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Explore Icelandic Folklore and Guided Tours in Reykjavik

The Christmas Book Flood in Iceland. Jólabókaflóð.

Iceland’s Christmas Book Flood

Why Icelanders Give Stories for Christmas? If you spend December in Iceland, you might notice something unusual in every home: towering stacks of new books. Not toys. Not...
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Icelandic ghosts and spirits: lantern-lit cairn, turf house, and a nykur silhouette by a misty pond under the aurora

Icelandic ghosts and spirits: Top 10 night terrors

Looking for Icelandic ghosts and spirits? Start here. From Glámur the bone-crushing draugur to the half-spoken Deacon of Myrká and the lake-lurking nykur, these are the night terrors...
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The Move – Elves move house

We have told you before that it is believed elves move house in the New Year or around Christmas. They are also known to enter people’s homes to...
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Redhead – How Hvalfjörður got its name

We have stories of how many places in Iceland got their name. Reykjavik – Smokey Bay – was supposedly named by Ingólfur Arnarson, the first settler of Iceland....
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Gold brow and Aud the Deep Minded

Some folktales tell the tales of people we know to have existed, such as Sæmundur the Learned. The following story falls into that category. Aud The Deep-Minded is...
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The Manservant and the Water Elves

Elves or hidden people are often quite mean in Icelandic folktales. You can never take them for granted, and being the capricious creatures they are; you should never...
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Úlfsvatn – A Tale of Outlaws in Iceland

Outlaws in Iceland were feared. The average Icelander feared them even more than ghosts. It is understandable to fear them, as they were real but probably not as...
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The Two Sigurdurs – An Icelandic Ghost Story

There are many different types of ghosts categorized in Icelandic ghost stories. Apart from zombies and spectres, there are also “fylgjur”, spirits that attach themselves to a person...
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Ghosts, specters, and zombies in Icelandic folktales

Ghosts in Icelandic folktales are categorized into three categories: Ghosts who either voluntarily or for some other reason, man-made or similar, wander after death. Zombies are almost always...
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“The Darkness is Fun” – An Icelandic Ghost story

This is a short ghost story. But people have told stories about how newly dead men have spoken during their wake or when they are being buried. Some...
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