The deep and northern valley and fjords of Skagafjörður are said to have been haunted by more than one ghost. One of them was called Skinnpilsa and was sent to torment the man after he broke his promise.
Hallur, the father of Dean Jón Hallsson of Miklabær, lived for a long time on the Geldingaholt farm in Skagafjörður, a deep fjord and valley in northern Iceland. The Sturlunga Saga mentions a bloody battle that took place there in 1255 during a power struggle between alliances of the country's chieftains, which led to the country's loss of independence in 1262. The site is said to be haunted, perhaps even to this day, by a female spirit called Skinnpilsa.
He was previously engaged to a newborn Western woman, but he broke his promise to her. For this reason, her relatives sent a female spirit to Hallur. She wore red stockings and a leather skirt and was therefore called Skinnpilsa (“Leather Skirt”).
Accompany(s): The Old Norse Ghost
In Norse mythology, there were many different types of spirits that the Vikings believed in. One of them was the Fylgjur or Fylgja spirit, i.e. accompanying spirits whose traces can be found in Iceland since the 12th century. They were originally spirits of a very physical substance that interacted with the real world as if it were still a part of it.
Fylgja became attached to the people they haunted. They could also attach themselves to buildings and even entire cities. Many stories also say that it is a generational haunting, where the spirit decides to haunt all the descendants of the original person it cursed. Most often the female line of the family. Perhaps due to her origins as a female spirit.
In Fylgjur stories from the Middle Ages, spirits could be beneficial, almost like messengers helping a person on the path of life, some kind of totem animal, or a guiding spirit. But when Icelandic folklorists began collecting elderly oral tales from farmers in the 17th century, the Fylgjur spirits drastically changed their pagan, Old Norse roots, religious beliefs and superstitions.
One thing that really changed was Fylgjur's goal of haunting the living, which rarely brought any support. Many stories tell of how they were wronged and this caused their death. They then came back for revenge and were hazardous, even deadly.
Female Icelandic ghosts
One popular name for female ghosts was Skotta, which actually means hanging like hair or a tail. It comes from classic Icelandic headgear that women wore with Faldbúningur dresses worn since the 17th century. Except that ghosts are said to have their headgear turned backwards, so it falls behind her like a tail.
Skotta belongs to Old Norse mythology about Fylgja, i.e. supernatural spirits that followed people or attached to them. They can be animals, goddesses or appear in dreams.
But the Fylga stories evolved, and when we read about Scott, they didn't look like totem animals or someone coming with your prophecy like in the elderly sagas. Icelandic ghosts are often described as not resembling an apparition, but in a real body that interacted with the living. And when we read about Scott, the female version, she was very hazardous and also deadly.
The haunting of Skinnpilsa
She wandered widely throughout Skagafjörður, but her main residence was in Geldingaholt, where Hallur tormented her day and night and no one was able to get rid of her. This is also the main reason why she was named after the place where Hallur came from, rather than the place where she mainly haunted like most other Scots.
She also haunted his men who worked for him, and one girl in particular had it worse. However, she came to her mainly in dreams. One day she told her that she wanted to meet the poet Níels, but it wouldn't be uncomplicated because she was afraid of him. The girl said she saw him somewhere where he couldn't see her.
Then Níels, called “the poet”, set out on a journey and visited Hallur in Geldingaholt. There is not much information about who this poet actually was or whether he even existed.
He spent three nights there without any trace of her. On the fourth evening, around sunset, Niels sat down opposite the entrance to the main room and saw Skinnpilsa enter the corridor. He began to recite verses and Skinnpilsa slid into the wall and Niels followed. No one ever knew how the fight ended, but Níels returned and Skinnpilsa was never seen again.
Some say the poet managed to place it in a hole beneath the farm, but it has been haunted ever since.
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The deep and northern valley and fjords of Skagafjörður are said to have been haunted by more than one ghost. One of them was called Skinnpilsa and was sent to torment the man after he broke his promise.
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