Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.07.2011, Blaðsíða 33

32
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 9 — 2011
Laugavegur
Bankastræti
Hverfisgata
Læ
kja
rg
at
a
Pó
st
hú
ss
træ
ti
Vonarstræti
Austurstræti
HafnarstrætiAð
al
st
ræ
ti
Geirsgata
Harpa
Tryggvagata
G
ar
ða
st
ræ
ti
Find us at:
Tryggvagata 11, 101 Reykjavík
EXPERIENCE
THE FORCE
OF NATURE
Our two excellent films
on eruptions in Iceland
start on the hour every hour.
The films are shown in english
except at 09:00 and 21:00 when
they are in german.
Volcano House also has an excellent
café, Icelandic design shop and booking
service for travels within Iceland.
Opening hours: 8:30 - 23:00
www.volcanohouse.is
elves | Back To School
“People come to me with their
stories and they swear to me that
they’re not a drunk, they’re not on
drugs, and they’re not a patholog-
ical liar”, Magnús Skarphéðins-
son says. Headmaster of the Elf
School for the last twenty years,
Magnús has met over 700 people
who have seen elves, hidden peo-
ple and other nature spirits.
“I never planned to create the Elf
School”, he says. “As more and more
people inquired about my work, I just
started telling everyone to come by on
Fridays and that’s how it all began”. By
now he says 8.000 people have gradu-
ated from the school and received his
Diploma in Elves and Hidden people
Research Study. Note: This is possibly
both the easiest and most enjoyable di-
ploma you will ever earn.
A Quick lesson
Magnús invites us into his classroom
and we sit down around a table. Sur-
rounding us are shelves bursting with
old books and trinkets. There are no
less than five different lamps sitting on
the windowsill, along with more trinkets
of every which kind. “Welcome to the
Elf School”, Magnús says. To the best
of his knowledge, it is literally THE Elf
School, with no counterpart anywhere
else in the world.
He begins class by describing him-
self as a neutral scientist who collects
testimonies from people who have had
encounters with “álfar,” which trans-
lates to elves, but is used as an um-
brella term for elves, hidden people,
light-fairies, dwarfs, mountain spirits,
and gnomes.
In the booklet Magnús gives us are
sketches of these nature spirits, whose
appearances Magnús says have been
confirmed by countless testimonies. In
all, there are thirteen species of elves,
two species of dwarfs and three spe-
cies of hidden people. While elves are
from 8 to 80 cm tall, hidden people are
said to look just like humans, only they
dress in old-fashioned clothing.
“There are many things we still don’t
know about elves and hidden people”
,Magnús admits. “What we do know,
we have learned from people who
have had decades of friendships with
them and have been invited into their
homes”. After thirty years of collecting
these experiences, he says he doesn’t
know anyone who knows more about
the subject than he does.
And iT’s sToRy TiMe
About 75% of the encounters he has
recorded involve hidden people, which
exist as Modern, Blue, Ancient species.
Yet, Magnús says nobody has ever spo-
ken to the Ancient or Blue types. “They
always run away”, he explains, and af-
ter a short pause, he continues, “They
run away, yelling, ‘You, you bank rob-
bers!’ And then turns to the American
in class and says, ‘You imperialists! ’
Well, at this point we laugh because we
think he must be joking. In fact, he’s full
of jokes this evening.
Magnús, who by the way should not
be confused with his brother, Minister
of Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðins-
son, is an excellent storyteller. We pass
the evening listening to stories of one
encounter after the other. At some
point without warning, he disappears
and we wonder if he hasn’t just taken
off. But, he returns with a plate full of
freshly baked waffles with jam and
whipped cream and then continues to
recount another series of inexplicable
events, that is, unless you believe in the
existence of hidden people.
Leaving the Elf School, diploma in
hand, I wonder what to make of it all
and recall a 2002 documentary I once
saw called, ‘Investigation Into The In-
visible World’. Appearing in the film,
Iceland’s former president Vigdís Finn-
bogadóttir says quite diplomatically:
“I have never seen elves or invis-
ible people. I haven't yet encountered
a ghost but I have often heard about
them. This type of belief no longer ex-
ists in France or Spain because they
are Catholic countries. Catholicism
is so powerful; it leaves no room for
other beliefs. In the Middle Ages, the
Icelanders adapted Catholicism to fit
their pagan heritage and continued to
tell stories of hidden people, elves and
ghosts. The existence of elves, ghosts,
extraterrestrials and of a life after death
has never been proved. It's the same
thing with God. No one has proved
whether he exists or not”.
The World’s only elf school
The Elf School is at Síðumúli 31, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland,
Tel: 354-588-6060
An evening with Headmaster Magnús Skarphéðinsson
you laugh but…
Just last week elves in the remote
Westfjords town of Bolungarvík
were in the news. They apparently
have a beef with the construction
company Ósafl, which built the tun-
nel between Hnífdalur and Bolun-
garvík last year and are now work-
ing on an avalanche barrier.
Medium Vigdís Kristín
Steinþórsdóttir told DV reporters
that the elves were upset that no-
body asked for their permission be-
fore beginning construction. They
would apparently have liked to pack
up their bags before their home was
obliterated.
To appease them, Vigdís called
for a meeting between the elves,
construction workers, town resi-
dents and parish priest Agnes M.
Sigurðardóttir. The priest report-
edly said a prayer and asked for the
elves’ forgiveness. Unfortunately,
Vigdís said they weren’t buying it,
and coincidence or not, rocks from
the avalanche barrier construction
site rained down on the town the
following day.
While Vigdís claims it’s the do-
ing of angry elves, Leó Jónsson
from Ósafl says he doesn’t believe
in elves. In any case, elves in Iceland
are real enough to make the news.
‘investigation into The in-
visible World’ (2002), Jean
Michel-Roux explores ice-
lander’s beliefs in the su-
pernatural:
“I've won the title of the world's stron-
gest man four times now. I believe in
elves and invisible forces. These forc-
es support me when I make physical
efforts.”
- Magnús Ver Magnússon, athlete
“Many people used to have intimate
relationships with hidden people.
Women would go into some rocks
and come out pregnant. Today, that
is known as visiting rights but, in the
old days, they had to visit the elf man
every nine nights.”
- Björn Sigurðsson, police officer
“In 1993, the extraterrestrials came as
planned but didn't show themselves
to the reporters. They were on an-
other frequency. Their huge spaceship
stayed for 36 hours above the glacier.
The humans who had left their bodies
during the night were able to observe
a lecture by the extraterrestrials from
a circular gallery. They wanted to warn
people on Earth that "grey" extrater-
restrials want to enter our atmosphere
to infiltrate the world of finance and
politics. Some of them are already
here. Their aura is dark and gloomy,
so we should be able to identify them.
But there are already so many evil
human beings that it's hard to spot
them.”
- Erla Stefánsdóttir, piano teacher and
seer
“Sometimes, mediums contact the of-
fice nearest to a work site to warn us
that elves are living there. They usually
offer to act as go-betweens to help
things go smoothly. We try to keep
everyone happy like when we have
to cross a farmer's field. Sometimes
we wait until the elves move on. Such
courtesy doesn't cost the road office
much.”
- Helgi Hallgrímsson, head of the Ice-
landic Road Administration
AnnA AndeRsen
sTeinGRíMuR GAuTi inGólfsson