Storsjöodjuret
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Swedish folklore Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been under mutual influence with, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sáp ...
, the Storsjöodjuret (, literally "The Great-Lake Monster") is a lake monster said to live in the lake
Storsjön Storsjön (, ) is the fifth largest lake in Sweden, with an area of and a greatest depth of . It is the largest lake in central Sweden, located in the province of Jämtland in modern Jämtland County. From Storsjön runs the river Indalsälven ...
in
Jämtland Jämtland () is a historical provinces of Sweden, province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland, Sweden, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norw ...
in the middle of
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. The lake monster is first attested in a 1635 manuscript, according to which the sea/lake serpent (''sjöorm'') was bound up magically in the lake's depths by Kettil Runske who carved his spell into the
Frösö Runestone Frösöstenen ( J RS1928;$66 ) is the northernmost raised runestone in ScandinaviaThe northernmost in the world is the Kingittorsuaq Runestone, in Greenland and Jämtland's only runestone. It originally stood at the tip of ferry terminal on the ...
(Frösö being an island in this lake). Later folk legends circulating locally in Jämtland claimed the monster was a product of tinkering by two
trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...
, and that it was a cat-headed creature with a black serpentine body. There have been numerous eyewitness accounts since the 19th century, giving varying details, some claiming a dog-like head.


Name

The monster is popularly referred to as Storsjöodjuret (the noun ''Storsjöodjur'' was first used in 1899) where ''odjur'' is a Swedish word for ‘monster’ or ‘large
vermin Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases and destroy crops, livestock, and property. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by regi ...
’, literally ‘unanimal’. While Storsjö is the name of a lake (or lakes), ''storsjö'' can also be a
common noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an object or subject within a phrase, clause, or sentence.Example n ...
meaning ‘great-lake’, being the compound of Swedish ''stor'' (‘big’ or ‘great’) and ''sjö'' (‘lake’) . Sometimes it is simply called Storsjödjuret (‘The great-lake animal’). In the
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
Storsjöodjuret is sometimes called Storsie, similarly to
Nessie NESSIE (New European Schemes for Signatures, Integrity and Encryption) was a European research project funded from 2000 to 2003 to identify secure cryptographic primitives. The project was comparable to the NIST AES process and the Japanese Go ...
, though the names Storsjö Monster, Storsjoe Monster or "the monster of Lake Storsjön", etc., and the literal translation The Great Lake Monster are used. Its
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
name is ''Hydogiganta Monstruidae Jemtlandicum''. It has also been called Storsjöormen (‘The Great Lake Serpent’).


Legends

;17th century attestations The earliest description is of a sea/lake-serpent () inhabiting Storsjön, contained in a manuscript by Morten Pedersen Herdal dated to 1635. According to commentators this text ascribed to rune-master Kettil Runske the feat of binding this serpent to the bottom of the lake by carving a magic spell into the
Frösö Runestone Frösöstenen ( J RS1928;$66 ) is the northernmost raised runestone in ScandinaviaThe northernmost in the world is the Kingittorsuaq Runestone, in Greenland and Jämtland's only runestone. It originally stood at the tip of ferry terminal on the ...
(erected on Frösö, an island in this lake). A version of the legend was also recorded in the group of writings associated with the ' (‘Researches into Antiquities’), specifically in a piece dated 1685 by Anders Plantin (Andreas Plantinus):
"It is said that beneath this unetone lies a dreadfully large head of a serpent and that the body stretches over Storsjön to village and Hille Sand where the tail is buried. The serpent was called a rå and therefore shall this stone be raised. Since no one peacefully could cross torsjön the ferryman and his wife states, along with many others, that in the last turbulent time this stone was torn down and broken in two. As long as this stone lay on the ground many strange things occurred in the water, until the stone was raised and assembled anew".
The Frösö stone has a large serpent depicted on it, but there is no reference to it nor to Kettil Runske in the text itself, which instead tells about Austmaðr, Guðfastr's son's christening of Jämtland, and the construction of the Frösö Bridge, though the stone has indeed been broken in two pieces. ;Folktale The folk-legend that circulated around the Jämtland region provided additional details. According to this lore, "A long, long time ago", two trolls named Jata and Kata were on Storsjön's shore, each one brewing his cauldron at the lake for "days, weeks and months", until at last was heard "a groaning sound as if from a sick child" followed by a "loud bang.. as if by a violent thunderclap", and out of one cauldron leaped out a strange creature with a black serpent-like body and a cat-like head, which disappeared into the lake (the trolls and the cauldrons too vanished as well, in a wisp of white smoke, leaving a gaping abyss). The monster dwelling in the lake became a menace to surrounding areas, and grew so big as to encircle the entire island of Frösön and be able to bite its own tail. Then came along Ketil Jamte who bound the beast by carving spells into a stone which was erected on the east shore of Frösön. Parts of the beast were still visible above the water-line, but it is warned that it could be liberated some day when someone deciphers the runestone. The name of the hero may be Ketil Jamte or Ketil Ruske depending on the version. According to one informant, the rune-master was named Gudfast, which thus makes connection with the legendary Austmann Gudfastsson (, aforementioned, inscribed on the runestone).


