Storsjön — Storsjöodjuret, the Great-Lake Monster

OVERVIEW

Storsjöodjuret is a lake monster said to live in Storsjön, a 90-metre-deep lake in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. Witnesses describe a long serpentine body, a long neck and a dog- or cat-like head.

HISTORY

The earliest description is in a manuscript of 1635 by Morten Pedersen Herdal, in which the rune-master Kettil Runske binds the lake serpent with a spell carved on the Frösö Runestone. Anders Plantin recorded a version in 1685. In July 1857 newspapers reported that workers at the Forssbacka iron mill saw a head 'black and gleaming', the size of a large cat's. A company of locals formed in 1894 to catch it, with the sponsorship of King Oscar II, and failed. The naturalist Peter Olsson published 22 eyewitness testimonies in 1899 and concluded it was probably an unidentified aquatic mammal.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

LEGEND. Hundreds of sightings since the 19th century give lengths of 3.5 to 14 metres. In August 2008 a film crew said infrared cameras had picked up a warm mass in the lake.

VISITING

A public lake; Östersund stands on its shore.