Ukategorisert
The Ghost of the Hay at Hvítárvellir on the White Floor
On the night before her wedding, a girl was tracked down by a ghost sent to kill her. Who was behind the haunting, and where did the ghost go after their encounter?
On the night before her wedding, a girl was tracked down by a ghost sent to kill her. Who was behind the haunting, and where did the ghost go after their encounter?
Once there was a farmhand at Hvítárvellir who is not himself named, nor is it said who his master was. Hvítárvellir is an old large farm and mansion in Borgarfjörður at the mouth of the Hvítá River. The land was considered one of the most valuable lands in the country and was, among other things, one of the largest salmon fishing grounds in Borgarfjörður.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland
As an old farm with a long history, there have been more than one ghost passing through the place. But unlike the more vengeful ghost of Stormhöttir and the Hvítárvellir-Skotta that caused misery, accidents and even deaths, the spectre that became known as the Ghost of the Hay, was a more tragic figure.
The Ghost of the Hay
Before he came back as a ghost, he was a gardener at Hvítárvellir and harvested all the hay, and he had plenty of work, for there was then a large herd of cattle, both cows and steers. This man with no name set his heart on a girl at the farm. Although the farm has a pretty good record of those who have lived there throughout the years, she also remains nameless.
Alas, she did not want to have the gardener and she rejected him. Because of this the man became depressed and isolated himself from the others and only focused on his work that was done as it always had been. Now, no one wanted him, and he wanted no one.
One day, he was found hanged in his own neckerchief in one of the haystacks. People believed that he had taken his own life out of grief because he could not have the girl. She had meanwhile become betrothed to another man.
Life went on, and on the evening before her wedding, the weather was fine and the moonlight bright. The girl still had things to get in order for her wedding in the morning, like finishing her bridal shoes. She said to a maid at Hvítárvellir that she should come with her out to the doorway of the house to keep her company as she worked on her shoes, since the night was so fair and bright outside and it was not yet the time when people lit lamps.
They sat on the doorstep for a while, the bride-to-be working on the shoes and the other maid relaxing beside the bride-to-be until the maid got sleepy and yawned before calling it a night. The bride-to-be sat still as before and finished the shoes. When she had completed them she happened to look out and saw a man coming up from below the field.
He looked rather imposing, and he did not greet her. She addressed him first and asked who he was. According to the sources, he introduced himself, but there are no signs of her knowing or recognizing him. He claimed he had business with her. She said: “It is good then that I was not in bed since you have business with me, but what is your business now?”
“I intend to kill you,” he said.
“I think you will not do that,” she said, “and now do either this: go to the lowest and worst hell, or go to the damned north to a hayfield and row there for eternity. You will have nothing else from me.”
“I’ll rather go north to the hayfield a thousand times,” said the ghost, and he quickly turned and went there, and clairvoyant men have often seen him rowing there. After that the girl was entirely free of him and she was married in the morning.
It is, in short, common talk that although it is often stormy at Hvítárvellir, as in many places in that district, never there does hay break apart in the yard if neither stones nor people are put on it, and men credit this to the ghost who lies on the hay and protects the hayyard from all hay damage, provided that he may be alone on the stack. But if people lie there on the hay or put stones on it, it is said that the hay breaks apart and is whirled away down to the fence-lines.
Once when the weather grew stormy there were in the hayyard at Hvítárvellir two haystacks among others, one newly stacked of loose and light meadow hay and unturfed, but the other compact and settled hay, turfed and well cared for. But all the same, all the turf and stones were flung off the latter haystack as if they were thrown, and the hay itself was scattered everywhere, while the newly piled hay was not disturbed in the least.
The Icelandic Ghost of Vengeance
About this ghost it is quite remarkable that he is one of the few who does good and not evil. A Móri is a male ghost in Iceland. When a male is raised from the dead for such a purpose like vengeance, he is not called a ghost, but a Móri. Often the term Fylgja ghost was used interchangeably with the Draug ghost. The female version of this vengeful ghost was called Skotta. Móri means rust brown in Icelandic and the ghosts were named so because of the color of their clothes.
