LINDORM - SCANDINAVIAN SERPENT

These days, the term lindorm or one of its cognates is used for any large serpent in Scandinavia.  However, it is more specifically based on a particular kind of serpent in early writings.  Erik Pontoppidan (1698-1764) thought they were born on land, but then entered the sea to become sea-serpents.  G.O. Hylten-Cavallius thought there might be an actual creature behind the legend and in 1885 wrote that they were 10'-20' long.  Many witnesses claimed to have seen them and fights between men and lindorms were recorded in the 19th Century.  A man named Nilsson fought a lindorm, he alleged, in Ulvehult Forest in 1826.  He said it had a mane of scales.  Magnus Bergström said he killed one in 1869  There was another alleged killing in Husaby Forest in 1878.  There were quite a number of witness reports.  In  Smaland, Sweden, there seems to have been a considerable number.

These days, the lindorm is regarded as mythical, but, in the light of witness accounts, it would be unwise to dismiss its former and possibly present existence out of hand.

Heraldic Lindorm