The Deacon of Dark River - An Icelandic Ghost Story

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Djákninn á Myrká meaning the Deacon of Dark River is an Icelandic folk tale that have been passed down for generations now. It tells the story of the ghost of a man trying to make his girlfriend join him in death.

Once upon a time in Horgardalur not far from Akureyri in Iceland a deacon lived on a farm called Myrká. He was riding his trusted horse called Faxi to meet up with the woman he loved named Guðrún. It was the day before Christmas, a stormy and cold winter night.

It was a long ride to her farm called Bægisá. On the way to her he had to cross the river Hörgá, but he fell into it. He ended up drowning and only his horse survived the night. He was found the next morning by a farmer and laid to rest, but Guðrún didn’t get the message and she waited for her loved one to come and pick her up.

So when she got a visitor in the darkness she believed it was him and went with him. He was behaving strangely though and kept calling her Garún. In Icelandic folklore, ghosts are unable to utter the word for God, which Guðrún is compiled of.

It wasn’t before the raging wind blows off the large hat on the visitor she realizes it isn’t her boyfriend alive, but a skeleton. She also saw an open grave in the graveyard the skeleton tried to pull her towards.

The ghost skeleton of her boyfriend keeps pestering her and he wants her to join him in death so they can be together. Guðrún finally breaks free from the ghost and gets the help of a sorcerer. The sorcerer traps the ghost on unholy ground outside the graveyard belonging to the church at Myrka.

He places a large and cursed stone on it that still holds the ghost of the priest’s apprentice. You can still see it today on the unholy ground, still waiting for his girlfriend to be together forever.