The Ghost From the Mounds of Finnbogastaðir

Buried in the mounds of the Icelandic landscape, a murdered shepherd came back from the dead as a Draugr or perhaps a Haugbúi ghost to haunt the people living at Finnbogastaðir farm.

The ghost story was published in the book Icelandic Folktales and Adventures (1862) and supposedly it all happened 40 years prior to publishing.

Read more: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

The author had heard mention of various ridges and mounds here in the district where people say that something “unclean” or haunted lingered in them, and it was thought to show itself most of all in the farm mound at Finnbogastaðir about forty years ago (the mound on which the farm stands).

Finnbogastaðir is a farm in Árneshreppur, Westfjords, a remote place of rugged coastline, dramatic mountains, and picturesque bays. Finnbogastaðir is a farm of considerable historical importance that traces itself back to the first settlement of Iceland during the Viking Age.

A farmer named Halldór once lived at Finnbogastaðir, but later moved his household to Reykjarfjörður. While he lived at Finnbogastaðir, in a fit of anger he once killed a shepherd boy who was with him, and buried him in the farm mound. Few stories went around about how the boy had died, since people did not press much after such small matters in those days.

The Nordic Draugr Ghosts and the Haugbúi (mound-dweller)

The Draugr of Icelandic folklore is one of the most feared undead beings in Norse tradition, often described as a malevolent ghost or revenant that clings to its burial mound or roams the living world with violent intent. Unlike the pale, ethereal spirits of later European folklore, the Draugr is corporeal—corpse-like, bloated, and often imbued with supernatural strength. Legends tell of Draugar (plural) crushing their victims, shapeshifting into monstrous animals, or spreading death through pestilence and madness. They were thought to guard treasures buried with them, punishing grave-robbers with terrifying force. Some tales even describe them as growing larger with every breath, an unstoppable presence embodying the fear of restless death and the corruption of the grave. Their origins lie in the belief that those who were greedy, cruel, or unwilling to leave the mortal world could rise again to torment the living.

Closely related, though often portrayed as less aggressive, is the Haugbúi, or “mound-dweller,” a type of ghost bound to its burial site, often mounds in the wild. Unlike the roaming Draugr, the Haugbúi typically remains within or near its grave, emerging only to guard its resting place and treasures. These beings were often seen as the lingering spirits of chieftains or warriors, bound to their burial mounds through strong ties of pride, greed, or unfinished duty. Farmers and villagers avoided disturbing such mounds for fear of awakening the spirit within, which could strike with sudden, spectral fury. The Haugbúi embodies the deep Norse respect for the land of the dead—where burial mounds were not merely graves but thresholds between worlds. Together, the Draugr and the Haugbúi reveal a haunting aspect of Norse belief: that death was not always a peaceful passage, and that the restless dead could remain tethered to the living, their presence a chilling reminder of mortality and vengeance beyond the grave.

The Killed Shepherd Comes Bach to Haunt

Many years later, Magnús Guðmundsson, the district officer who died four years before the publishing of the collection of ghost stories this legend featured in, lived at Finnbogastaðir. Magnús was the son of Guðmundur Bjarnason and did not originally believe in magic and ghost stories but changed his mind after his experiences.

He built a smithy close by the farm and cut out some sods from that mound in which the boy had been buried. His mother, who was with him then, old and very feeble, was greatly alarmed when she heard of these actions of her son, and said that some evil would come of it, for nowhere could he have cut sods in a worse place.

The very next night a ghost came to Magnús where he lay in his bed, and it seized so firmly on his feet that he was hurt by it and was half-ill the next day. The following night the ghost came again to Magnús and was then still stronger; it seized him by the thighs and elsewhere so that Magnús fell sick afterward. The night after that the ghost came once more to Magnús, seized him by the throat, and was nearly finished strangling him where he lay in bed above his wife. He lay long sick after this and was never the same in voice again, for when he spoke it always sounded as if someone were pressing lightly on his throat.

When these three nights were past and Magnús had fallen sick with fear and dread, people began to think badly of it. But fortunately there was a man in the household named Jón, who was somewhat skilled according to everyone’s report. He was then asked to drive this apparition away, and he was very willing to try it, though he said it would be most difficult. He had the house closed, every door signed with a cross, and planned to seize the ghost and press him so that he would leave the farmer in peace. But the ghost was so quick that Jón could by no means seize him. Then Jón took the plan of opening a window in the living-room and was able to drive the ghost out through it, then ran outside after him and meant to attack him there. But by then the ghost had become so afraid of Jón that he fled before him, and Jón chased him out past the land boundaries of the farm, and there they parted. The ghost has not since been seen at Finnbogastaðir.

But as for the ghost, it went straight to Reykjarfjörður, where the descendants of old Halldór were then living, and that very night went into the cowshed there and killed a cow. After that he has done no great harm, but until recently he has followed people of that family.

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