STORSJÖODJURET

Opening

Storsjöodjuret, "the Great-Lake Monster", is said to live in Storsjön, a large, deep lake in Jämtland in central Sweden. Witnesses describe a long, dark animal with humps, sometimes with a head like a dog's or a cat's. The legend was written down as early as 1635, and around 500 people have claimed to see it.

In 1894, with the approval of King Oscar II, local people formed an organisation to catch it. They brought in Norwegian whalers and built a giant iron trap baited with a pig. It caught nothing. The trap is now on display at the Jamtli museum in Östersund.

Timeline

1635A manuscript by Morten Pedersen Herdal describes a serpent bound in the depths of the lake by the rune-master Kettil Runske, who carved a spell on the Frösö runestone.

1685Anders Plantin repeats the story.

July 1857A report describes a head "black and gleaming", one of the earliest modern sightings.

1894The capture attempt begins with royal approval, Norwegian whalers and the baited trap. It fails and is mocked by the cartoonist Albert Engström in the magazine Strix.

1899Peter Olsson collects 22 testimonies and concludes the animal might be an unknown aquatic mammal.

1986The Jämtland county administrative board declares the monster an endangered species and protects it by law.

2005The protection is revoked after criticism from the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

2008A film crew with cameras on an islet in the lake releases footage of a long, narrow silhouette and claims the cameras showed it was warm.

Key figures

King Oscar II gave the 1894 hunt his approval.

Peter Olsson was the first to collect testimony systematically.

Albert Engström turned the failed hunt into satire.

Local witnesses make most of the reports, many describing humps moving on the surface.

Physical and documentary trail

What survives: the 1635 and 1685 manuscripts, the records of the 1894 hunt and the trap itself, Olsson's 1899 testimonies, the 1986 protection order, and photographs and video including the 2008 footage. There is no body and no specimen, and the 2008 film has not been independently analysed in any source I could find.

Things you might not know

• The bait was a pig. The 1894 iron trap was baited with a pig and never sprung.
• It was a protected species for 19 years. County law protected the monster from 1986 until 2005.
• Trolls made it. One folk legend says two trolls, Jata and Kata, brewed the creature in a cauldron. It grew big enough to circle the island of Frösön.
• The lake has viewing posts. Eight official monster observation spots ring the lake.
• It has a cuddly side. A small version of the monster serves as Östersund's mascot at local events.

Competing explanations

An unknown animal. Believers point to centuries of reports and hundreds of witnesses describing similar humped shapes. The lake is large and deep, but it formed after the last Ice Age and is cold and not very productive, which makes a breeding population of large animals hard to support.

Waves, wakes and known animals. Standing waves, boat wakes, swimming elk and deer, large fish and floating logs can all produce humped shapes on a long lake.

Later life of the case

Storsjöodjuret is a regional symbol, featured in tourism, children's stories and local festivals. The failed 1894 hunt is now part of the attraction.

Finding

The legend is old, the sightings are many, and the 1894 hunt was a serious attempt that caught nothing. The best explanation for the typical sighting is waves, wakes and known animals on a long, cold lake. Individual reports, including the 2008 footage, can't be tested from what has been published.

What still will not resolve: an independent analysis of the 2008 camera footage, and a specimen of any kind.