The Walking Dead, Part 2

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Hmmmm...  I'm having a few problems with my mailserver.  I've received a
note or two that this post went astray, so I am re-posting

The Walking Dead:  Draugr and Aptrgangr in Old Norse Literature
Part II: The Dwelling Place of the Draugr

        The dwellingt-place of the draugr was the burial mound.  Although
Scandinavian burial practices varied, with ship-burials, various cremation
practices, cairn burials and Christian gravesites all testified to by
literature and archaeology, the sagas depict burial in a howe or barrow as
the most prevalent means of disposal of the dead (Ellis-Davidson, Road to
Hel, pp. 10 and 34).  The barrow was a stone-built burial chamber roofed
with wood and covered with a great mound of earth (Nora K. Chadwick, "Norse
Ghosts: A Study in the Draugr and the Haugbui," in Folklore 57(1948), p.
50).  The burial mound of Kar the Old in Grettirs saga was a large chamber
roofed with rafters and covered by a dirt mound  (Fox and Palsson, Grettirs
Saga, p. 36).  Haralds saga Harfagra tells of a mound "constructed of
stones, mortar and timber" (Snorri Sturluson, "Haralds saga Harfagra," in
Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, trans. Lee M. Hollander.
Austin, U of Texas P, 1964, p. 64). In Olafs saga Tryggvasonar, Jarl Hakon
of Hlathir is interred in a mound-like construction to hide from Olaf:

                Then the thrall dug a deep pit, carrying the dirt away and
then covering 
                the excavation with timbers.  Thora told the earl the news
that Olaf 
                Tryggvason had entered the fjord and slain his son Erlend.
Thereupon 
                the earl and Kark went down into the pit, and Thora covered
ot with 
                timbers and swept dirt and dung over it and drove the swine
over it.  
                That pigsty was beneath a big boulder" (Ibid., "Olafs saga
Tryggvasonar," 
                p. 191).

While this is not a grave-mound, per se, it is indicated to the reader to be
a place of the dead by the presence of the boulder, or grey stone, above it:
the undead and dwarves alike are said to live beneath such stones.

        Often a barrow's presence was made clear by a great light that
seemed to glow from the mound like fox-fire.  This fire "surrounds the howes
and forms a barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead"
(Ellis-Davidson, Road to Hel, p. 161).  Grettir views such a flame burning
upon the barrow of Kar the Old:

                ... it happened late one evening, when he was getting ready
to go home, 
                that he saw a huge fire burst forth on the headland below
Audun's farm.... 
                "If such a thing were seen in my country," said Grettir, "it
would be said 
                that the flame came from a buried treasure."  The farmer
said, "The owner 
                of this fire, I think, is one whom it is better not to
enquire about" (Fox and 
                Palsson, Grettirs Saga, p. 36).

        Burial mounds were often found near a family's dwelling, and
Anglo-Saxon boundary charters list many instances of barrows as landmarks on
the edge of an estate ( Hilda Ellis-Davidson, "The Hill of the Dragon:
Anglo-Saxon Burial Mounds in Literature and Archaeology," in Folklore
64(1950), pp. 173-174).  Traditionally, a person inheriting land had to be
able to name his ancestors who held the land before him, and point out the
barrow in which the ancestor was laid, in order to be eligible to inherit.
This may also have been the reason for the careful recording of the location
of the howes of the dead settlers of Iceland in Landnamabok (Ellis-Davidson,
Road to Hel, p. 36).  Scandinavian draugar are further associated with
certain types of landscapes, notably the "hvammr," "a short valley or dell,
surrounded by mountains, but open on one side in one direction" (reidar T,
Christiansen, "The Dead and the Living," in Studia Norvegica 2  (Oslo,
1946), pp. 88-89).  Certain traditions record a tradition of the dead "dying
into a mountain," equating this sort of mountain with a burial mound
(Palsson and Edwards, Eyrbyggja Saga, pp. 41 and 51).  The hvammr
represented a boundary area between valley and mountain, between farm and
burial mound, between the living and the dead.  The hvammr, surrounded by
tall mountains, would receive little direct sunlight, and none at all for
several weeks in midwinter.  Forsaeludale (literally, "Shadow Valley"), the
site of Glamr's hauntings in Grettirs saga, was such a place (Fox and
Palsson, Grettirs Saga, p. 69).  It is interesting to note that "the dead
were expected to return at Christmas or the New Year, the old season of Yule
which marked midwinter" (Ellis-Davidson, "The Restless Dead," p. 162;  see
also Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson, trans., The Vinland Sagas. NY,
Penguin, 1965, p. 88; Eyrbyggja Saga, p. 115; and Grettirs Saga, pp. 73-75),
and the attacks of the undead began late in autumn and intensified as the
winter deepened, precisely the time of year in which the hours of darkness
are longest.  The draugr might also have the ability to create a temporary
darkness in daylight hours to mask its approach, or to call up a mist to
hide its activities (Chadwick, "Norse Ghosts," p. 54).  At night the draugr
moved in a shifting landscape of moonlight and darkness such as Grettir
experienced during his fight with Glamr:

                Outside the light was bright but intermittent, for there were
                dark clouds which passed before the moon and then went
                away (Fox and Palsson, Grettirs Saga, 78.  Nearly identical
                descriptions are to be found in Magnbus Magnusson and 
                Herman Palsson, trans., Njals Saga.  NY, penguin, 1969, 
                p. 173; and in Incelandic Folktales and Legends, pp. 133-136).

