In March of 2015, Joan and I took a vacation to the Netherlands to visit the collection of old, real-world windmills at the Kinderdijk. March of that year started out unusually warm, but on the day that we went to see the windmills, the wind was cold and bitter. It was as if winter was making one more call before giving way to spring.
We took some great photos during our visit, and unbeknownst to us at the time, we captured something…unexpected. Take a look for yourself.
In this post you’ll see:
- 1) the reflection of someone (or something) we don’t remember being there.
- 2) a dark shadowy mass inside one of the closed windmills.
A Brief History of the Incredible Kinderkijk
The Kinderkijk windmills were built during the 1740’s to keep the low-lying lands free of water and dry. The Dutch have been using and controlling the flow of water for over 1000 years, and to see just how they accomplished such an unimaginable feat before modern technology Kinderdijk is the perfect place to visit.
An estimated 40% of the Netherlands would be flooded without controlling the flow of water. In fact, the Kinderkijk area is below sea level and it was originally a swamp. Although there are 19 windmills in Kinderdijk, only 2 (as of our visit) are still operational. Many of them you can enter and tour, which is something I recommend to anyone who visits Holland.
Kinderdijk is such a beautiful and picturesque location. We felt as if we had traveled back in time. Words and pictures hardly do it justice, even though Joan and I were there while it was cold and windy, we were still in utter awe of everything, the windmills, the waterways, and, the people.
Below is a picture of a Dutchman, in traditional clothes, who actually lives in one of the original windmills from the 18th-century. (Photo taken with permission.)
What many visitors don’t realize before they tour these windmills is that families used to live in them. And a couple, like the one photographed above, are still inhabited!
It’s an amazing discovery when you walk into these buildings and you see tiny makeshift kitchens, compact bed cabinets built into the walls, and basic general living quarters built in the spaces not used by the machinery of the windmills.
Remember, the families that lived there also died there, and who knows, maybe they’re still there in some form.
In the first picture, there’s the living room, sleeping area, and kitchen. In the second photo, you can see a child’s bed cabinet built into the wall. Visiting one of these live-in windmills teaches you what the word ‘compact’ really means. I can’t even begin to imagine what life must have been like for the families. I think it must have been harsh, but it was their normal.
Take a look at the second photo again. See anything odd about it?
There is clearly a reflection of what looks like an actual person in the window that protects the inner cabinet.
I think it’s a real person, although I don’t remember anyone else in there with us. The strangest thing is that you can clearly see light is shining on the wall of the cabinet, so why isn’t there a reflection or shadow of the person’s legs on the white sheet of the bed and the lower wood of the cabinet?
Frankly, the person or apparition’s reflection creeps me the heck out. I don’t know why, but he or she just doesn’t seem to belong and has an aura about them that I don’t quite like.
Again, I think it’s a real person standing there reflecting on the protective glass, but the photo leaves a lot of questions unanswered and unexplained. Joan and I were touring by ourselves and the rooms were so small that another person could not be missed, much less fit in there with us.
To be clear, it’s not one of us, we were seriously bundled up because it was very cold out that day and that person seems to be wearing something more akin to what the local in the previous photo was wearing. Remember, the families that lived there also died there, and who knows, maybe they’re still there in some form.
A Shadow Figure?
Okay, so the next picture I want to share with you might seem tame compared to the one above, but this one really is odd and disconcerting, at least to me it is.
While we were touring one of the lesser-visited windmills, we thought we saw a cat moving around inside one of them. Joan loves cats and she tried to lure it out, but it seemed to have taken off (you know cats, they’re there one minute and gone the next). So we kept touring without thinking much about it. However, I did take some photos.
In the photo above, you can see Joan (well, her hair at least), trying to lure the cat out from hiding. If there was a cat in there, it was gone. But there may have been something else hiding inside instead!
In the photo below I circled a part where I see what seems to be a shadow figure (or Wee-Jee as I call them). I cropped and zoomed as best I could for you. If you can see the shadow figure, let me know. I’m not asking you to believe anything, cause I don’t know what it is either! But I do know we saw something move in there.
Looking at the picture again now, it’s really rather chilling.
You can see some light reflecting off a wall or fixture to the right of it and to the left the light is blocked by the dark shadow. You can even see the angle of the shadow thanks to the reflection of light. To think we were standing only a few feet away from whatever it was.
Yikes!
I don’t believe it was an animal because it was silent. It might not be anything.
Keep in mind, at the time we didn’t see the shadow figure and simply continued on our tour. I find it more and more interesting to go through our old photographs of the locations we visited and stumble upon such interesting, and at times, unexplainable, things.
Visit Kinderdijk (Highly Recommended)
There’s so much more about the Kinderdijk area to see and do, if you enjoy hiking, riding bikes, bird or animal watching, it’s a great place to do those things, too. Maybe even get some ghost hunting in, if that’s your thing. 🙂
I highly recommend the Kinderdijk, it’s an unforgettable place. I hope to revisit it in a warmer time of the year.
Nearby are some amazing old Dutch towns to visit, such as Delft and Gauda. Gauda, yes–home of the cheese of the same name–has one of the creepiest areas in it that we’ve ever visited. I’ll post about that experience another time. Feel free to stay up to date with my posts by subscribing or following my page on Facebook.
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