Murder On The Zeedijk show at The Amsterdam Dungeon

Are you ready to discover sister Helena's dark secret? Go down into the cellar in the tannery on the Zeedijk: the chills will run down your spine when you come face-to-face with the murderous Helena.

The Zeedijk, one of the oldest streets in Amsterdam, is haunted. Do you dare enter the tannery cellar? Plunge into the Amsterdam ghost story and meet the ravishing Dina and her less refined sister Helena.

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In the 18th century, the tannery ‘Het verdoolde Schaap’ was situated on the Zeedijk. Baas Gerhards, the owner of the tannery, lived there with his two daughters. It is said to have smelled rather strongly, but that did not stop young men from dropping by to catch a glimpse of the two pretty daughters, Helena and Dina. The two could not have been more different. Dina, blonde and sweet. Helena, dark-haired and fiery.

Wouter, a young sailor, fell in love with Dina, but she showed no interest in him at first. The one who was interested, however, was her sister Helena, who fell hopelessly in love with the lad. This laid the foundations for a terrible tragedy, for Helena, mad with jealousy, employed all her wiles and even intercepted a letter in order to ensnare Wouter in her web.

Dina discovered her sister’s attempts to flirt and flew into a rage. They had been arguing for days; on the final evening, things went terribly wrong. In a fit of rage, Helena grabbed her sister and hurled her into a deep cellar filled with tanning vats. Helena left her sister lying there unconscious. No one had seen it. Two nights later, she crept down to the cellar and saw that Dina was still alive. The fresh air that had seeped in brought Dina round, and in a weak voice she began to cry out for help. Helena then beat the victim with a piece of wood until she died.
Before that happened, Dina had called out to her: ‘Murderess, you will never find peace’.

Wouter returned from the sea, learnt that Dina was dead, and married Helena. The marriage was not a happy one, for Helena was tormented by remorse. She managed to keep the crime a secret right up until her deathbed. Then, however, she confessed, whereupon her husband turned away from her in horror, and Helena died, lonely and alone, on 24 July 1753.
That very night, the Zeedijk was startled by blood-curdling moans and wailing cries, and the local residents lay trembling in their beds.

Exactly one hundred years later, local residents once again heard Helena’s screams at the spot where the tannery had once stood. She could find no peace… To this day, rumour has it that Helena can regularly be seen and heard, and if you happen to be walking along the Zeedijk late at night and feel a cold shiver… there’s a chance she’s nearby.