Seljord Lake and it’s Serpent

Lake Seljord is located in the heart of Telemark country in Norway. In the 1700’s it was known as Sillejord, derived from the area where the goat willow grows. However the town is not known for its sea serpent Selma that lives in the lake.  

 The first sighting of the serpent was 266 years ago in 1750. Gunleik Andersson Verpe from Bø was transporting his belongings to his newly bough farm called Nes. The farm was located over on the opposite side of the lake, and the contemporary roads were not great at that time, so Gunleik decided to row across the lake, using two flat bottomed rowing boats, one was towed behind the first boat. The serpent appeared out of nowhere and overturned the second boat. After this incident, people started bringing protection when they crossed the lake. They would arm themselves with axes, boat hooks or spears.

The descriptions of the serpent have been of considerably variation. Gunleik described it with a horse’s head, common Scandinavian folklore trope, also in connection to Nöcken and other water creatures. In addition to this it has been described with a head like a moose, cow, crocodile, eel or fish. The length of the creature ranging from a couple of meters to about 50 meters long, usually brown or blue black of colour. There are over hundres of witness accounts of the sperpent, ranging from the first sighting by Gunleik in 1750 to present day. Further, some of the most popular accounts will be recited.

 “In the 1880s there was a woman called Gunnhild Bjørge who were doing laundry at Bjørgesanden, a beach down from a farm called Bjørge. The clothes were boiled in lye, rinsed in water then beaten clean with a washing paddle. Whilst she was doing laundry a peculiar beast came crawling up on the beach. It looked like a lizard, about a meter long. Gunnhild had never seen anything like it, and it made her so nervous she hit it with the washing paddle. She managed to separate it from behind the neck, and the creature was very soft. The back part of the animal slid back into the lake, but the front part was left on the beach for a long time. It attracted people who wanted to see the creature, most of them thought she had killed the serpent’s offspring.”

September 1964 Olaf Pedersen, Torgrim Bjørge and one additional man travelled to Sinneodden to fish: “It was a dark evening, so we thought there would be a lot of fish. The fish did bite so we all got a nice amount of fish. Later in the night they were making coffee, it was cold so they made a big bonfire down by the beach stones. Suddenly, Torgrim jumped and pointed at the lake. There was a big animal coming towards them, its head lifted about half a meter over the water. They all jumped up. Torgrim found the fishing rod to have something to hit with, Olaf Pedersen through a big rock towards the animal. It turned around and glided into the darkness. They sat down by the fire again and allegedly Torgrim said: “ Don’t tell tell anyone we have seen anything, it’s just gonna get us in trouble. I have seen the animal before, but I keep it to myself.”

Another story from around the 60s: “A man was rowing across the lake late at night. He came to Heggenes, when he looked behind himself. He saw an animal in the water, about 10 meters from the boat. It was as long as a log, and black. The neck and the head were above the water, and it looked like a fish or an eel. The neck was bent, and he saw that the creature had some kind of horse’s mane. It lay still and he rowed around it, to look at it from all angles. The creature lay there for half an hour. The man was sweaty and cold, so he continued rowing towards his destination.”

In 1980’s some kids were playing in the water whilst two women were sun bathing on the the same beach as Gunnhild, Bjørgesanden. The adults spotted something moving so fast it made a big wave in the water, moving from the middle of the lake to the East- side towards Raudjuv. They thought they saw something black under the welling waves. The lake had been quiet, and the women had not seen any boats that day. The movement suddenly stopped, but the women kept watch, and about ten minutes later the movement started on the opposite side of the lake with great speed moving from Nes to Almankås. One of the women was later contacted by a female taxi driver that told her she had seen people stop their cars by Raudjuv, and they were watching the lake. The taxi driver had gone out of her car and to the side of the mountain and looked down on the lake where she saw two sea serpents swimming in the water.

 Even with a lot of sightings through 266 years the sea serpent has not scared away the locals. Their interaction with the lake has gone from transport, food and necessity to leisure and entertainment, like fishing, sunbathing and swimming. Other interactions are through tourism. In 1977 a German newspaper offered a price for a photo of the sea serpent which resulted in increased tourism in the town of Seljord. In 1983 people found a decomposed 3,65-meter-long snake serpent. Norwegian media blew up the story. Tourist busses travelled to the lake so the passenger could view the cadaver. The NRK (Norwegian national TV channel) travelled to the lake to make a segment for the evening news. However, zoologist soon confirmed that it was a type of boa snake (Boidae). Years later a man came forward, he was a zoologist assistant at University of Oslo. His intention had been to play a prank on his friend, who was delayed, and the snake cadaver was instead found by Mari and Harald Foss.

There have been many attempts to scientifically prove the existence of sea serpent in lake Seljord. Jan-Ove Sundberg did several years of research to try and find the sea serpent, mostly through Global Underwater Search team, or GUST. Several expeditions have been performed, most famously in 1998, alas, all of them without any consistent proof of a creature.

Sources:

Sandsdalen, H. J. (1976) Ormen i Seljordsvannet Oslo: Noregs Boklag

Botsfjord, F. (1999) Secret life of the Norwegian Nessie [Online] Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/sep/01/4 [Accessed: 28.11.19]

Fjågesund, P. (2005) Seljord og Sjøormen [Online] Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20070319190657/http:/www.seljord.kommune.no/default.asp?uid=254&cid=10[Accessed: 27.11.19]

Seljord Kommune (2019) Om Seljord [Online] Available from:  https://www.seljord.kommune.no/?cat=492206[Accessed: 30.11.19]

Solem, M.W.  (2011) Kulturhistorisk Registrering [Online] Available from:  https://docplayer.me/49715988-Seljord-kommune-riksveg-36-seljordstrondi.html[Accessed: 02.12.19]

Sundberg, J. O. (1998) Disse sto frem:100 VITNEUTSAGN [Online] Available from: https://gustnor.wordpress.com/disse-sto-frem-100-vitneutsagn/[Accessed: 30.11.19]

Visit Seljord (n.d.) Sjøormtårnet [Online] Available from:  https://www.visittelemark.no/seljord/ting-a-gjera/sjoormtarnet-p539803[Accessed: 30.11.19]

Visit Telemark (n.d.) Sjøormen I Seljordsvatnet [Online] Available from:  https://telemarkshistorier.no/kultur-og-tradisjon/sjoormen-i-seljordsvatnet/[Accessed: 30.11.19]

Vreim, T. (n.d.) Ormen i Seljordsvatnet [Online] Available from: http://frigg.sprakochfolkminnen.se/static/js-apps/sagenkarta-norsk/#/record/nfs818/search/Seljord/search_field/record[Accessed: 02.12.19]