Earlier this month, Icelandic resident Hjörtur E. Kjerúlf was having coffee in his house near Lake Lagarfljót, when he spotted something moving in the water. He immediately picked up his camera and started recording (link: Iceland Review). Below is the video he took.
Is it evidence of the existence of the Lagarfljót Worm -- the giant worm monster said to live in Lake Lagarfljót? Or is it just a piece of fishing net floating in the water?
The worm monster, or Lagarfljótsormur, is Iceland's equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. The legend of it is centuries old. Wikipedia offers this account of the creature's origin:
According to the folk tradition recorded by Jón Árnason, the great serpent in Lagarfljót grew out of a small "lingworm" or heath-dragon; a girl was given a gold ring by her mother, and asked how she might best derive profit from the gold, was told to place it under a lingworm.[1] She did so, and put it in the top of her linen chest for a few days, but then found that the little dragon had grown so large, it had broken open the chest. Frightened, she threw both it and the gold into the lake,[2] where the serpent continued to grow and terrorized the countryside, spitting poison and killing people and animals.
"...where the serpent continued to grow and terrorized the countryside, spitting poison and killing people and animals", until more recently, when it's been content to do little except show itself in a grainy film.
Posted by Paul Taylor on Sat Feb 25, 2012 at 08:35 AM
Are there any large invertebrates that can live in icy waters like that? I've heard of giant squids washing on shore during winter but I would imagine they lived in deeper waters.
Posted by Mark on Sat Feb 25, 2012 at 10:38 AM
That video was soon debunked. It is piece of fishing net in running water. Note some leafs at a static position in the foreground.
Posted by Lars Willen on Sat Feb 25, 2012 at 11:31 AM
I reckon it's a bear with a fish. I'm not getting fooled like that again.
Posted by Paul Taylor on Sun Feb 26, 2012 at 02:00 AM
Yeah, the fact that the object is pretty clearly anchored in place makes it unlikely to be a monster swimming around.
Meanwhile, I'm going to take note of the whole "hide your riches beneath a dragon to increase them" idea. . .
Posted by Accipiter on Mon Feb 27, 2012 at 03:00 PM
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http://news.discovery.com/animals/icelandic-river-monster-121302.html
Meanwhile, I'm going to take note of the whole "hide your riches beneath a dragon to increase them" idea. . .