The haunted house in Hattem is part of the former castle, known as Dikke Tinne (literally Thick Battlements). The castle was famous for being the smallest castle with the thickest walls in the whole of the Netherlands, hence its nickname. Generations of local villagers have claimed to have heard the yelping, at night, of Kladdegat, Hattem´s ghost dog lying chained up in the cellars of the haunted house, originally part of the castle’s fortified bailey complex.
Dikke Tinne Castle
In 1401, Duke of Guelders, Willem van Gulik was travelling through France looking for inspiration for the new house he was intending to build in Hattem. The new castle lay in a strategic position on the border of Guelders and Oversticht (now the province of Overijssel) that had fallen into the enemy hands of the diocese of Utrecht. Willem was not a man of half measures, and built himself an impressive castle comprising 389,000 bricks. The two main towers had walls that were seven metres thick, the thickest walls that the Netherlands has ever known. The castle was officially called St. Lucia, but was soon nicknamed ‘Dikke Tinne’ (literally Thick Battlements).
The cage
More than a century later, in 1511, in his fight against Emperor Maximilian, Karel, the Duke of Guelders attacked Amsterdam. Jan van Wassenaar, the leader of Maximilian´s army was taken prisoner during this attack, and was locked in a large iron cage and hoisted up in one of the towers. There was no way of escaping and it took two years for his family to raise the ransom of 20,000 guilders. In any case, the cage proved popular, because since then, many prisoners have whiled away their time there!
Haunted House
Up until 1778, Dikke Tinne Castle dominated the skyline of Hattem. It must have been a robust and terrifying fortress and it is more than possible that the groaning of the prisoners terrified people for miles around. This may well be what led to the legend about Kladdegat the ghost dog. Whatever the truth may be, the castle was demolished in 1778. Only part of the fortified bailey complex has survived, which is now called the Haunted House. The contours of the large towers that were discovered during a dig have been outlined in the pavement in Tinneplein Square.
