Sutu palace

As many other fans of Gothic fiction and Victorian horror stories, I must admit I feel some kind of weird attraction about haunted places. Well, or more exactly about places that look like haunted places but maybe lack of the scary factor: the ghost emerging in the next corner to scare the shit out of you. That´s pretty much because I am the kind of windy person and, as I have previously told you, I can get totally terrified by the same books and films I love. 

Silly, I know.

Anyway, to be more specific I feel allured by historic buildings in general and more precisely by those where you can feel an indefinite misterious atmosphere involving you. 

Yes, I know it is not very clever if you consider what I just wrote above. 

In fact, I am quite sure I would be the last person on a haunted house horror film to realize something wrong was happening — you know, this character you are trying to warn through the screen when watching a movie, the one you already know is going to experience a bad ending.

Two weeks ago The Gentle One and I crossed the doors of Sutu Palace in Bucharest, a well-known place hosting the city history museum. We arrived with little wit about the building itself, mainly interested about some objects belonging to the Romanian royal family. It was very shocking for us to discover the giant Murano cristal mirror hanging in the hall and dominating the entire room and staircase. It is curious that we both shared a sudden strange feeling by watching the mirror. The kind of feeling you experience when something is out of place. It was like the object had got its own personality or its own energy, which I realize sounds crazy.

We visited the entire museum, and although there are many interesting art pieces over there, I kept thinking about the mirror the whole time we stayed.
When we arrived home, I inmediately sat in front of the computer and read a bit about the place.
For my surprise, there were a couple of interesting stories about it.

The original owner and builder of the place, the prince of Sutu, went mad and was enclosed by his son. The old prince of Sutu had an illegitimate child as well, who darkly disappeared when his half-brother inherited the property.
For many years after that, the new prince and his wife lived happily over there.
They used to receive their elegant guests during the long carnival season balls, ALWAYS in front of the mirror. Most of them used to feel some unease, as the prince had installed a clock opposite the glass, so the only way you could check the hour was looking straight to it.
Nobody ever learned why.
However, the balls and parties abruptly stopped when the princess died.
His husband then ordered to sculpt a cameo-like image of his deceased lady on the top of the mirror, so you literally can watch her whenever you move.

Well, there is something I have learned in my years as a horror stories and ocultist folklore reader and it is this: if someone hangs a mirror and after that he links the glass to the image of a passed person, the most probable answer is that he is trying to use it as a spiritual portal of some kind.
Plus, if you also consider the strange couple of unfortunate events running in the house in less than a decade, I would bet for a cursed object as well. I don´t totally believe in this (ahem...), but that is what you would expect in a horror movie (or in the horror tale I will probably write from this material).

Excuse me if I am the first person running away from the house at midnight.
I told you I would be the ideal victim on a haunted house film, so I´d try to be careful.
Just in case.

So tell me, darlings, have you ever experienced that kind of unease when visiting a new place?