The story of Hedviga Golik is one that has been featured on hundreds of top ten lists of
the strange and macabre all over the internet for the past ten years. The details given are
usually the same and limited to a few paragraphs. There are so many conflicting accounts, that some
believe it to be no more than urban legend. I've tried my best to dig a little deeper and make
sense of it all. The city of Zagreb is the largest in Croatia and the country's capital. Around fifty
years ago, when Croatia was still part of communist Yugoslavia, a woman named Hedviga Golik lived in
a small loft apartment at number 77 Medvescak Street; a four-story building in the district
of Medvescak. Ms. Golik was well known by her neighbors but when she was seen for the last
time - most sources say the year was 1966 - it was assumed that she had simply moved away. After all,
she had spoken about moving to Macedonia, so her sudden disappearance didn't come as a shock.
The 42-year-old's absence was accepted, and over time eventually forgotten by most. All the while the
door to her apartment remained firmly locked. It appears that since as early as the 1980s, a
question had hung over the abandoned apartment; who truly owned it? The neighbors, some who had
been children when Hedviga Golik was last seen, claimed to have been responsible for paying
the property tax for the place, even though they believed she had moved away decades ago.
Why they would do this is unclear, but there is another claim that says the architect who built
and furbished the apartment was the true owner, and had gifted the apartment to Ms. Golik
in 1961, when she moved to Zagreb from the city of Rijeka in the West of Croatia. The ownership of
the property is a gray area. During the Yugoslavian communist era, before Croatia gained independence
in 1991, many homes were confiscated and became property of the state. A property restitution law
was passed in the early 90s, meaning homes were returned to the owners, but as it was unclear
who was the owner, the tenants of the apartment building found themselves in a complicated legal
predicament. In 1991 the local Housing Authority received a request from tenant Mirko Horvatić
to break into the apartment to see if there was any signs of life, or evidence of ownership.
They refused. Horvatić later said: "I honestly don't know why nobody has broken into the apartment.
We requested it so many times, but nobody has listened to us". In 1998, a crudely written note
in black marker forbidding entry appeared on the still locked door of Hedviga Golik's
old apartment. Apparently signed by the Census Committee for the city of Zagreb. But officials
working for the organization denied any knowledge of it. It roughly translates to the following:
'Based on the law of inheritance, tenant H. Golic remains without inheritance. Until ownership rights are
resolved, tenants cannot use the apartment, and every attempt to enter is a criminal offence".
It was later found out that an unnamed tenant wrote the note to deter other tenants from
entering and using the apartment. It would take a further ten years before any action was taken.
In 2008, decades after Ms. Golik was last seen in the neighborhood, the long-standing dispute
over ownership of the property came to a head when three neighbors took it upon themselves to
finally investigate. At 4:00p.m. on Monday, May 12th 2008, Hedviga Golik's former living
space, isolated from the rest of the building by a set of steps in the hallway, was finally forced open.
What those people of 21st century Croatia found, was a place suspended in time; a time of
the Yugoslavian communist era. The 20 square meter apartment who was awash with cobwebs which covered
hundreds of artifacts from a time before some of them were born. It was clear that the place
had remained untouched for decades. Tenant, Sime Ungar, would go on to tell reporters in the days
that followed: "When I entered, I noticed something on the bed of this tiny dark apartment. I ran out
and we called the police". Most accounts claim that Ms. Golik's partially mummified remains were found
sat in front of the television, but the previous quote supports the other version of the story
that says she was lying on her bed with a tea stained cup placed on the bedside table. At least
one window in the apartment was said to be open, diminishing any odor, and was the reason given for
no one noticing the rotting corpse all those years ago. An autopsy took place on Thursday, May 15th
2008. Pathologist Davor Strinovic said that she had likely died from natural causes, but after so much
time it was impossible to say for sure. Of course there was always the unlikely scenario that the
remains were not Ms. Golik's, but when her identification papers were found close to her
body, and the age of the deceased matched that of Ms. Golik's, it was decided that it was her.
Jadranka Markic, who was nine years old at the time of Golik's disappearance, said:
"She was a quiet woman who kept herself to herself. She was polite. We all thought that she had just
moved out and gone to live with relatives". There are various conflicting versions of events to
consider. For example, most reports say that Ms. Golik was never reported missing, while another
said she was reported missing in the 1970s and a widespread search was made. The year in which
she was last seen is also up for debate. When this story first hit the newspapers, the last sighting
of Ms. Golik was most commonly given as 1973, meaning her body had remained undisturbed for 35
years. 1966 was the year given by many other news outlets, making it 42 years. 1967 was also given as
a year Ms. Golik was last seen, allegedly in the company of two unidentified men. Forensic experts
concluded that she had died around 40 years before her discovery, so any of the given dates could be
correct. The tenants were left to argue over who had rights to the property, but following the 2008
discovery, it was found that Hedviga Golik had an estranged sister whom she had fallen out with
years ago. Her name was Rozik Leistner and is first in line to gain ownership of the property, if she
is still alive and comes forward to claim it. There is no mention of efforts to find Rozik Leistner.
Some say that ultimately the property's value will be shared between the remaining tenants.
Others say that if it is not claimed by Ms. Golik's sister, it will become property of the state. I was
unable to find what became of the property, or even where Ms. Golik was laid to rest.
I've tried my best to piece together what little information I have about Hedviga Golik's life.
The most intriguing information, and arguably the most reliable, has come from Croatian sources
like the Jutarnji List list newspaper. I found out that she was a nurse working at a hospital in
Trešnjevka, three and a half miles southwest of her home. Surprisingly, the architect who built
the apartment and allegedly gifted it to Ms. Golik in 1961, died just a few months before
she was discovered. He was her lover, according to Croatian newspapers. It was also mentioned that
neighbours, rightly or wrongly, believed that Ms. Golik suffered from schizophrenia due to her
bad temper and tendency to isolate herself. 85-year-old Katica Caric was one of the longest
standing tenants in the building and lived on the ground floor. When she spoke to newspapers
in 2008 from her retirement home, it appeared that she was the closest thing Ms. Golik had
as a friend. She said that when Ms. Golik was house bound she would drop money in a shopping
list from her window so that Ms. Caric could buy her groceries for her. So at one point, at
least, it appears that she did have someone who cared for her to a degree. Katica Caric also
believed that there was a darker side to her friend. According to her, Ms. Gorlik belonged
to a religious cult, and admitted that despite others thinking that she had moved away to live
with family in Macedonia, she always believed that she had joined the cult. In the aftermath of the
2008 discovery, when the country was made aware of what happened, the feuding tenants were criticized
for their lack of concern and not checking the apartment sooner. They replied by saying that
after so many years they have no reason to think anything was amiss, and besides, the law stated
that they could not enter the property. There had been many changes since Hedviga Golik's death;
governments came and went, and war broke out and ended. The country she died in no longer existed
by the time she was found. Maybe the people who cared about her the most simply passed on, too.