Let us take a trip down the North Norwegian coastline. Now that summer has come to an end, and days once more grows shorter, the dark hours more plentiful.

Still, the old sailors were sure that if they saw this sight, it didn’t matter if they answered or not, as one or more of the men aboard the ship would not reach shore again alive. Also if you were caught in a storm at sea, and you beheld the sight of a creature in a half boat sailing beside your ship, and he scream and yell over at you, you could never answer, cause then your boat would go down. Usually his screams meant someone were about to die, or that a storm was coming in the near future. And if you decided to mimic him, he would be so mad he followed you home that night. Dressed in dark oilskins, sailing the seas in an old boat, sometimes one cut in half to show what sort of terrible faith was awaiting you.Īnd when you heard his scream across the sea, no matter what you did, you could never answer. These are the dead the lore tells will roam the sea forever, becoming vengeful creatures of cold flesh and seaweed. It was said that each 4 th man that went out to sea would meet his end, disappearing at sea, for his mortal remains to never be put in blessed grounds. With the backdrop of the Norwegian coastline around Trøndelag and north Norway, draugen was a creature they lived with most days, as fishing was a more treacherous job in those days. The old folklore attributed to the name draugen, was purely a creature of the sea in some areas.

However, even if this is the version of the Draug that people seem to see in popular culture, it is nothing compared to the real Draugen. There is some similarities here to the vampire lore, where to stake or somehow incapacitate the dead would keep them from rising again to come for those still alive. Some stories also tell of how they cut their heads off so the dead would not return as a draug, in some stories the head is placed between their legs, and if they get a hold of their head, they will return to torment those around. Many important people could also be buried with their riches in big graves. Just to not be buried in sacred ground could also leave you wandering. The stories of the draug, often tells of a person that had been cruel in life or had dwindled in black magic for then to return as an undead. Some also see them as the Scandinavian vampire. Stories of zombie like creature that return from their graves to torment the living, living up to the meaning of their name draugr: a revenant.

When waves over the gunwale hit, draugen is now at the helm of your boat.” (Translated from a poem sent to ‘Nordlands Trompet’ in 1891, by Elise Næss.)ĭraugen has in later times gotten a resurgence in popular culture outside of Norway, as an enemy in the elder scrolls game ‘Skyrim’, and they are also the basis for the barrow-wights in the Tolkien mythology. When storms cracks, he howls before shipwrecks, And if he a hold of you get, he won’t let go. “Do you know what sort of fellow Draugen is? You better believe he is not all that rare.

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