Who was this ghost that came to her door the night before her wedding? Was it the man who took his own life, or perhaps a ghost he raised as revenge before leaving the world himself? There has also been speculation that the ghost who lies on the hay is the Skotti or the Hvítárvellir-Skotti that were mentioned earlier. Some also say that it is Stormhöttur who guards the hay there, as is mentioned regarding the Hvítárvellir-Skotta. But that’s another story.
Newest Posts
- The Utburd of Erstad: A Ghost That Led to the Court and Punishment
After strange knocking and poltergeist activity made the people at Erstad Farm believe it was haunted. And when they asked the ghost what it wanted, it unraveled the lives of more than one person forever. - The Legend of the Witches of Llers Castle and the Vampire, Conde Estruch of CataloniaWas there an iberian vampire before the European vampire panic in Eastern Europe? Who was really Conde Estruch, the vampire of Catalonia, and what happened to the witches of Llers Castle the count was said to use as his lair.
- The Haunted Pub Crawl through DublinJoin a haunted pub crawl through Dublin’s ancient streets for ghosts and a pint of Guinness. From plotting revolutionaries to somber writers, these pubs and bars are said to be a place where some of the patrons have been lingering for a long time.
- The Utburd of Børholmen and Erika Larsdatter Bogen: A Haunting and Scam That Reached the CourtroomIn 1852, the alleged psychic Erika Larsdatter Bogen, arrived at Børholmen, a small island in western Norway. She claimed that she had found the ghost and corpse of the dead child, and she named the mother who allegedly buried it. But what was the truth?
- Most Haunted Places in IrelandGhostly whispers in the old castle ruins, soldiers haunting the bloody battlefields and even the drums of pagan druids still lingering, Ireland is certainly a haunted country. This is only a small portion of the most haunted places in Ireland and the ghost stories behind them.
- The Brown Clad Man Haunting Sande Old VicarageWho is the ghostly priest in brown, haunting the old Vicarage in Sande? Legend says he still carries guilt for the young boy he failed that had tragic consequences.
- El Dip: The Catalan Vampire HoundIn the rural mountainside in Catalonia, Spain, there have long been talk about a vampiric beast of a hound that has tormented the livestock and the unfortunate person walking outside after dark. Could this legend be the one where other iberian vampire legends sprung from?
- The Haunting of Caerphilly Castle – The Lady in Green and the Hag of DeathA story of doomed lovers and haunted ivy leaves, the Lady in Green is said to haunt Caerphilly Castle in Wales together with the spirit of Gwrach-y-Rhibyn, wailing as an omen of death.
- The Haunted Tunnels of Hegra FortressAfter the battles during world war two, Hegra Fortress was a place that became known to withstand the Germans, although they too in the end had to raise the white flag. After the war, people started to believe that one of the fallen soldiers was still there, wandering the deep and damp tunnels.
- Wolfe Tone Square: The Hanging Judge Who Could Not RestIn a cemetery turned into a public park, the Wolfe Tone Square is said to be haunted by John Toler, one of Ireland’s most haunted man and remembered as the Hanging Judge.
- The Cabin Caretaker Still at the MountainThe old cabin high on Hardangervidda, Norway is said to be haunted by its very first caretaker. But although Krækkja DNT cabin is said to be his eternal home, it seems like the more people visiting, the more he retreats to the plateau.
- Guajona: The Blood-Thirsty Entity of Iberian FolklorePreying on the blood of the young one, the vampiric Guajona from northern Spain is said to stalk the villages and valleys in Cantabria, thirsting for blood.
References:
Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri/Draugasögur/Heygarðsdraugurinn á Hvítárvöllum – Wikiheimild
Hvítárvellir – Wikipedia, frjálsa alfræðiritið
