Phantom execution
The credibility of the event referred to here has been confirmed by an official protocol signed by four credible witnesses.
Charles XI, the father of the famous Charles XII, was one of the most oppressive, but at the same time the most reasonable kings of Sweden. He limited the monstrous privileges of the nobility, destroyed the power of the Senate and began to make laws on his own - speaking in another way, he changed the entire state structure of Sweden, forcing the State States to give him autocratic, unlimited power. He was an enlightened man, brave, deeply devoted to the Lutheran religion and completely devoid of imagination. Karl had just lost his wife Ulrika-Eleanor, whom he treated with great respect and was more grieved by her death than could have been expected from his dry heart. After this loss, he became even more gloomy and silent than before, and began to zealously engage in business, devoting all his time to work. The surrounding people attributed this intense work to the need to be distracted from heavy thoughts.
Towards the end of one autumn evening, Charles XI was sitting in a dressing gown and shoes in front of a brightly burning fireplace in his office in Stockholm palace. With him were some of the people closest to him: the chamberlain Comte de Brahe and the physician-in-chief Baumgarten, who loved to boast of his disbelief in everything except medicine. That evening the king felt unwell, and therefore invited him to his place.
The evening dragged on, but the king, despite his habit of going to bed early, was in no hurry to let go of his interlocutors. Bowing his head and fixing his eyes on the blazing fireplace, he had not spoken for a long time and was bored, but at the same time he felt some incomprehensible fear of being alone. The Count de Brahe, of course, saw how much his company this time was a burden to the king, and several times hinted if it was time for his majesty to rest, but the negative gesture of the king kept him in his place. Finally, the doctor also began to say that prolonged wakefulness is unhealthy. To this Karl replied: "Stay, I don't want to sleep yet."
Soon after that he got up and, walking around the room, mechanically stopped in front of the window overlooking the courtyard. The night was dark, moonless.
The palace, in which the Swedish kings later lived, was not yet finished; Charles XI, who began to build it, lived in an old palace, which stood at the top of Ritergolm and faced the main facade of Lake Melarskoe. It was a huge horseshoe-shaped building. The king's office was at one end, and at the other, opposite the office, was a large hall in which the States of State met when they convened to hear some message from the royal government.
The windows of this hall were brightly lit at that moment, and this seemed very strange to the king. At first, he assumed that the light was coming from the torch of some lackey, but why would he have to enter this hall that had not been opened for a long time? And the light was too bright for one torch. One could, perhaps, attribute it to the fire, but no smoke was visible, no noise was heard. The lighting was more like a festive illumination.
Promotional video:
Karl gazed silently at these bright windows for a while. The Comte de Brahe pulled his hand to the bell to call the page and send him to see what kind of light it was, but the king stopped him, saying: "I will go to this hall myself." Having said this, he turned terribly pale, and a kind of mystical horror was reflected on his face. And yet the king left the office with firm steps, and the chamberlain and the doctor followed him, taking lighted candles.
The doorman who was in charge of the keys had already gone to bed. Baumgarten woke him up and ordered the doors to the State Hall to be opened immediately. The gatekeeper was very surprised at this order, but hastily dressed and went with his bunch of keys to the king. First, he opened a gallery through which they entered the Hall of the States. Imagine Karl's surprise when he saw that all the walls of the gallery were covered with black!
- Who ordered the upholstery of these walls? The king asked in anger.
"No one, sir, as far as I know," replied the frightened gatekeeper. “The last time this gallery was swept on my order, it was, as always, trimmed with dark oak … Of course, this upholstery is not from the court's vault.
The fast-paced king has already walked more than half of the gallery. The count and the gatekeeper followed him, and the doctor lagged a little behind, wondering what to do. To be honest, he was afraid of being left alone, but he was also afraid of the consequences of such a stupid, in principle, adventure.
- No need to go further, sir! The gatekeeper exclaimed. “I swear to God, this is witchcraft. At these hours, after the death of Her Majesty the Queen, they say that she herself walks through this gallery … May God have mercy on us!
“Stop, sir,” exclaimed the Count de Brahe in turn. - Don't you hear a strange noise coming from the hall? Who knows what dangers Your Majesty may face!
- Sovereign, - said Baumgarten, when his candle was extinguished by a gust of wind, - let me at least go for the guards.
“Come in,” said the king in a firm voice, stopping in front of the doors of the great hall. - Open up soon!
As he did so, he pushed the door open with his foot, and the sound, repeated by the echo of the vaults, spread through the gallery like a cannon shot.
The gatekeeper was trembling so violently that he could not insert the key into the keyhole.
- Old soldier, and trembling! - said the king, shrugging his shoulders. - Count, you open this door.
