West Northland
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Field guide

Dark tourism routes

Five routes assembled from the archive: case files, execution grounds and burial fields strung together in the order the land puts them. Distances are straight-line between stops — the real drive is longer, and slower, and that is the point. Every route opens in Google Maps for turn-by-turn directions.

Some stops are on private land or unmarked ground. Look from the road, take nothing, leave nothing.

Skuleberget to Nordingrå

The High Coast, Slowly

7 stops~72 km between stopsOne long dayMay to October — several stops need walking shoes

The land here is still rising out of the sea, a few millimetres a year, and everything on this route sits on ground that used to be seabed. Cliff caves, a red mountain, boulder fields nobody wants to explain. Drive it slowly and finish at the water.

  1. 01

    Case 04

    The Robbers' Cave

    Skuleberget

    Start early; the cave mouth is a climb.

    63.0756, 18.3500
  2. 02

    Case 50

    The Haunting at the Execution Place

    Skuleskogen, between Nätra and Vibyggerå

    Walk in from the southern entrance.

    63.0916, 18.4985
  3. 03

    Case 05

    The Red Cliffs of Balesudden

    Balesudden & Balestjärnen, Nätra

    63.1728, 18.6890
  4. 04

    Case 13

    The Devil's Fields

    Norrfällsviken

    The fields read strangest in flat light.

    62.9734, 18.5298
  5. 05

    Case 16

    The Troll Cauldrons and Giant's Potholes at Rotsidan

    Rotsidan, Nordingrå

    62.8481, 18.3799
  6. 06

    Case 06

    The Red Fort

    Rödklitten, Nordingrå

    62.9068, 18.2518
  7. 07

    Case 21

    The Locked Doors of Körningsgården

    Körningsgården, Nordingrå, Höga Kusten

    Private ground — look from the road.

    62.9332, 18.2632
Open route in Google Maps See the county map

Ådalen, along the Ångermanälven

The River Remembers

8 stops~36 km between stopsOne dayAll year — the winter version is bleaker and better

The great river carries the county's worst days: a witch mountain, a burned castle, a skeleton field, and the bridge that fell. Almost nothing on this route is marked as what it is. Follow the water north and let the stops arrive in order.

  1. 01

    Case 03

    The Burning Mountain

    Häxberget, Kramfors, 1675

    Trail from the parking area to the memorial stone.

    63.0501, 17.6864
  2. 02

    Case 08

    The Hillfort of Rogstaklippen

    Rogstaklippen, Torsåker

    63.0747, 17.7174
  3. 03

    Case 07

    The Burned Castle

    Styresholm, Ångermanälven

    63.0769, 17.7611
  4. 04

    Case 49

    The Skeleton Field

    Björned, Torsåker

    63.1031, 17.7443
  5. 05

    Case 34

    The Historical Echoes of Hola Folk High School

    Hola folkhögskola, Prästmon

    63.0796, 17.7562
  6. 06

    Case 29

    The White Lady of Svanö Manor

    Svanö herrgård, Svanö in Ångermanälven

    62.8965, 17.8723
  7. 07

    Case 44

    The Shots in Ådalen

    Lunde, 14 May 1931

    The 1931 shots. Stand a while.

    62.8778, 17.8611
  8. 08

    Case 23

    The Silence at Sandöbron

    Sandöbron over Ångermanälven, 31 August 1939

    End at the bridge, preferably at dusk.

    62.8837, 17.8790
Open route in Google Maps See the county map

Forty years of lights over the bay

Sundsvall After Dark

8 stops~84 km between stopsAn eveningBest from October to March, after nightfall

Every stop on this route is somewhere an ordinary person looked up from an ordinary street and saw something they never explained. Suburbs, power lines, a beach, a bus stop. Drive it in the dark, in the order the reports came in.

  1. 01

    Case 36

    The Light That Rose from the Ljungan

    Allsta, 1982–1983

    62.3247, 17.2280
  2. 02

    Case 37

    The Disc Above the Neighbourhood

    Granlo, 4 January 1984

    62.4027, 17.2634
  3. 03

    Case 38

    The Morning Paper Object

    Skönsmon, 4 January 1984

    62.3718, 17.3589
  4. 04

    Case 39

    The Two Objects Over the Power Lines

    Nacksta, 10 November 1986

    62.3906, 17.2601
  5. 05

    Case 42

    The Silent Craft Beside Kubenbadet

    Kubikenborg, 29 April 2009

    62.3765, 17.3538
  6. 06

    Case 40

    The Red Lights at Stornäset

    Alnö, 26 February 1996

    Park facing the water.

    62.4545, 17.4943
  7. 07

    Case 43

    The Pulsing Orb of Västerböle

    Matfors, 22 March 2014

    62.3468, 17.0200
  8. 08

    Case 41

    The Cigar Over Coffee

    Njurunda, 20 July 1996

    62.2620, 17.3720
Open route in Google Maps See the county map

Road 87 and the forest west

Into the Inland

4 stops~104 km between stopsOne long day, few servicesJune to September — fill the tank before Sollefteå

West of the coast the villages thin out and the forest closes. A redoubt in the woods, a school where the old landowner walks, the summer the rockets came down. There is very little to see and a great deal to feel. Bring food and a paper map.

  1. 01

    Case 31

    Gudlav Bilder and the Riddle of the Will in Sollefteå

    Gudlav Bilderskolan, Sollefteå

    63.1580, 17.2828
  2. 02

    Case 09

    The Gransjö Redoubt

    Gransjö skans, Helgum

    63.1513, 16.9266
  3. 03

    Case 35

    The Summer the Disc Came Down

    Graninge, 1950s

    62.9978, 17.0813
  4. 04

    Case 18

    The Ghost Rockets over the Inland

    Ramsele, summer 1946

    Turn back here or continue north.

    63.5381, 16.4687
Open route in Google Maps See the county map

Härnösand, Torsåker and the burial grounds

Gallows and Graves

6 stops~146 km between stopsHalf a day to a dayAll year; snow hides the grave fields

Two registers overlap on this route: the places the state killed people, and the places the dead were laid out with care thousands of years earlier. They sit within a few kilometres of each other and nothing on the ground tells you which is which.

  1. 01

    Execution site

    Häggdånger — L1936:8871

    Häggdånger, Härnösand

    Kallbäcken, on the old county boundary.

    62.5745, 17.6797
  2. 02

    Execution site

    Säbrå — L1935:6621

    Säbrå, Härnösand

    62.6530, 17.8440
  3. 03

    Grave field

    Häggdånger 3:1

    Häggdånger, Härnösand

    62.5557, 17.8274
  4. 04

    Grave field

    Häggdånger 30:1

    Häggdånger, Härnösand

    62.4924, 17.8430
  5. 05

    Case 46

    A Grave Matter

    Viks by, Torsåker

    63.0535, 17.7295
  6. 06

    Case 15

    The Sacrificial Grove and Burial Mounds of Gene Fornby

    Gene Fornby, Örnsköldsvik

    Reconstructed Iron Age farm and its mounds.

    63.2500, 18.6958
Open route in Google Maps See the county map