A Danish couple who founded a popular eco-resort in the Swedish woods are accused of abandoning the site and leaving behind more than 150 barrels behind filled with human waste.
Flemming Hansen and Mette Helbæk established Stedsans in the south of Sweden, a site that boasted more than a dozen wood cabins and an organic restaurant, reportedly attracting the wealthy and influencers.
But a joint investigation in Swedish media accuses the pair of vanishing without informing staff or organising care for their remaining animals several months ago.
The pair, reportedly now in Guatemala, have hit back and claimed there has been a “witch hunt” after an investigation from newspapers Dagens Nyheter and Politiken. The couple claim they have received death threats and were called “horrific things” since the article was published.
“It feels like a witch hunt. I’m extremely scared and don’t know what to do. I have so much more to share and explain, but right now I’m just in shock,” they posted on social media.
In a separate post, they acknowledged they had made some mistakes but defended their handling of their animals and sewerage, adding: “We have not left any animals to die – We had a good system to deal with fecal resources”.
“We are super sorry for the loss and inconvenience our bankruptcy has caused.
“We have disappointed many. Even angered some. And for that we are deeply, truly sorry. But we can say from the bottom of our hearts that we have done all we could,” they wrote in a farewell post on their blog. “Right from the beginning Stedsans never really had a chance.”
A former staffer named Malin told local media the couple’s car had gone and their house burned down.
She said she had taken in surviving chickens and ducks from the resort, but that many had died before that.
Another former staffer, Lars Delling, said that behind the facade of wooden eco-friendly cabinets melding with the forest was a darker side to the lodge, with sewerage and grey water pumped straight into the forest.
He showed the newspaper the sewerage system used at the resort: “Voila. Over 150 barrels filled with human s***”, he said.
The investigation said Stedsans was declared bankrupt in March with the couple allegedly leaving behind debts of about 6 million kroner (£500,000).
“From now on, what happens to assets and debts is out of our hands. All the hand-selected items we have gathered over the years to give Stedsans soul, the buildings we drew and had made in local timber, are no longer ours,” the couple wrote in a blog post in January.
As of last week, the couple were preparing to launch their new venture: a hotel called Hotel San Pedro La Laguna in Guatemala, which they said would open in May.
“We are shaken, but still standing. Still here to contribute to a softer world, still here to cook delicious food, still trusting our work is not in vain although it has been brutally hard lately to try and forge a new path,” they wrote on Instagram.