Glámr, the Restless Dead
In an Icelandic saga, a dead shepherd walks again at night, riding the roofs of a farm until a famous outlaw wrestles him in the moonlight.
What was reported
Grettis saga tells of Glámr, a huge, surly shepherd hired by a farmer in a remote valley where the sheep were troubled by something. On Christmas Eve he went out into a storm and didn't come back; he was found dead, and the body couldn't be carried to church. Soon he was seen walking again: a draugr, one of the restless dead, riding on the roof at night and terrifying the farm.
The strong outlaw Grettir stayed at the farm to face him, and they wrestled through the house until Glámr fell in the moonlight. Before Grettir finished him, Glámr laid a curse on him: that he would always be afraid of the dark.
Explanations offered
The sagas mix history and legend, and the draugr, a heavy, physical walking corpse, was a common figure in Norse belief. The scene with the moonlit face of the dead is one of the most famous in Icelandic literature.
- When
- Grettis saga, written around 1400
- Where
- Forsæludalur, northern Iceland
- Witnesses
- Icelandic saga tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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