The year was 1883 when Gröna Lund opened its doors for the first time at Djurgården in Stockholm. It was Jacob Schultheiswhich originally came from Germany, which was behind the then very simple fair, which consisted of a horse-drawn carousel and performance rooms.
When Schultheis passed away in 1914, his son took over Gustav Nilsson over.
“Not only did he modernize the amusement park’s attractions and houses, he also ensured that Gröna Lund would grow in size when the park was given the opportunity to take over land that had previously been shipyard and warehouse buildings”, can be read at theme park website.
Since then, a lot has happened. World stars – including them Muhammad Ali and Bob Marley – have visited the park, fires have broken out and attractions have both come and gone.
A fire broke out at Gröna Lund in 1935. Photo: SvD/TTMuhammad Ali played an exhibition match at Gröna Lund in 1965. Photo: Freddy Lindström/TTBob Marley performed at Gröna Lund in 1976. Photo: Olle Lindeborg/TTHalloween premiere at Gröna Lund
In recent years, Gröna Lund, which since 2001 has been owned by Parks & Resorts, which also operates Kolmården and Skara Sommarland, has invited visitors to a horror-filled experience as autumn darkness falls and Halloween approaches.
Then the park is decorated in the spirit of the uncanny and several new scary attractions take place in the area.
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Halloween at Gröna Lund begins on October 11, 2024. Photo: Jakob Åkersten Brodén/TTPhoto: Jakob Åkersten Brodén/TT
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This year, there is a Halloween premiere at the theme park on October 11, and then several regular attractions, such as “The Blue Train” and “Nyckelpigan”, will be transformed and given a temporary Halloween makeover.
New for 2024 is, among other things, the horror house Zombiesta.
“In Zombiesta, each guest is transformed into a part of the menu as they meet kitchen staff who not only prepare the food, but also hunt it. The cramped corridors, the claustrophobic atmosphere and the macabre dishes served make every step in this house of horrors a struggle for survival”, can be read in a press release from Gröna Lund.
Photo: Jakob Åkersten Brodén/TT
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Criticism of Gröna Lund: “Remodel and do the right thing”
Before the opening of “Zombista”, Gröna Lund shared, on their official Facebook page, a ten-second video clip showing how a young girl cries. The video features the caption “I’M STUCK INSIDE THE FIESTA AND SOMEONE IS CHASING ME?!?????”, followed by a crying emoji.
The post, which also includes the date “19.09.24”, was published on September 10 and currently has 150 comments. And it turns out that several people took offense to the video clip. This is how some people write:
“Strange to post a video like this without explaining anything…. I started to think that someone needed help and that you should act like this. This sort of thing really happens to women all too often. I have quite a sense of humor but this does not signal even that some ‘event’ is going on and then the post loses everything..”
“When we have so much crap going on in Sweden, this video to promote Halloween was really rubbish of you Gröna Lund. You know better, don’t you?”
“Terribly unpleasant film, thought it was real at first, a cry for help. Can you get the ad out in another way Gröna Lund.”
“Take it away.”
“Remodel and do it right Gröna Lund! You can do better.”
“All women who relate to the video obviously feel bad to see something like this. Hopefully others also understand that it is distasteful advertising.”
“This trailer feels very uncomfortable.”
“Incredibly stupid of Gröna Lund bad advertising, they took this seriously.”
“But how terrible!”
“Hope you’re losing a lot of followers now!”
“That was really nasty…”
Photo: Screenshot/Facebook/Gröna Lund
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Gröna Lund replies: “Never our intention”
When News24 contacts Gröna Lund states Annika Troseliusdirector of information at Parks & Resorts, that the video clip is a teaser for a longer commercial that was published ten days later.
“In the post, there was a clear reference to a date further in the future to show that there would soon be something more. We were also very clear that Gröna Lund was behind the film. We hope and believe that most of our followers and those who were reached by the film understood that it was not about a real event and many also became curious about what would happen next. When the entire commercial was released, everyone could share the whole story behind the zombie apocalypse in the restaurant,” writes Troselius in a comment.
Annika Troselius. Photo: Rickard Monéus/Press Bild Photo: Robin Bäckman/TT
Regarding the criticism directed at the publication on Facebook, Troselius writes:
“It was never our intention that anyone would interpret the teaser as a real event or experience it as truly unpleasant, on the contrary, we want to entertain our guests. Screaming and laughing should always go hand in hand with us during Halloween. And it certainly does in Zombiesta, which is among the scariest and best horror houses we’ve ever built.”