Episode 5: Under Construction

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On the southwest corner of Iceland, just to the south of the city of Reykjavik, is a small peninsula that juts out into the cold waters of the North Atlantic.

It's known as the Alftanes Peninsula, and although few people live there, the local government recently decided to connect the small stretch of land to the town of Gardeber,

a suburb of Reykjavik.

Last year, however, construction on the new road was brought to a halt.

Standing in their way was a massive rock 12 feet high and weighing an estimated 70 tons.

According to Highway Department employee Peter Mathiason, the rock has presented an unusual challenge to his department's construction project.

Now,

you have to understand something about Iceland.

Much of the region is a vast expanse of sparse grass and large volcanic rock formations.

The ground literally boils with hot water, springs, and geysers, and the sky seems to be eternally gray and cloudy.

So it's important to recognize that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of these volcanic stones along the construction route.

So what could possibly be so important about this one particular stone?

Why would the highway department go to such lengths, even covering the expense of hiring a crane just to move the stone to a safer location?

The stone, they say,

is inhabited.

It is, as it has been for many long centuries, home to the Huldafolk, the hidden people.

They are the size and shape of humans and live in much the same way that we do.

Except, of course,

they're invisible.

I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is Lore.

In the late 1930s, another road construction project in the same area of Iceland was planned to cut straight through a hill known as Alf Hole.

From the beginning, though, the project was met with challenges.

First, the money for the project simply ran out, and when funding resumed a decade later, construction encountered even more problems.

The machines that were used to cut through the hill started to break at an unusual rate.

Tools were damaged and lost.

In the end, the road was simply built around the hill to avoid the digging altogether.

When the road was due for updating in the 1980s, the notion of demolishing the hill was again brought up.

And this time more machinery was brought in to drill through the actual hill.

After the first drill broke, another was brought in, but but it too stopped working.

After that, the workers themselves even refused to bring any of their own tools near the hill out of fear that they would be lost or broken by the Huldefolk who guard the place.

Iceland is a culture that is teeming with references to this invisible society of human-like creatures.

In a recent survey, more than half of all the people in the country, 54% in fact, said that they believed in the existence of these creatures.

But who are the Huldafolk?

According to one Icelandic folktale, the hidden people can be traced back to Adam and Eve.

According to the legend, Eve had a number of children whom she hid from God.

But God, being omniscient and aware of everything that happens, found them anyway.

In the story, God declared that what man hides from God, God will hide from man.

As a result, these children of Adam and Eve vanished from sight and have lived alongside humans ever since, hidden from our eyes.

Wherever they came from, Iceland is apparently filled with them.

They are described as being the same size as humans, usually clad in 19th century Icelandic clothing, which is often described as being green and simple.

The people of Iceland have another term for these creatures, though.

They don't use it as often as Huldafolk because they feel it's not as respectful to the hidden people.

But it's a word we all know,

and its history and meaning run very deep.

They call them

elves.

When we think of elves, most of us imagine the little people who helped Santa Claus in his workshop at the North Pole.

We picture tiny people with pointed ears who wear tall, pointed hats.

But that vision of elves is actually new, dating back only to Victorian-era fairy tales when French stories of fairies were mixed and confused with more ancient tales of elves from the Celtic, Germanic, and Scandinavian peoples.

The oldest records of something resembling elves are from Anglo-Saxon England and medieval Iceland,

though there are some records that exist from Germany as well.

And the characteristics are consistent across the continents.

Elves were described as human-like, that they were once divine creatures of some unknown origin, and that they were very,

very dangerous.

In Norse mythology, elves were mainly thought of as females who lived in the hills and mounds of stone.

The Swedish elves were said to be beautiful girls who lived in the forest with their king, and Scandinavian folklore described them as fair-haired, dressed in white, and dangerous when offended.

In fact, in many folktales, elves were given the role of the disease spirits.

An elf could inflict horrible skin rashes on the one who offended them, and the term was called an elven blow.

The only way to calm and satisfy them was to actually visit their homes, often a large pile of stones or large stone in the woods, and leave them an offering of food.

Elves, you see,

were dangerous.

At first, elves were simply thought of as mischievous pranksters.

Anything odd that happened during a person's day could be blamed on elves.

A tangle in a person's hair was called an elf lock, and birthmarks were referred to as elf marks.

Elves had a darker side, however.

Much like their cultural counterparts in other countries, such as hobs, leprechauns, hobgoblins, and trolls, elves were known to be highly dangerous.

A deeply common thread through all cultures is how easy it is to offend them and how terrible the consequences might be if that happened.

One such tale was that of the changeling.

According to legend, elves would invade the home of new parents and swap out their infant child for a small elf.

Now, while the human baby would be wonderfully cared for back in the home of the elves, the surrogate that was left behind, the changeling it was called, would be fussy and unhappy.

In Iceland there are tales of Holdefolk who kidnap adults, who are then taken back to the hills to work for the hidden people.

In their place, the Huldefolk leave emotionless, hollow copies of the ones they take.

It was said that if someone you knew underwent a severe personality change, becoming depressed or listless, it was because they had been replaced by the elves.

It was also believed that elves could actually enter the dreams of a sleeping person and cause nightmares to happen.

In fact, the German word for nightmare is Alpdrucken, Alpdrucken, which literally means elf pressure.

You see, if it was horrible, unexplainable, or tragic, there was always one easy explanation that dominated medieval minds.

Blame it on the elves.

But what if these were more than just folktales?

