The Walking Dead, Part 3

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

The Walking Dead: Draugr and Aptrgangr in Old Norse Literature
Part III:  Precautions Against the Walking Dead

        While the haugbui was often content to remain within its grave,
harming only those who trespassed upon its domain, the draugr was known to
venture outside the mound, causing great harm to the living.  Fear of the
malevolent actions of the dead was very real in Scandinavia.  Precautions
taken to prevent the dead from rising again were practiced from the Viking
Age to the present century:

                "...in old-fashioned homes [certain antique practices] were 
                very carefully followed;  a paid of open scissors laid on the 
                dead person's chest, small pieces of straw laid crosswise 
                under the shroud.  The great toes were tied together so that 
                the legs could not be seperated.  Needles were run into the 
                soles of the feet, and when the coffin was carried out, the 
                bearers, just within the threshold of the door, raised and 
                lowered it three times in different directions so as to form a 
                cross.  When the coffin had left the house, all chairs and 
                stools on which it had rested were upset, all jars and sauce-
                pans turned upside down, and when the parson in the church-
                yard prays for the rest of the dead, he is supposed to bind the 
                dead to the grave with magic words, to keep him fast" 
                (H.F. Feilberg, "The Corpse-Door: A Danish Survival," in 
                Folklore 18 (1907), p. 366).

Further, special "corpse-doors" were to be found in homes, bricked-up
openings that could be torn open for the removal of the coffin, feet-first,
and then closed firmly again to deny the dead access to the home, since it
was believed that the unquiet dead could only return the way they had come,
and by carrying the body out feet-foremost, the living further protected
themselves from the dead by denying them a clear view of the path taken to
burial (Ibid, pp. 364-369).  The very same precautions are recorded in
Eyrbyggja Saga:

                Arnkel went into the living room and across the hall to get
                behind Thorolf.  He warned everyone to be careful not to go 
                in front of the corpse until the eyes had been closed.  Then 
                he took Thorolf by the shoulders and had to use all his
strength 
                before he could force him down.  After that he wrapped some 
                clothes around Thorolf's head and got him ready for burial 
                according to the custom of the time.  He had a hole broken 
                through the wall behind Thorolf and the corpse was dragged 
                outside (Palsson and Edwards, Eyrbyggja Saga, p. 114).

See next post for Part IV: Draugr Attacks and Slaying the Undead


Gunnora Hallakarva

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"Better the Hammer than the nail."  --- Kief af Kierstead