Five years ago, for the first time, a majority of Dutch people did not call themselves religious. Yet perhaps even the most hardened atheist will feel uncomfortable on the Godless Singel – and will spontaneously become superstitious when he or she hears the stories circulating about this obscurely named road.
The road near the Frisian village of Veenwouden/Feanwâlden, actually Goddeloaze Singel It owes its name to a toll house that stood here in the 19th century. It stood in the middle of an important trade route since the Middle Ages that ran from Rinsumageest to Burgum. From 1812 onwards, toll boss and notorious temper tantrum Gerben Boskma lived in the toll house. Because of his harsh actions and suspicions that he was a murderer, people sometimes spoke of Gerben Godless and the Godless Tolhuis – although it is not clear whether the latter was called that before.
Smelling of sulphur…
The story doesn’t end there. Gerben’s son Hjerre once walked back home in the dark. Halfway along the Wicked Singel he saw a large fire in which he saw a horse’s foot. Gerben did not think about turning around: “I will not give up my much-needed sleep for a roasted horse’s foot!”, he said to himself, according to local folklore. He ran past the fire, but felt an invisible being walking beside him, panting and smelling of brimstone. Once home, he looked so pale that his father asked if he had seen God. Gerben shook his head and said: “It was the devil.”
More ghost stories
This is not the only ghost story circulating around the Godless Singel. For example, a skater is said to have fallen through the ice in the evening, but a ghost prevented people from saving him. The devil would throw lost souls into the water more often. A deceased criminal who could not find peace in his grave would take the form of a black dog around the road.
For a long time people avoided the canal, especially when it was dark. White women, will-o’-the-wisps and death itself would have been spotted. Many of the folk tales were recorded by Jacob Hepkema (1845 – 1919). It is possible that a lot of crime took place around the Goddeloze Singel around that time, which fueled the horror stories. The Godless Toll House was demolished in the 1930s, but the ominous stories continued to circulate afterwards.
Bridge the ‘Schele Pijp’
The played a special role Skilige Piip (Schele Pijp), a bridge that ran over the water of the Godless Singel until 2015. In a story reminiscent of A Christmas Carol by Dickens, an old miser buried his fortune around Christmas and asked the devil to guard it. He died and fellow locals searched for the treasure, but it sank deeper and deeper into the ground. The old man’s ghost continues to haunt his former home.
As far as not feeling at home on the Godless Singel is concerned, things are fine. The long road is a popular cycling route and part of the famous Kloosterpad, but has no house numbers. Anyone who finds all that wickedness scary should go to Franeker, which is further away. There is a neat street in the city center with the name Godsacker.