Illustration by Jaume Pahissa

The other day, while talking with a Catalan woman, the subject of Barcelona’s history came up. Amongst other things, she mentioned that, not so long ago, there used to be a hostel located near the Mercat de Santa Caterina whose story is one of Barcelona urban legend.

According to locals, the Hostal Flor del Lliri was a hostel that would always have a room vacant for any traveler who was both a) rich and b) traveling alone. Why would that be?

Without immediately cutting to the chase, we’ll relate the legend as it was originally told.

A man who was about to enter the hostel was approached by a mysterious woman. She told him, “Whatever you do, don’t sleep in the bed!”

Apparently, the man decided to heed her warning, and lucky for him, too. During the night, as he slept on the floor, there was a loud bang. Frightened to the bone, and without thinking, the man jumped up and fled out the window.

What was that thunderous sound?

It was later discovered that the hostel had designed a mechanism that would violently and instantly fold the bed in half, crushing the sleeping guests. Afterwards, the hostel owners would clean out the victim’s pockets and then…

Well, what to do with the body?

The bodies would never be found because the owners would cook them and feed the other guests the meat, presenting them as juicy steaks or tempting stews. The bones and other remains were burned in the bread oven.

The legend doesn’t end here.

It is also said that if you go to Carrer de la Flor del Lliri, 1, where the entrance to the hostel used to be, you’ll find an archway filled in by bricks. If you look closely at the bricks, you can see some of the faces of the hostel victims. Not only that, but you can also hear their whispers if you hold your ear near the wall.

Are you brave enough to check it out? If so, let us know what you see or hear!

By EMILY BENSON

Information gathered from:

El Periodico

Hostals Blogspot

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