Church bell stuck ringing all night in north Jutland village

A church bell in the north Jutland village of Durup rang nonstop for hours overnight after its automatic system malfunctioned, prompting police and a sexton to intervene, Danish broadcaster DR reports.

The bell in Durup Church began ringing at 1 a.m. and continued without pause, disturbing residents. By 3 a.m., a tired local called North Jutland Police in Aalborg to request help stopping the noise.

“We sent a patrol to the site,” said duty officer Thomas Ottesen. “Officers met a church employee who managed to shut it off.”

Sexton Kirsten Byrialsen, who lives three kilometers from the church, had not heard the bell or her work phone when calls came in. “People from the village called my son, who then called me. They’d also called the police,” she said.

Byrialsen attempted to stop the automatic ringing system but failed. She eventually cut power to the bell in the church basement, silencing it.

“Now I need to call the manufacturer to inspect the system and determine what went wrong,” she said.

The fault is unprecedented for the church’s automatic bell-ringing system, according to Byrialsen.