In the mid-eighteenth century Erik Pontoppidan, the bishop of Bergen Norway, and author of Forsog paa Norges
naturalige Historie, remarked on a belief held by residents of the Nordic coast. Sea serpents, he wrote, "are not
generated in the sea, but on land, and when they are grown so big that they cannot move about on the rocks, they then go
into the sea, and afterwards attain their full growth." Many farmers, he went on, had seen land snakes of "several fathoms
length." They called these "the Lindormen, or great snake." Similar creatures also lived in the freshwater lakes of
Scandinavia, according to popular lore.

Such creatures, or at any rate beliefs in such creatures, persisted well into the nineteenth century. They figured not only in
legends but also in a body of firsthand reports. In 1885 the Swedish scientist and folklorist Gunnar Olof Hylten-Cavallius,
author of On the Dragon, Also Called the Lindorm (English translation), published 48 verbatim accounts, half of them
involving multiples witnessed, and offered this summary:

"In Varend, a species of giant snakes, called dragons or Lindorms, continues to exist. Usually the Lindorm is
about 10 feet long but specimens of 18 or 20 feet have been observed. His body is as thick as a man's thigh; his color
is black with a yellow-flamed belly. Old specimens wear on their necks an integument of long hair or scales, frequently
likened to a horse's mane. He has a flat, round or squared head, a divided tongue, and a mouth full of white, shining
teeth. His eyes are large and saucer-shaped with a frightfully wild and sparkling stare. His tail is short and stubby and
the general shape of the creature is heavy and unwieldy."

Hylten-Cavalliu's report indicated that the Lindorm was powerful and ill tempered. "When alarmed," he wrote, "he gives off
a loud hissing sound and contracts his body until it lies in billows; then he raises himself on his tail four or six feet up and
pounces upon his prey." The creature had large, protruding hypnotic eyes and a head variously described as catlike or
horse-like, with a mane. It was most likely to be encountered in wild, unpopulated area such as marshes, swamps, caves,
and lakes. Such encounters usually traumatized witnesses, often making them physically ill or afflicting them with
nightmares for years afterwards. Lindorms, which could be slain only with great difficulty, gave off an appalling stench in
death.

Convinced that these reports of real animals - the witnesses included a member of the Swedish parliament and other
presumably reliable individuals - Hylten-Cavallius distributed a poster which offered a reward for a Lindorm's remains.
From his perspective this was a perfectly reasonable approach with a good chance of success; after all, twelve of his
reports concerned the killing of such creatures. But no takers stepped forward.

"There is no truly satisfactory explanation for these 19th century Lindorm reports," a modern Swedish writer, Sven Rosen,
observed before suggesting they may arise from "hallucination such as those caused by epileptic fits." He added, "One
major problem with this psychological explanation" is the multiple witness accounts. "Many as the 31 additional cases
with which I am familiar also had multiple witnesses. One can speak of 'collective hallucinations' without effectively
explaining anything."

To folklorist Michel Meurger the nineteenth century Lindorm reports were part of the "process of the naturalization of
dragons," blending "archaic and modern elements. The traditional attributes of the monster are preserved, but the
creature is now conceived more as a snake than as a supernatural creature." In his view witnesses may have been
"projecting traditional fabulous creatures onto local animals (such as grass snakes) perceived as monster under specific
sighting conditions."

If such is the case, we can only conclude that Scandinavians of a century ago harbored prodigiously gifted imaginations.
At the same time, Hylton-Cavallius was certainly wrong in believing the Lindorms to have been real animals. As with other
claims in which fabulous, folkloric elements converge confusingly into "real" experiences, no explanation that convincingly
addresses all aspects exists - or even seems possible.

Bibliography: Clark, Jerome. (1993). Unexplained!. Washington, D.C.: Visible Ink Press.

Lindorms