- Sovereign, - answered de Brahe, involuntarily backing away. - Order me to go under the shots of Danish or German cannons, and I will not hesitate to carry out the order of Your Majesty, but you demand that I challenge hell itself!
The king snatched the key from the hands of the gatekeeper.
“I see,” he said with noticeable contempt in his voice, “that this concerns me alone! - And before the retinue had time to restrain him, he opened the heavy oak door and entered the large hall, saying at the same time: "With God's help!" His companions, despite their fear, either out of curiosity, or considering it impossible to leave the king alone, followed him.
The great hall was lit by many torches. Instead of old wallpaper, black draperies hung on the walls, but around them, as always, were the trophies of Gustav Adolf's victories: German, Danish and Russian banners. The Swedish flags in the corners were covered with black crepe.
A large meeting was taking place in the hall. The multitude of pale human faces on the black background of the drapery seemed to be luminous and so dazzled the eyes that of the four witnesses of this striking scene, not one recognized the familiar face between them. So the actors before a large audience see only a faceless mass, not distinguishing anyone among them.
On the high throne, from which the king usually held the meeting of the States, lay a bloody body in royal regalia. To his right stood a child wearing a crown and holding a scepter in his hand, while to his left an elderly man was leaning on the throne. He was wearing a ceremonial robe, the same as the previous rulers of Sweden wore before Vasa proclaimed it a kingdom. Opposite the throne, at a table covered with huge tomes, were seated several persons in long black robes, apparently judges. In the middle of the hall stood a block covered with black crepe, and next to it was an ax.
No one in this inhuman meeting seemed to notice Karl and his companions. At the entrance to the hall, at first they heard only an inarticulate voice, among which the ear could not distinguish a single separate word; then the eldest of the judges, who apparently performed the duties of the chairman, got up and struck three times with his hand on one of the folios unfolded in front of him. Immediately there was a deep silence. Several richly dressed young men with an aristocratic bearing and with their hands tied behind entered the hall through the door opposite to that opened by Charles XI. The man who followed them, apparently distinguished by remarkable strength, held in his hands the ends of the ropes that bound their hands. The one who was ahead of everyone - probably the most important of the condemned - stopped in the middle of the hall in front of the block and threw a proudly contemptuous glance at it. At the same moment the dead man on the throne shuddered convulsively, and a fresh stream of blood poured from his wound. The young man, kneeling down, lowered his head … The ax flashed in the air and immediately descended with an ominous sound. A stream of blood splashed to the very dais and mixed with the blood of the dead; the head, bouncing several times on the bloody floor, rolled to the feet of Charles XI and stained them with blood.
Struck by everything he saw, he was silent, but the terrifying sight untied his tongue. The king took a few steps towards the dais and, addressing the figure dressed in the ceremonial robe of the ruler, said firmly:
- If you are from God, speak, if from the devil, leave us alone!
The ghost answered him in a slow, solemn voice:
- King Karl! This blood will not be shed in your reign … (here the voice became less distinct), but after four reigns, in the fifth. Woe, woe, woe to the family of Gustav Vasa!
After the spoken words, all the figures began to fade, and then disappeared altogether, the torches went out, and instead of black fabric, old wallpapers appeared on the walls. For some time some melodic noise was still heard, which, according to one of the witnesses, resembled the rustling of the breeze between the leaves, and according to another, the sound of breaking strings while tuning the harp. As for the duration of the phenomenon, everyone equally estimated it at about 10 minutes.
Mourning draperies, a severed head, streams of blood on the floor - everything disappeared along with the ghosts, and only a bloody stain remained on the royal shoe, which should have reminded Karl of the vision of this memorable night, if he could ever forget them.
Returning to his office, the king ordered a detailed description of everything they saw, signed it himself and demanded the signature of his three companions. The most careful precautions for hiding the content of this mysterious document from society and the people did not lead to anything, and it became known during the life of Charles XI. This record is still kept in the state archives of Sweden. An interesting postscript made by the king's hand:
“If what I have said here under my signature is not an exact, undoubted truth, I give up all hope for a better life, in any way deserved, perhaps, by some good deeds by me, mainly by my efforts to contribute to the prosperity of my people and support the religion of my ancestors."
This prediction came true much later, when a certain Ankarstrom killed the Swedish king Gustav III. The young man, beheaded in the presence of the States of America, was Ankarstrom. Dead Man in Royal Regalia - Gustav III. The child, his son and heir, is Gustav-Adolph IV. The old man in the mantle was the Duke of Südermanland, the uncle of Gustav IV, who at first was the regent and later the king of Sweden.
I. Rezko