House of Spirits in Hegra

30 - Byavisa, December 5th 2006

HEGRA: Footsteps could be heard on the second floor, doors banged closed by themselves, tools disappeared, the TV turned itself on and off, shadows drifted through the room. Spirits controlled the home of the Sletvold family.

Haunted: Camilla Strand and Leif Gunnar Sletvold moved into this house in 1997. A short time later strange phenomena started to bother them.

- First we heard banging and footsteps upstairs. The doors banged. We left the bedroom door open but it banged shut by itself. This happened several times. Finally, it banged closed as if with great strength. We decided to leave it closed.

The house by the edge of Stjørdal River lies by Torpet Camping. Uninvited, invisible guests had checked in with the Sletvolds. And they wanted to stay. Leif Gunnar and the children saw shadows in the kitchen. The TV turned itself on and off. They unplugged everything before they went to bed. The next morning they were plugged in again and the lights in the living room were on.

- We sort of got used to it. One evening while my wife and I sat up late, we heard the sound of our youngest son playing with his Lego blocks in his room on the second floor and expected to have to tidy up next day. When we looked into his room, the box of blocks hadn’t been touched.

The family had problems with light bulbs that had to be changed abnormally often. – They burned out all the time. We often complained at the store.

Another time they heard marbles rolling across the floor upstairs – which was impossible since there are wall-to-wall carpets up there. Things happened almost every day – especially the shadows.
- We sat in the living room and could see shadows against the wall and in the kitchen. We have also had visits that we could feel. ”It” could sit on the sofa with us – we saw sofa pillows be pressed down and felt a rush of cold air.

Papers disappeared. A crowbar disappeared – this was found a few months later hidden in a closet. Unexplainable drops in temperature occurred in the living room. These were not registered on the thermometer. Sletvold kept the thermostat at 30 degrees. Neighbours who came to visit kept their coats on while they drank coffee.

Sometimes Sletvold felt breathing. It was often so noisy at night the boys couldn’t sleep. – We felt rushes of cold air – the kind that go through nerve and bone – even when it was warm in here. Candles on the tables flickered.

- One time when I came home from Stjørdal, I saw somebody in the veranda door and thought someone had broken in. I hurried in but saw nobody.

Our oldest son was awakened several times of a figure who spoke to him.

When the family renovated the second floor, there was an exceptional amount of noise and uneasiness. Finally, they had enough. They wanted peace and quiet so they contacted healer Hallvard Nordfjæran for help. He became interested when he heard their story and visited the house.

- I wandered through the house to get the feel of it. I sensed something in the sofa area in the living room. When I went upstairs, something was sitting in a bed. There was also something in a third room. It felt as if there was a wide path or road through the living room, says Skatvalingen, originally from Frosta.

Nordfjæran, who since 1982, has practised as a healer, tried to contact what he now was convinced were spirits.

- I could sense a girl, about 6 or 7 years old, and an older man of about 70 or 80. She was more modernly dressed than him. I noticed the girl most through the episodes with the Lego, marbles and the TV that went off and on by itself, often with horror movies. The man was composed and quiet, he did nothing wrong. He was just there, says Nordfjæran who managed to contact them through mental telepathy. This is how he could understand what they looked like and how they felt.
- Many restless spirits don’t understand that they are dead and that they aren’t supposed to be here anymore. We must communicate with them and make them understand that they are finished here and must move on. The girl and the old man shouldn’t have been here either but something tied them to the place.

When Nordfjæran succeeded in contacting the girl, she got scared and curled up in the bed. According to Nordfjæran she couldn’t quite understand that he could see her.

- They left at the same time, I saw clearly that they left. He stood in the corner behind the sofa and the girl stood with him holding his hand. I asked them to find the light, because their being here was not right for any of the parties. Then they left, says Hallvard Nordfjæran.

Leif Gunnar Sletvold has studied the houses history and found papers back to 1898. There was an inn here at one time and a ferryman who took people across the river – something which might explain Nordfjæran’s perception of a trail or road through the house........

Noise:  It was especially in this room on the second floor that many unexplainable noises bothered the family Sletvold/Strand in Hegra.

The Light: Camilla Strand, Leif Gunnar Sletvold and Halvard Nordfjæran seated on the sofa. Nordfjæran is sitting in the exact spot from which he lead the restless souls towards the light.