Before a modern apartment complex was built in its place, the area around St Johann district used to belong to the crusader order of St. John. Tales of knights prancing in armor, the anguished screams of children cries coming from the wells as well as ghostly apparitions in the old Ritterhaus have haunted the place for ages.  

Tucked within the twisting streets of old Basel, where ancient walls pressed close against the restless Rhine, and a ghost story around every corner. This is especially true for the St. Johanns district, a former working class neighborhood where people have lived since the Celts founded a settlement here that would become Basel city. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Switzerland

Among other things to see is the historical St. Johanns-Tor, one of the three remaining entrances to the old medieval city and now the landmark of St. Johann Quarter. Among the quaint streets filled with shops and cafes, there are much older things said to haunt the streets still. 

Old Basel: Map of Basel in the olden days. The location of the Johanniterkommende and Church on a map of the city of Basel from around 1650.

The Armored Rider at Johanniterkommende Basel

Before falling apart, the whole area used to belong to The Order of St. John, which was founded after the conquest of Jerusalem by the army of the First Crusade in 1099.

The Knights Hospitaller’s branch first documented in Basel in 1206, a so-called commandery. The order dedicated itself to the care and support of pilgrims, the sick, and the needy. The whole district is now named after this order. When it was founded, the walled complex, comprising the church, churchyard, and commandery, stood approximately 300 meters northwest of the walled old town of Basel on the Rhine.

Equally talked about was the specter of a knight in full armor, his visor down and sword raised high, who was said to ride through the courtyard at the dead of night, the hooves of his phantom steed leaving no mark on the stone. 

This would be from The Commandery of the Knights of St. Johns that used to be where St. Johanns-Vorstadt 84 to 88 is now. Especially around the Ritterhaus right by the river was said to be haunted by the armed knights riding through the courtyard. 

The Haunted Buildings: The Order of St. John’s settlement around 1640. The B is where the Knight’s House was that were demolished 1929.

Today the Ritterhaus, or Knight’s House is gone as it was demolished in 1929. A modern apartment building has been built in its place. Did the ghost go away with the building? We know little about the commandery as their archives were mostly gone by the 19th century. 

The Child in the Sod Well

For centuries, passersby reported hearing the unmistakable sound of a child’s desperate, echoing scream rising from the depths of one of the old sod wells in the district, a type of covered well that used to be plentiful around the city. The source of the cry was never uncovered, though macabre rumors swirled and the legend of the crying child ghost persisted. 

The well was said to have been close to the old Ritterhaus as well, although the exact location is unknown. There aren’t many of the old sod wells left in the city anymore however, and the question is, did the ghost of the crying child also disappear?

The Pale-Faced Man and the Lady in Black

Inside the shadowed rooms of the Ritterhaus, other apparitions made their mournful rounds as well as outside. A small white dog, eyes luminous in the dark, would scamper through the halls, vanishing through walls as though chasing after some long-departed master.

But it was the appearance of a man with a deathly, hollow face, his features waxen and drained of all life, that filled residents and visitors alike with a primal dread. He would appear without sound, his dead gaze locking onto the living, before melting away into nothingness.

More unsettling still was the lady in a black cloak, a theatrical figure said to glide soundlessly through the rooms, her face hidden in deep shadow.

Though the Commandery of St. John is long gone, its stones scattered and repurposed, the legends have clung stubbornly to the place like fog. Is it still something left haunting the place? 

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References:

Glaubet nid an Gaischter? Von wegen. Basel ist voll davon. | barfi.ch

Spuk und Geister im alten Basel

Geschichte des Johanniterordens – Wikipedia

Johanniterkommende Basel – Wikipedia