Eyewitness accounts

There have been hundreds of recorded sightings of ''Storsjöodjuret'' dating back to the 19th century. Newspapers reported in July 1857 that workers at the Forssbacka bruk (iron mill) on the lake spotted from far away a creature with a head "black and gleaming", about the size of a large cat's head (), with the water movement suggesting it was a sort of sea-serpent. Peter Olsson published an 1899 booklet, documenting 22 eyewitness testimonies, and collated the details in his summary. Olsson, a naturalist, concluded that the most likely match was some aquatic mammal that had yet to be identified. The monster has been reported by various witnesses to measure on the order of in length, the length in Olsson's accounts ranging from 3.5 to 14 meters (converted from the Swedish ''fot'', foot or ''aln'', cubit). It had a snake-like body, long neck, with some giving the description of a dog-like head, thus making it an eared creature, unlike most serpents, though some accounts describing as finned is ambiguous as to fins or ears. Some said it had several humps () on its back, but Olsson lumped these cases together with "vertical" curvings or undulations ().


Capture campaign

Common interest in the creature was sparked first in the 1890s. After several sightings, an enterprise of locals was founded to catch the monster in 1894, even obtaining the sponsorship of King
Oscar II Oscar II (Oscar Fredrik; 21 January 1829 – 8 December 1907) was King of Sweden from 1872 until his death in 1907 and King of Norway from 1872 to 1905. Oscar was the son of King Oscar I and Queen Josephine. He inherited the Swedish and Norweg ...
. The failed attempt was featured in a satirical cartoon by
Albert Engström Albert Engström (1869–1940) was a Swedish artist, author and member of the Swedish Academy from 1922.:sv:Albert Engström, Albert Engström. ''sv.wikipedia.org''. Retrieved: 27 June 2013. Career Engström was born in Lönneberga, Kalmar Cou ...
in the magazine.


Film footage

In August 2008, a film crew claimed to have captured Storsjöodjuret on film, reporting that infrared cameras showed an
endothermic An endothermic process is a chemical or physical process that absorbs heat from its surroundings. In terms of thermodynamics, it is a thermodynamic process with an increase in the enthalpy (or internal energy ) of the system.Oxtoby, D. W; Gillis, ...
mass in the lake.


Protected status

The only city located by Storsjön,
Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...
, celebrated its 200-year anniversary in 1986. That year, the Jämtland county administrative board declared Storsjöodjuret to be an
endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
, and Storsjöodjuret along with its offspring and nest became protected by
law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
. The law was revoked in 2005, with the
Parliamentary Ombudsman Parliamentary Ombudsman (, , , , ) is the name of the principal ombudsman institutions in Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (where the term ''justice ombudsman'' – or JO – is also used). In each case, the terms refer both to the of ...
(JO/''Justitieombudsmannen'') spearheading the criticism., quoting


Explanatory notes


Citations

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * * . PDF via * *


External links


Official page of Storsjöodjuret
In Swedish, English, German
Great Lake Monster Website

Storsie – 1857 report discovered
, Trinkelbonker
Storsjöodjurets observationsdatabas
- query specifying location ("Frösö"), etc. returns dataset of alleged sightings, the website also holds numerous digicopies of newspaper articles. {{DEFAULTSORT:Storsjoodjuret Scandinavian legendary creatures Jämtland County Swedish legends Lake monsters Germanic dragons