Arnarfjörður — the sea monster coast

OVERVIEW

Bíldudalur is a village of about 240 people on the coast of Arnarfjörður, one of the Westfjords, in the Vesturbyggð municipality. It prospered in the nineteenth century on fishing and trade after Ólafur Thorlacius set up business here. The Skrímslasetrið, the Icelandic Sea Monster Museum, opened in the village in 2009 and exists to gather and present the accounts of monsters reported in the fjord.

HISTORY

Arnarfjörður has the densest record of sea-monster reports in Iceland, going back through the folklore collections and into the local written record: the skeljaskrímsli or shell monster, the fjörulalli or shore-walker, the faxaskrímsli and others, each with a described form and behaviour. The museum's work has been to collect the individual accounts — who saw what, where, and when — rather than to argue for them.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

The museum presents the reports as reports, with the tellers named where they are known, which is exactly the standard this file works to. The entry records the one place in Iceland where a body of sea-monster testimony has been systematically gathered and put on public display.

VISITING

The Sea Monster Museum is in the village on Arnarfjörður, open in the summer season; Route 63 in the Westfjords, a long drive from anywhere. Check opening before travelling.