If so, that might explain the incredibly similar stories that exist among the native tribes of the American Northeast.

In 2011, a non-profit housing developer in the United States began the final stages of their plan to build a $19 million 120-unit construction project known as the Villages.

Everything about it looked promising.

It would generate roughly $1.5 million in tax revenue for the town of Montville, Connecticut.

It would create over 100 construction-related jobs.

And once completed, it would actually provide affordable housing for scores of local families.

Now, because the village's project was a non-profit endeavor, the development company applied for federal funding to offset their costs.

As a requirement for the funding process, The developer was required to complete an archaeological survey of the 12.2-acre parcel of land.

And that's when they hit a snag.

The proposed building site, it turns out, encroached on Mohegan tribe property.

The Mohegan people were an offshoot of the Pequot tribe, originating in 17th-century Connecticut.

They have deep roots in the area, and naturally, parts of their historic past are still present today.

Among the sensitive archaeological sites that the Mohegan tribe claimed were at risk were Fort Shantock, Mosip's Rock, and Mohegan Hill.

None of those historic sites are unusual in any way, but when the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Mohegans presented their case to the Federal Housing and Urban Development Department, there was one complaint that stood out among the others.

Creatures, they claimed, lived inside Mohegan Hill.

The construction project threatened their lives, and unless it was stopped, the little people, as they called them, would disappear, leaving the tribe unprotected from outsiders.

The tribe has long believed in the existence of creatures who they call Mekiaowasug, the little people.

The stone piles on top of Mohegan Hill were said to have been built by them long ago and served as protection from the the outside world.

These Makayawasug have remained inside the hill ever since, guarding the stones and protecting the tribe.

These were powerful creatures that could protect and preserve the tribe, but if ignored or treated poorly, could also bring great harm and chaos.

And so naturally, the Mohegan people became very good at managing their relationship with them.

One of the most prominent Mohegan tribe members of the last century was a woman named Gladys Tantaquidgen, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 106.

She was a 10th generation descendant of the Mohegan chief Uncas, a prominent colonial era leader, and was also a tribal medicine woman.

Her role included maintaining her tribe's knowledge of the Makiawasug and how to interact with them.

According to Tantaquidgen, there were even four non-negotiable laws for dealing with the little people.

First, serve and protect their leader and matriarchal deity, Granny Squannet.

Second, never speak to them in the summer months when they are the most active.

Third, never stare directly at one, or else the creature would become invisible and steal your belongings.

And finally, leave them offerings from time to time.

And so to this day, the Mohegan tribe continues to make offerings to these creatures in hopes that they will continue their role as protectors and guardians of the tribe.

It is traditional to leave them an offering of cornmeal and berries, and sometimes even meat.

Sound familiar?

The vast majority of people in the world don't really believe in the existence of elves or hidden people living in the bones of the earth.

One explanation as to why Iceland is different, though, actually has to do with the Vikings.

You see, when they conquered a city, the Vikings had real-life enemies to focus their hatred on.

When they settled Iceland, however, no one else was there to be defeated.

Perhaps the Huldafolk provided the excuse that the Vikings needed to feel like conquerors in a land with no native inhabitants.

Other scholars believe that elves represent our connection to the Earth of old.

They are sort of a primitive environmentalism, a reminder of the way life used to be before urban sprawl and manufacturing left its mark on our world.

Whatever the reason, our ancestors firmly believed in these otherworldly beings who could bless or curse them at will.

Elves served as an excuse for the unexplained, as solid ground when nothing else seemed to make sense.

We might laugh it off from our modern point of view today, but centuries ago, elves literally gave people an opportunity to hope, or a reason to be afraid.

And remember Peter Matthiason, the highway department employee in Reykjavik, Iceland?

He's made it very clear to journalists that he doesn't believe in elves.

But that doesn't stop him from telling an odd story to those who ask.

Apparently, His family came from the northern side of Iceland long ago.

There, in the wild wild north country, the family claimed to have had a protective elf who brought good fortune to them.

When they moved south, the family elf remained behind.

Peter recalls going on a camping trip in the north some years ago.

Before he left, his father asked him while he was there to go and pay his respects to the elf.

and to thank her for the help she had given his family.

Not being one to believe in the old stories, Peter claims he forgot.

The next day, however, despite an overcast sky and wet drizzle, he woke up sore and blistered by what he described as something like a sunburn.

In fact, he could barely stand.

Did Peter experience some

random, mysterious dermatological episode?

Or was he the victim of an elven blow from an angry family patron?

Like his ancestors, the easiest explanation might just be the most otherworldly.

Drew and Sue and Eminem's minis

and baking the surprise birthday cake for Lou.

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And Lou getting home early from work, which he never does.

And Drew and Sue using the rest of the tubes of M ⁇ M's minis as party poppers instead.

I think this is one of those moments where people say, it's the thought that counts.

Eminems, it's more fun together.

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This episode of Lore was researched, written, and produced by me, Aaron Mankey.

Lore is much more than a podcast.

There's a book series in bookstores around the country and online, and the second season of the Amazon Prime television show was recently released.

Check them both out if you want more lore in your life.

I also make two other podcasts, Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosities and Unobscured, and I think you'd enjoy both.

Each one explores other areas of our dark history, ranging from bite-sized episodes to season-long dives into a single topic.

You can learn about both of those shows and everything else going on all over in one central place: theworldoflore.com/slash now.

And you can also follow the show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Just search for lore podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button.

When you do, say hi.

I like it when people say hi.

And as always, thanks for listening.

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