Myth or reality

The story about the creature that was killed in 1522 near Hamar is the oldest known Norwegian sighting of a sea serpent. That incident is part of a long tradition of the "unknown" lake creature in Lake Mjoesa.

Eric Johan Jessen was one of the Danish king´s officials who had been given the task of surveying Norway. In the 1760 he started his journey with the purpose of reporting in detail back to the king anything of economic interest. His report books contain a lot of information about agriculture and fishing, towns and merchants, but also topics like geography, topography, poulation, people he met, hunting, legends and myths and what else he could obtain information about. By the way, all the time travelling the country he was very keen at buying cheap old artifacts from the ancient viking grave mounds.

This charming Dane passed the Mjoesa region in 1763, and of course he heard the stories about the Mjoes Orm. He dismissed the possibility of the existence of sea serpents and obviously also unknown lake creatures. Still he adds this thought: "........it may be that there is a sort of big fish in deep lakes like this, fish that goes deep and do not take ordinary bait. If this is so, it is a known fact that no one fishes for big fish in sweet water, because one thinks that such fish do not exist. For that reason no one has ever used the right fishing tackle".

And right he was. No one has willingly ever tried to fish the Mjoes Orm. The locals of course always fish for the already known species, fish that can be eaten, used to feed domestic animals, used as fertilizer or sold for money. The inhabitants of the agricultural areas around Mjoesa have probably always seen the strange creature from time to time, and stories have been told. Due to the phlegmatic nature of these people there never has  been made any fuss about it, mainly because the lake creature has never posed neither a threat to business nor a hazard to anybody in person.

Could it be anything else than a "sea serpent" ?

Of course not! The witnesses describe an animal that matches observations from many other lakes inhabiting "sea serpents". The witnesses tell their stories and are not aware of details from other lakes. But of course some witnesses of sightings of the Mjoes Orm fall victims to natural phenomena such as innocent waves, blowing winds and floating logs. Then again some stories reveal important details. Why should not an everyday person be trustworthy? One does not have to be a scientist or high ranking person to tell the truth.

Mass hallusinations:
No way. People do not hallucinate equally over centuries and decades, in other countries and at other coasts for that matter where the same animals have been seen. How can we humans so arrogantly claim that such creatures do not exist, when we are so ignorant about the life of the deep, and when new marine discoveries are made almost every year.

Confusion with other animals:
In Lake Mjoesa there simply are no animals that can be mixed up with sightings of the Mjoes orm. There are no mutated giant eels; there are no gigantic catfish; there are no sturgeons either.
The eel normally do not enter the lake. Eel spawn were put in the lake around 1900, and eels are since caught but a few times in a very few streams. The european catfish can grow to huge sizes but it needs 23 degrees Celsius hot water to spawn. There are no catfish in Norway since the area is subarctic and the water of the lake is 10 degrees below 20 m falling to 4 degrees at the bottom.

Pike and lake trout
They rarely grow beyond 15 kg and 1 m of length. Fish of 12 - 13 kg is considered big fish.

Mammals:
There are none that could cause a mix up. Porpoises and seals are incapable of entering the lake. Mjoesa did have sea contact a short time in early post glacial time around 10 000 years ago. If porpoises and seals had entered the lake, adjusted to fresh water and survived up to our time, they would have been seen all the time. Periods of cold weather capping the lake with a thick layer of ice would quickly rule out marine mammals needing air to breathe. Otters do occasionally travel the rivers and the lake. This small animal of 1,4 m could hardly be mistaken for a Mjoes Orm, not even a small one.

What about swimming roe deer, red deer and moose?
I have myself witnessed moose crossing Mjoesa. The head with ears and antlers are the only visible part of the animal. The ears stands out like signal flags at several hundred meters´ range. Even the small roe deer cross the lake swimming several kilometers. Bears cross the lake at the narrower parts, but also at the broadest.
A friend of mine who often is trolling for trout told me this: During a summer night of 1997 he spotted a bear swimming towards the island. Both father and son checked the animal with their pair of binoculars. Another fisherman not aware of the animal disturbed it enough to cause it to go round the island before continuing towards the other shore. The bear ended up swimming a distance of 20 km.

Other possibilities:
At times there are logs, sticks and debris floating in the lake, specially after spring floods. Floating logs? Honestly, witnesses have seen distinct movements and details. Floating logs do never speed off just below the surface. Logs sinks sooner or later and do never surface again. No log do surface only to swim off.

Floating peat:
Never observed in the lake, although it is common in dammed marshy areas in the alpine region.

Waves:
Waves do come in many fashions and varieties. They can cross each other and create still stranger waves. The wakes of smaller boats can be alive far behind the boat. The waves can hit a shore a long time after the boat has vanished, and create an impression of being mysterious waves. In calm weather a special part of the wake can actually look like a row of successive humps. This is the kind of wake that the Scots in Loch Ness calls Nessie Waves. The same waves have been seen and photographed in Seljord seriously believed to be the Seljord orm.

Still there are waves to see in the lake originating from a Mjoes orm that cruises just below the surface. This phenomens was seen in 1980 and in 1994. Most people seeing these waves never report them.

The water horse !

The problem is that no one really knows what a "lake serpent" should look like. Most people probably do have a mental image that corresponds with the traditional image of a "classic sea serpent" like a giant snake with several loops breaking the surface, almost like a gigantic garden hose showing some of the coils. Further its got a dragon´s head and is depicted in a very dramatic pose towering the poor humans sitting in a tiny boat on a stormy ocean, - just about ready to fall upon its human prey.

