = false**: the fortress and the executions are thoroughly documented, but the Malcanisen appears only in ghost-tour and popular-book accounts, with no dated source behind the 1550 sighting. Kept because the fortress is real, open and worth walking, and because foundation sacrifice is a genuine Scandinavian building practice rather than an invention.

VISITING

The grounds are open daily and free; the castle, the Resistance Museum and the Armed Forces Museum charge separately. Central Oslo.