Where does the horror make Hamburg unsafe? Here are the top 5 tips for places and events in Hamburg for all those who long for that goosebump feeling and cold shivers of fear on a hot summer’s day.
We present special leisure activities here because we offer one ourselves. With its Escape Room Theater, OPOLUM is the future of escape rooms in Hamburg. Because we haven’t just strung together tricky puzzles and wrapped them up in an exciting story. We have made our escape rooms in the Speicherstadt as realistic as possible and taken them to a whole new level. By using actors who actively intervene in our stories, you completely forget that it’s just a game. Our size is also unique: we are the largest escape room in Hamburg.
Creepy station 1: The Hamburg Dungeon
600 years of creepy history await brave visitors to Hamburg in the eerie rooms of the Dungeon. The creepy factor is particularly high here, as you experience the eerie historical events as if you were right in the middle of the gruesome situation. Actors make the event particularly vivid and terrifying.
You meet the legendary headless pirate Klaus Störtebecker, a merciless torturer of the Inquisition, and you experience the terrible fire of Hamburg in 1842 “live” once again.
Brave visitors can expect eleven different, hair-raising and often bloodthirsty stories in front of the creepy backdrops of the Dungeon, which are presented so realistically with elaborate technical effects that your breath catches and your blood freezes in your veins.
Creepy station 2: The Hamburg Panopticon
The Panoptikum in Hamburg was founded in 1879 on the Reeperbahn and is Germany’s oldest and largest wax museum. In addition to many celebrities from the past and present, the Panoptikum also features some eerie figures, such as the legendary man with three eyes. Things get really gruesome in the medical cabinet, where all kinds of diseases such as the plague, leprosy and much more can be seen alongside open fractures in such a realistic way that many a visitor has had to think over their breakfast again. Our tip: the exhibits of impaled heads and slashed, tortured bodies should only be viewed on an empty stomach.
Creepy station 3: Zum Goldenen Handschuh in St. Pauli
If you turn off the legendary Reeperbahn towards Hamburger Berg, you will reach a notorious pub called “Zum Goldenen Handschuh” in just a few steps. Since the 1960s, this establishment, which is frequented by alcoholics, prostitutes and pimps, has been open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.
Destruction drinkers and finally stranded sailors toast each other with Fako – a mixture of Fanta and high-proof grain. In a mixing ratio of 1:1, of course.
The notorious serial killer Fritz Honka, alias Fiete, was a regular at this pub in the 1970s and chose his later victims there. And that is why this pub, as well as “Handschuh”, is also known today as the “Honka-Stube”. This gruesome story was described in Heinz Strunk’s novel “The Golden Glove”, which was also made into a film in 2018.
The parlor has retained its morbid charm and its clientele from the milieu to this day – so the chances of meeting creepy characters from real life are particularly high here.
Creepy station 4: Hamburg’s underworlds and bunkers
Between 1941 and 1944, a three-storey underground bunker was built right next to Hamburg’s main railway station on Steintorwall to provide protection for people passing through and parts of the local population in the event of Allied air raids.
After the war, the bunker facility remained unused until it was remembered again during the Cold War and the premises were upgraded in the mid-1960s so that they could have withstood a nuclear attack.
This facility is still maintained today and can provide shelter for 2,702 people in the event of a disaster. The Hamburger Unterwelten e.V. association offers guided tours through many of the 150 rooms arranged over a total area of more than 2,700m2.
It’s pretty creepy and oppressive to imagine having to hold out there for days on end in cramped conditions with hundreds of people thrown together – definitely not for claustrophobics!
Creepy station 5: The OPOLUM
With the construction of the OPOLUM, escape room games have been taken to a whole new level. Actively participating actors greatly increase the adrenaline rush and creepy factor of the interactive adventures that take place there.
A visit to the OPOLUM is a must for anyone who wants to experience true-to-life horror!
A special piece was created for adrenaline junkies and scary fans, whose horror-promising name “ChainSAW” alone sends shivers down the spine of some.
But don’t worry – you won’t be touched and you will never be separated from your group or locked up. If anyone panics or even just gets a queasy feeling, they can leave the game immediately.
This makes the OPOLUM – in both senses of the word – the safest address for the highest scare factor in Hamburg!
