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Ghost story

The singing monks of Viru-Nigula graveyard

In 1994 Ella Rajari of Unukse told folklorist Mall Hiiemäe about her son, a history student at Tartu University. Coming home from his exams one night, sober and clear-headed, he passed Viru-Nigula graveyard in the dark. Inside he saw four or five figures in monks' habits with candles in their hands, singing in a strange tongue, perhaps Low German. The next day mother and son went to look. The singing had been around the grave of a Danish engineer who had refused to lie among the manor lords and wished to be buried among the peasants. The grass and weeds there stood thick and untouched, without a single footprint.

Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today

Eesti keeles

1994. aastal rääkis Unukse küla naine Ella Rajari folklorist Mall Hiiemäele oma pojast, kes õppis Tartu ülikoolis ajalugu. Eksamilt koju tulles, selge peaga, möödus poeg pimedas Viru-Nigula surnuaiast. Seal nägi ta nelja või viit mungarõivais inimest, küünlad käes, laulmas võõras keeles, võib-olla alamsaksa keeles. Järgmisel päeval läksid ema ja poeg vaatama. Laul oli kõlanud ühe Taani inseneri haua ümber, kes ei tahtnud lasta end matta mõisnike kalmistule, vaid talupoegade hulka. Rohi ja umbrohi seisid seal paksult puutumata ega olnud ainsatki jälge.

Map of the area around The singing monks of Viru-Nigula graveyard
59.43772° N, 26.69963° E · Map: Maa- ja Ruumiamet

Source: Mall Hiiemäe, 'Virumaa vanad vaimujutud' (Estonian Folklore Archives, 2015), from RKM II 463, 79/81 (M. Hiiemäe < Ella Rajari, 1994) ↗

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