At the fantastic Foss á Síðu waterfall in southern Iceland, there are rumors of a ghost in the form of a dog that has haunted a family for nine generations. Although the haunting of the ghost called Hörgsland-Móri began long ago, stories of sightings of him in the area still circulate.
Foss á Síðu is a historic farm in Iceland with a luxurious history and folklore dating back to the country's settlement in the 9th century. Behind the farm there is a majestic waterfall that people travel for a long time to see. The water flow can be so slim that on a windy day Foss á Síðu becomes one of Iceland's inverted waterfalls. One of the legends circulating in these parts tells of a ghost dog named Móri. Some locals believe Móri has disappeared, others say the ghost dog still wanders the farm and waterfall.
Móri is a male spirit found in Iceland. When a man is raised from the dead for a purpose such as revenge, he is not called a ghost, but a Móri. Often the term Fylgja spirit was used interchangeably with Draug spirit. The female version of this vengeful spirit was called Skotta. Móri means rusty brown in Icelandic, and the ghosts were named so because of the color of their clothes.
The ghost in Síða in Skaftafellssýsla southeast of Iceland is called Hörgsland-Móri or Bergs-Móri. This is not because he was originally sent to Hörgsland, nor because of Reverend Bergur, the person he was associated with, but because he is believed to be following the Berg family. Reverend Bergur was the last of them in Hörgsland, and the ghost is said to have followed him from there. The origin of the ghost goes back further and is therefore somewhat unclear.
Hörgsland-Móri cursed to haunt the family like a dog
It is said that a priest named Oddur Árnason lived in Arnarbæli (1676–1689). His wife was Katrín, daughter of the Reverend Jón Daðason, who served there before him. Oddur and Katrín had at least two children, a boy and a girl named Ingibjörg. One winter, a priest was riding on the ice, and a boy who loved his father very much ran after him, fell into a hole in the ice and drowned.
“Reverend Oddur found no joy in being there, apart from other things that displeased him.” says Dean Jón Halldórsson. Both rumors and records suggest that the “discontent” at Arnarbæli was that his wife had previously been engaged to another man, but had broken her promise to him and chosen another. For this reason, the man she betrayed sent a curse to her: a spirit in the form of a dog named Móri, who was to persecute her and her descendants until the ninth generation.
In some versions, it is actually Reverend Oddur who sends the spirit after Katrín supposedly divorced him following the death of their son, where the man was never the same again. Is it really their son, whom they raised from the dead, who has come back to haunt his own family?
Reverend Oddur later received the parish of Kálfatjörn in the southwest of the country, where he remained until his death in 1705.
Mori haunting his descendants
His daughter Ingibjörg married Jón Ísleifsson, sheriff of Skaftafellssýsla (1721–26), a noted scoundrel.
Their daughter Katrín married Reverend Jón Bergsson, an elder of Kálfafell in Síða, dean of the western part of Skaftafellssýsla from 1754 to 1773. It was believed that Móri caused his death, as stories say that Reverend Jón died suddenly in Eyrarbakki.
Their only son, Bergur, was later a minister in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, and also lived in Prestbakki and Foss, but eventually ended up in Hörgsland, where he died and where the ghost received his most celebrated name.
It was said that whenever there was a quarrel between Reverend Bergur and his wife, Móri was seen at the farm and people thought that he was the cause of their quarrels. After the couple's death, he followed their daughters; as soon as the eldest died, the next inherited him, and she soon became half-mad. He had many daughters, and Móri followed them all, and according to local stories, he still follows them.
The Fading Ghost by Foss na Síða
The story was first recorded when the spirit reached the fifth generation of the haunted families after becoming attached to their ancestor Katrín, their great-great-great-grandmother, although there are not many stories about his time.
One of the sisters, Þorbjörg, married a man called the hospital keeper. She is said to have “portioned” Móri food. It was alleged that during holiday feasts, when she served, she would slip entire sides of mutton behind the thigh; they were never seen again and it was believed that Móri had taken them all.
By the time the spirit had reached its ninth generation of hauntings, the people of Síða said it had grown so faded that from behind it looked nothing more than a wisp of steam. Because of this, opinions are divided as to whether it will last as long as predicted. There are no unusual stories of him causing harm outside the family, but he was occasionally seen when one of their relatives was on the road. He has long not been accused of killing anyone, except perhaps members of the family himself, and it is widely said that he drove many of them mad.
So the question is, did he finally make it to the ninth generation or did he just disappear?
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Hörgsland-Móri Haunted Foss á Síðu as a dog
At the fantastic Foss á Síðu waterfall in southern Iceland, there are rumors of a ghost in the form of a dog that has haunted a family for nine generations. Although the haunting of the ghost called Hörgsland-Móri began long ago, stories of sightings of him in the area still circulate.
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Icelandic legends and fairy tales/Ghost stories/Hörgslands-Móri – Wikisource
Scholars' Mine Icelandic folklore and cultural memory of religious transformations
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