Vikings weren’t scared of war, of raging seas, of not knowing if they would ever make it home again – some weren’t even scared of the afterlife itself – but these viking legends, myths and stories did the trick.
The Vikings are often remembered in the history as warriors, sailors, traders, and invaders. Stories of them struck fear into the hearts of those who opposed them.
Now imagine what kind of legends it would take to scare them. So let’s go back in time to a viking culture steeped in myths, stories, and legends.
Here are the top 10 scary Viking urban legends, myths and stories.
10. Pesta
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You’ve heard of the Black Death or The Grim Reaper, well this was the Viking equivalent. She appears to you as an old woman when it is your time to die.
She is not evil or malicious which perhaps only adds to the fear she struck into Viking hearts. Pesta simply delivers the news of death and then shepherds the soul away.
You cannot run, some describe her as a disease that was impossible to keep out – she would appear anywhere but especially on roads as people traveled.
However, if you see Pesta, make sure you check what she is carrying in her hand. If she is carrying a rake, that means not everyone in your family will die, your souls will be able to escape through the teeth of the rake.
And if she is carrying a broom, well, everyone is doomed to be swept away. On one occasion, a man begged her to spare his life. She said no – but she will give him an easy death.
That night he went home exhausted and fell asleep, never to wake up again. This is what scares people the most – there is no fight, there is no battle against evil – Pesta simply delivers your inevitable death.
9. Nuckelavee
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When the Vikings inhabited Scotland’s Orkney Islands, they told stories of a hideous creature known as the Nuckelavee. They are horse-like demons – their bodies are like skinless horses and on their back is the torso of a human rider, also skinless.
Two arms hang by the side of the torso that are so long they can touch the ground. The horse’s mouth is huge, gaping, and exudes a toxic vapor that kills any crops nearby.
Its single giant eye burns like a flame. It attacked people in sight and also spread diseases. The islanders of Orkney were so scared of the demon that they would not speak its name without immediately saying a prayer.
Because it has no skin, people said you could see black blood coursing through its yellow veins, and the pale but powerful muscles can be seen pulsating all over.
8. The Mare
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Have you ever had sleep paralysis before? You wake up in the middle of the night, you can’t move, and you have a feeling of some dark presence nearby. The Vikings would say you have been visited by the Mare.
This is actually where English gets the word Nightmare from. The Mare is an evil female spirit who sits on top of you while you are asleep. While you’re unable to move, she then drags the life out of you.
However, legend says the Mare can slip through the tiniest cracks in walls or floors like sand or smoke, only to re-emerge, and terrorize the victim. If the person is unable to break free from the Mare, they are slowly smothered to death.
7. Seiðr
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This was the Vikings version of Black Magic. It was practiced by witches known as Seiðr, also known as Seithr. They were formidable black magicians who were said to live with trolls and all sorts of dark creatures that lived in the shadows.
Their magic could take many forms and sometimes be too subtle for the Vikings to notice until it was too late. The spells could cause crop failure, disease in livestock, wasting illnesses, and plague that reduced the Vikings to walking skeletons.
The most powerful of the Seithr could cut down some of the great Viking heroes with spells as powerful as they were evil. They could change their skin, conjure up trolls, call forth the undead, and ensnare the minds of the Vikings to do their bidding.
6. Murder Creation
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The Norse believed that the universe came from an empty void between the worlds of ice and fire. In this void came Ymir – a genderless, neutral being who eventually spawned several creatures that would become the Vikings’ Gods and their enemies.
His Grandchildren were Vili, Ve, and Odin. They decided to create the world and fill it with life. But all life comes with a price – they couldn’t make the world out of nothing and so they murdered Ymir and made the world out of his body.
His blood became the sea, his bones and teeth became rocks and mountains and his brains became the clouds. Many Vikings believe the cruelty of life could be blamed on the fact that our world and everything in it was founded on the murder of a great being.
5. The Draugr
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This was the Vikings’ version of a zombie – some of you may already recognize the name from other places. They are animated corpses. The Vikings said they possess superhuman strength, can increase their size at will, and always have a repulsive stench of death.
They wake up in their graves and then swim through solid rock to escape. When free, they hunt for their victims and kill them in several gruesome ways.
However, some devour their flesh, some will eat you whole, others will kill people by driving them mad, and some simply sucked the victim dry of blood.
Legend says a Draugr is immune to weapons and can only be stopped by a hero wrestling it back to its grave. The only way to truly stop it is to cut off its head, burn its body, and then dump the ashes in the sea.
4. Troll
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The Troll comes directly from Viking myths and legends. They are large, brutish, and often evil creatures who would never think twice about crushing a human on sight.
Luckily, they were renowned for their stupidity, and stories of Vikings defeating them often involved simply outsmarting their dimwits. They lived in isolated mountains, rocks, consider and caves and sometimes lived together.
Their favourite food is humans which they consider a delicious snack. However, they also turn to stone upon contact with sunlight. Earlier on we talked about the Viking’s belief in how the world started and I’m afraid to say, the end of the world doesn’t look any prettier.
3. Ragnarok
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At the end of the world, there will be events that lead to a great battle between the Viking Gods and cosmic beings including a great serpent that holds the world together.
Floods, fire, pain, and anguish await us all as the Earth is brutally born again. Everyone will perish as monsters and giants battle and the Sun is swallowed up by darkness – even the Gods will die – humans stand no chance.
The world with freeze, wither, and die. Vikings believed that the future is coming for us all – and just because they are gone, it doesn’t mean it’s not still coming for us.
2. Kraken
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This is a legendary sea monster that struck fear into the hearts of any seafaring Vikings. They believed the Kraken lived off the shores of Norway and Greenland.
Most of the time, they lived in the sunken depths of the ocean but occasionally they visited the surface to wreak havoc on Viking ships. The giant octopus-like creatures were said to be up to 500 ft wide with 900 ft tentacles and can weigh up to 400 tons.
They would attack ships by wrapping their tentacles around the ship’s hull and capsizing it. The crew would be killed by drowning or being eaten by the monster.
We talked about Ragnarok, the end of the world, well the Vikings believed that when Ragnarok came, all the Krakans would rise from the depths of the ocean and there would be nowhere to hide from them anymore.
1. Blood Eagle
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The Blood Eagle was an ancient Viking torture method – usually saved for their worst enemies. Some historians believe it was so brutal, that it can’t have been real.
The Blood Eagle involves carving an eagle onto the back of a person and then prying his back open by detaching his ribs from their backbone and then, wait for it, pulling their lungs through the opening.
The lungs would then be spread over the ribs on the outside so that they looked like wings – hence the name Blood Eagle. To make things even worse, the open wounds and organs would then have salt rubbed on them – causing excruciating pain.
Interestingly, the Blood Eagle was used as torturous revenge but also as an offering to the Viking God Odin.
So how many of these viking legends and myths you found scare worthy? Comment below.
