The Haunted Hut on Iceland — Moon Mausoleum
South on the Island of Iceland, so, pretty much far north either way. A small hut is placed on a field. From it you can look in every direction, nature, beautiful nature, lonesome nature.
The Icelandic Touring Association built the lodge in 1930. The closest neighbor is some old farm ruins. To the north, Iceland’s second largest glacier, Langjökull, towers over the horizon, always reminding the summer there is a cold winter after it. In the winter, storms can havock the highlands for days, making the area harsh in the winter, and green in the summer. Farming was a way of living here in the old days, although, no one lives there all year today.
The Most Haunted Place in the Country
Today it’s those found of nature and solitues that are drawn to this place, to this hut. It has to floors and room to 30 persons in bunk beds. The kitchen is narrow, but has running water and a gas oven. The toilet is outside.
It is a place for the people yearning for a simple life. It is a place for people, not afraid for ghosts.
All since it was built, the hut has had complaints about something lurking, howling as the winter storms. The hut is said to be the most haunted place in Iceland, and that is saying something for a country so steeped in the supernatural ways and legends. When guests arrive late at night they have vividly seen her face in the window, expecting her when entering. But once inside, there is no one but the gathering dust and coldness of solitude. Guest, in particular male guests have been tormented, some even driven out from the warm hut.
According to the stories, there is the ghost of a woman, not letting the guests get a good night sleep. Something she even kicks them out of the bed, there is especially this one bed, no one can have a good rest on. It is nicknamed the ‘ghost bunk’ or ‘her bed’. It is placed on the opposite way than the rest of the beds by the door.
In all travel hut, there must be a guest book. And in this one, countless of frightened visitors have scribble down how they slept in their car instead, or didn’t get a single minute of sleep because of the hauntings.
Who is she?
There are several theories of who this girl can be. Just a stone throw away from the hut there have been discovered traces of the ruins of a village, at least settlements called Tjarnarkot. Could the ghost be from this time? It is said to have been inhabited as soon as Iceland was discovered, but after Hekla, the volcano erupted around 1104, the place was deserted. Was it before this? Was it after? Was it ever?
One theory of what happened is that the husband cut of her arm and drowned her in a lake nearby. Another is that she died after being left by him while pregnant. Classic tales of female ghosts.
Whoever she is, she refuses to leave. In 1996, there was a priest named Björn H. Jónsson that blessed the hut, but to no avail, she wont leave. Books, podcasts, the news and paranormal researches have tried and failed to find her identity or proof of her existence for years. And she is not likely to be leaving anytime soon. She has been her long before the guests started arriving at the hut, and she will be staying long after they have gone.
Originally published at https://moonmausoleum.com on October 15, 2020.
