“The Money Chest Lay by His Head”

The Narration of a Ghost Story from Troms

Authors

  • Randi Hege Skjelmo University of Tromsø, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway
  • Liv Helene Willumsen University of Tromsø, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61897/arv.v78i.21421

Keywords:

Ghost story, 18th century, Northern Norway, Isaac Olsen, Scribe Søren Bogø, Bailiff Henrik Riber

Abstract

This article deals with two versions of a ghost story from Skittenelv in Troms, written down around 1700. Located at the farm of the magistrate Søren Bogø, a ghost apparently was heard disturbing the people at the farm. The earlier version of the story is down-written in 1695 by the magistrate Søren Bogø and was published in transcribed form by Håvard Dahl Bratrein in 2016. The later version is down-written in 1716 by Isaac Olsen and is part of his copybook, which is preserved in the original form. By using narratology as a methodological approach, the article offers an interpretation of the ghost story with emphasis of the function of the narrator. Also, attention is paid to changes in the story’s content occurring during a time span of 20 years. Contextualization of the ghost story is paid attention to.

Author Biographies

Randi Hege Skjelmo, University of Tromsø, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway

Randi Hege Skjelmo is Associate Professor in the Department of Education at University of Tromsø, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway.

Liv Helene Willumsen, University of Tromsø, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway

Liv Helene Willumsen is Professor Emerita of History in the Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology at University of Tromsø, UiT – the Arctic University of Norway.

Downloads

Published

2022-12-01

How to Cite

Skjelmo, R. H., & Willumsen, L. H. (2022). “The Money Chest Lay by His Head”: The Narration of a Ghost Story from Troms. Arv, 78, 41–67. https://doi.org/10.61897/arv.v78i.21421

Issue

Vol. 78 (2022)

Section

Original Articles

License

In Volume 80 and subsequent volumes, authors of content published in ARV retain copyright to their works and articles are published under the terms of a Creative Commons CC BY license.

Content in Volumes 1 – 79 was published without a Creative Commons license, and the copyright for this content is held by Kgl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien.

View the journal's full Open Access Policy.