The Legend of the White Lady
The ghost of Karosta prison.
Legend has it that in 1944, during a German Wehrmacht raid, a Latvian boy was captured and imprisoned in Karosta prison due to a misunderstanding. The boy was scheduled to get married in two weeks. The bride learned that her beloved had been arrested, using various female tricks to get into the prison. When the girl arrived in cell 18, where the boy was sitting, the cellmates announced that she had arrived too late - the boy had been sentenced to death and had already been shot. The girl hanged herself in her cell out of shame and immense emotion. Since then, the prison has been haunted - inexplicable sounds can be heard, electrical switches break for no reason, mobile phones charge by themselves, heavy prison cell doors slam shut with a loud noise.... Quite often, the White Lady also appears as a bright light in a completely dark corridor, or as an ice-cold touch on a hot summer day. This white lady has been seen by almost everyone who has served their sentence here or worked as a guard. Of course, during the Soviet era, such phenomena were denied.
After Latvia regained its independence, the building was still used by the restored Latvian Armed Forces until 1997. At that time, the chief of the guard was Lieutenant Captain Aivars Feldmanis, who had also seen the White Lady. He tells of a maiden with long, red hair braided in a thick braid, who appears in a white dress. To prevent strange phenomena, the chief of the guard invited the priest of the Karosta Orthodox Cathedral. He arrived here with several liters of holy water and incense vessels. Baķuška spent the whole day in prison in prayer, consecrating each cell, each room. Holy signs were drawn on individual walls to scare away spirits. This helped for two months. Then the White Lady returned and lives here to this day.
Related objects
Karosta Military Prison
Karosta Prison is a unique historical and tourist attraction in Liepāja, allowing visitors to learn about the more than century-old history of the military prison and the fates of those imprisoned there. The building was built around 1900 and served as a place of disciplinary punishment for military personnel until 1997.
From the very beginning, it has been a gloomy place for breaking people's destinies and suppressing free spirits. Various unexplained phenomena have been observed in the prison - knocking footsteps, electric bulbs unscrewing themselves, closed cells opening, and apparent images appearing in the corridors.
Today it is an important cultural and historical object that allows you to get to know the military history of Latvia and preserves memories of people's destinies at different stages of history. This is not an ordinary museum tour - it is a story about people's destinies and the harsh reality of history. During the tour, you have the opportunity to see the prison, which has remained almost unchanged since the times of the Tsar. Hear stories about the history of Karosta and unusual events from the daily lives of prisoners. Enter the cells and the solitary confinement, looking into the darkest places of the prison. Get to know the exhibitions about World War II, the Kurelians and the Soviet era.
Karosta Prison is not just a tourist attraction – it is a living witness to history.