These half-lit conditions often reveal a flash of light upon bare bone or
the glow of the moon shimmering upon the draugr's eyes, intensifying the
horror of the episode.

        The sagas depicted a "conception of the dead man dwelling in his
howe as in an earthly house watching jealously over his possessions"
(Ellis-Davidson, Road to Hel, p. 90).  The mound was the hall of the dead,
as in Thorsteins thattr uxafots where Thorstein is invited to the
"homestead" of a haugbui which is furnished with mead-benches and warbands
(Jacqueline Simpson, "Thorsteins thattr uxafots, " in The Northmen Talk.
Madison, U of Wisconsin P, 1965, pp. 218-220), or Helga Fell the "Holy
Mountain," into which the relatives of Thorolf Mosturbeard died, which had
"great fires burning inside it, and the noise of feasting and clamor over
the ale-horns" (Palson and Edwards, Eyrbyggja Saga, pp. 41 and 51).  In Old
English poetry, the essence of a hal lwas the treasure and gifts which were
distributed within it (Kathryn Hume, "The Concept of the Hall in Old English
Poetry," in Anglo-Saxon England 3, ed. Peter Clemoes. Cambridge, University
Press, 1974, p. 64), and certainly the barrow was known as a place of costly
treasures:  "A great treasure of gold and silver was gathered there, and
under the man's feet was a chest full of silver" (Fox and Palsson, Grettirs
Saga, p. 37.  Great treasures are also described in Thorsteins thattr
bajarmagns, trans. by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards in Gautrek's Saga and
Other Medieval Tales.  NY, Penguin, 1970, p. 139;  also in Thorsteins thattr
uxafots, p. 219).  Thus in some ways the undead was related to the
Scandinavian dwarves, who possessed such treasures as Freyja's necklace
Brisingamen and who lived inside rocks, under stones, or within boulders
(There are too many references to dwarves in the literature to list all  See
"Sorla thattr" trans. by G.N. Garmonsway and Jacqueline Simpson in Beowulf
and Its Analogues. NY, E.P. Dutton, 1968, p. 298;  or "Alvissmal" trans. by
Lee M. Hollander in The Poetic Edda, Austin, U of Texas P, 1962, p. 111, or
in "Thorsteins thattr bajarmagns," p. 126).  The names of the "deep-dwelling
dwarfs" of Dvergatal, "The Catalog of Dwarves," "seem to refer to the nether
world of death, cold, dissolution" (Lee M. Hollander, trans., "Dvergatal,"
in The Poetic Edda, pp. 322-323)

        The presence of great wealth within the burial mound attracted the
attention of grave-robbers, both historically and in the literary record,
hence tales such as Grettirs saga were lent authenticity by details of
actual grave breakings:

                Grettir began to break open the mound, and worked hard without 
                stopping until he reached the rafters, late in the
afternoon.  Then he tore 
                them up.  Audun did his best to discourage him from entering
the mound. 
                 Grettir told him to watch the rope, "for I am going to find
out what 
                inhabits the barrow."  Then Grettir went inside the mound.
Inside it was 
                dark, and the air not very sweet (Fox and Palsson, Grettirs
Saga, 
                pp. 36-37).

However, the would-be grave-robber had to be wary, for the haugbui was a
jealous guardian of its treasures, and would viciously attack those who
disturbed him in his house:

                Grettir took all the treasure and carried it towards the
rope, but as he 
                was making his way through the barrow he was seized fast by
someone. 
                He let go of the treasure and turned to attack, and they set
on each other 
                mercilessly, so that everything in their way was thrown out
of place.  The 
                mound-dweller attacked vigorously, and for a while Grettir
had to give 
                way, but finally he realized that this was not a good time
to spare 
                himself.  Then they both fought desperately, and moved
towards the 
                horse bones, where they had a fierce struggle for a long
time.  Now the 
                one and now the other was forced to his knees, but in the
end the 
                mound-dweller fell backwards, and there was a great crash.
Then Audun 
                ran away from the rope, thinking that Grettir must be dead
(Ibid., p. 37).

In addition to teeth, claws and main strength, the haugbui might also use
"trollskap," evil magic, to defend its home as does Agnarr in Gull-thoris
saga (Chadwick, "Norse Ghosts," p. 55), or the evil haugbui Mithothyn, whose
corpse "emitted such foul plagues that he almost seemed to leave more
loathsome reminders of himslef dead than when alive" (Saxo Grammaticus, The
History of the Danes, trans. Peter Fisher. Totowa, Rowman and Littlefield,
1979, Vol. I, p. 26).  Further, the haugbui was not always the only fearful
inhabitant of the barrow.  Some sagas refer also to the mother of the dead
man, "who has long claws and is in consequence described as a "ketta"
(she-cat), amd is even more formidable than her monstrous son" (Nora K.
Chadwick, "The Monsters and Beowulf," in The Anglo-Saxons: Studies in Some
Aspects of their History and Culture Presented to Bruce Dickens, ed. Peter
Clemoes.  London, Bowes and Bowes, 1959, p. 178).

See next post for Part III:  Precautions Against the Walking Dead



Gunnora Hallakarva

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