Skrimsli of Lagarfljót — The Worm That Will Not Die

Lagarfljót Lake, East Iceland

A vast serpentine creature has been reported in Iceland's largest river-lake for over 700 years — last caught on video in 2012, a clip that Icelandic national television aired without commentary.

The Lagarfljótsormur — the Lagarfljót Worm — first appears in Icelandic records in 1345. A young girl placed a small heath worm on a gold ring to make the gold grow, as folk magic prescribed. When she returned, the worm had grown enormous and the chest it was kept in had burst. She threw both ring and worm into the river Lagarfljót. The worm, the records note, continued to grow. Sightings have accumulated without interruption across seven centuries. The creature is described consistently: a series of humped coils, an indeterminate length estimated between ten and three hundred metres depending on the account, moving with a slow purposefulness that does not suggest a natural animal. It does not breach dramatically. It moves, and then it does not. In 2012, a farmer named Hjörtur Kjerúlf captured footage on a handheld camera showing what appeared to be a large, undulating form moving beneath the ice-covered surface of the lake. The footage was broadcast on Icelandic national television RÚV. A subsequent committee convened by the University of Iceland was unable to determine what the footage showed. It remains unexplained. The lake itself is unusual: long, narrow, fed by glacial meltwater from Vatnajökull, with depths and underwater cave systems that have not been fully charted. Locals treat the worm not as a monster but as a resident. It is considered bad luck to attempt to harm or capture it. In Icelandic folklore, the Lagarfljótsormur is also a weather prophet. When it is seen above the surface, storms are coming. When it is fully submerged, good weather follows. The forecast, locals say, is rarely wrong.