Museum seeks clues to North Zealand’s old superstitions

Museum Nordsjælland is asking residents to report unusual objects found in old buildings, which may reveal how people once tried to protect their homes from illness, accidents, evil and death, DR reports.

The museum is interested in objects such as a horse skull beneath a floor, a fossilised sea urchin hidden in a wall or a small clay pot placed under a doorframe. A horse skull was found beneath the floor of a 300 year old house in Gilleleje during renovations.

Although such objects may look like abandoned items or old rubbish, their locations were often deliberate, according to Jeppe Boel Jepsen, an archaeologist at Museum Nordsjælland.

He said similar beliefs continue today, pointing to traditions such as leaving porridge in the attic for the house elf or throwing salt over one’s shoulder after knocking over the salt cellar.

“These are traditions that are hundreds or thousands of years old and part of old folk beliefs,” Jepsen said.

Museum Nordsjælland hopes residents can help build a larger folklore collection and identify patterns in traditional beliefs. It is seeking objects, photographs and personal accounts of strange finds in houses and other buildings in North Zealand.

Finds from buildings more than 100 years old are of particular interest, but the museum welcomes all submissions.