In autumn 1944, two valuable church bells disappeared from the bell tower of the Kuusamo church. For a long time, the people of Kuusamo wondered whether the bell donated by the King and the smaller so-called Priest's Bell had been taken away either by the German or the Soviet troops, had been sunk in Lake Kuusamojärvi, or whether they were at the bottom of the vicarage well, as had been announced to the priest in a dream.

It was not until 15 years after the end of the war that a tip from Germany about the fate of the bells reached Kuusamo. When leaving from Kuusamo, German troops had hidden the bells in an empty grave in the German soldiers’ military cemetery. In July 1959, a major search operation was begun.

Audio file: Listen to The Mystery of the Church Bells