The serpent:
Sea serpents along our coast is the Great Norwegian Sea Serpent seen along the rugged coast, appearing in some books long before 1900. This classic sea serpent was serpentine in body and swam with vertical undulating movements, just the opposite of the sideways movements of the terrestial snakes. Norwegian scolars of a few centuries a while back recognised the sea serpent to be a real animal since both sailors and fishermen reported such an animal, but flinched at the thought of such animals being able to live in inland lakes. The classic Norwegian Sea Serpent resembles the New England Sea Serpent.

So much for the myth. The summer of 1998 allowed several witnesses to observe this non existing creature when it ventured the Aalesund fjord and then stayed there for some days. One of the witnesses had a particular good view describing it as 25  - 30 m long and 1,5 m across. His son compared it to an anaconda, only enormously larger. True enough, serpentine creatures like this have never been seen in Mjoesa. At sea unknown creatures are described in so many ways that the "sea serpent" is likely to be different unknown species.

The water horse:
The Mjoes Orm resembles a creature also seen along the coast and in the fjords, an animal most frequently seen in lakes, - the water horse. Its head is most often reminding people of a horse´ head, and the head is described to be of the same size. Sometimes the neck has a long mane. The body is 15 - 30 m long, 1 - 2 m thick and ending in a tail of some sort. It may swim with vertical undulating movements. At times the animal produces humps along its back.

The old legends of the Water Kelpie in the Scottish keltic culture do match our norse legends about the Noekk (Nøkk). Both cultures harbour stories where this water creature was able to transform into a beautiful white horse. When the proud stallion eventually got a human to mount it, it dashed into the dark waters and drowned the victim. According to some Norwegian legends the Noekk demanded an annual human sacifice.

May it be that these stories about the Noekk and the Water Kelpie originally were based upon real experiences with an unknown lake monster, the water horse? I believe that myths and legends always have a basis in real phenomenons of nature or history.

Through 479 years the Mjoesa animal is decribed thus: Sea serpent, monster (three different local words used), big and strange animal, and lately the Mjoes Orm. The phenomena is no sea serpent, nor is it a monster just because it is unknown. I use the term "Mjoes Orm", since it today is commonly used. May be "the Mjoesa Animal" would be better? Who knows.

Fish seldom pop their heads out of the water. This one does. It is also seen on dry land probably breathing air. Similar observations occur both in Seljord and Loch Ness. Can it really breath air? How does it survive periods of cold winters when the lake is frozen solid on the surface? How big can they get? Where do they give birth to new generations? Why do they surface? - and a thousand other questions.

The creature surfaces very rarely, in Lake Mjoesa as in other lakes. The famous serpent lakes of Seljord lake in Norway, Storsjoen in Sweden and Loch Ness in Scotland seems to present far more sightings. It may of course be the result of media coverage, an intensive monster hunt and an enormous public interest causing still more sightings to surface. The Mjoes Orm has got little public attention till now even though a lot of people have seen it throughout the years and know it is alive down there. 
The local press used to occasionally touch the item at summer time, - mostly with sarcasm.

What to expect to see in the lake if you are extremely lucky !

1. A wave caused by an animal moving just below the surface. This is your biggest chance of ever seeing the Mjoes Orm. On the other hand most waves are natural waves caused by wind or boats.

2. A wave containing the visible animal. This has occured a few times, both at high speed or stationary. The chance of seeing this is of course microscopic.

3. The Mjoes Orm in full surface position. It would present an ideal motive for the camera buff. Going to Loch Ness, Seljord Lake or Mjoesa with a camera fitted with a telelense would be totally useless. A waste of time. But if you are on the right spot at the right time....!

3. Observation at close hand, - a head and a neck popping out of the water. Forget it !

4. Land observation. 1522, 1769, ca 1800, - is a hell of time in between.  If you ever experienced that with a video camera ready at hand, you have made the scoop of a life time. Do not even dream about it, or...?

Scientific surveys

The first scientific survey of Mjoesa was done by the young student Hartvig Huitfeldt-Kaas, mostly based on the economy of the fish species in the lake. His work resulted in a book "Mjøsens fisker og fiskerier" (The fish and fisheries of the lake Mjoesa) published in 1917.

1. He found the maps to be too inadequate for his work so he did a geographical survey himself. He also measured the depths himself. During winter time he meticulously dragged a sledge across the ice along his grid lines, hacking holes, sinking a line to the bottom to get a proper reading thus creating a depth chart that still is in use. Now there exists plans to do a brand new survey with modern equipment to make an accurate geographical map of Mjoesa as well as a depth chart being completed in 2002.

2. The biological survey took years. Systematically he worked his way trough the species of fish, by test fishing with nets and contacting fishermen and fish dealers. Huitfeldt-Kaas gave recomendations about every species whether it was economy, fish population versus hard fishing, or necessary breeding programs. 

Since Huitfeldt-Kaas no deep surveys were done before NIVA and Ole Nashaug found the Myxocephalus Quadricornis at a deep of 170 m in 1978. Until then science did not know that this fish even existed in the lake. The fish is common in many lakes in Sweden. The big depths were thought empty of fish, having little oxygen. Winter of 2000: With his ROV Harald Ramfjord (Global Tool Management) found more of the fish in the lake.

Biologist Morten Kraabøl analysed the video tapes and found that the amount of this bottom fish encreased from 250 m down to 400 m. In fact the deep areas teems with life, all the way down to the deepest and darkest areas of the lake, the deeper, the more fish. This was a total surprise to the scientists. This is to prove that it is dangerous to assume, better to investigate.

Contrary to what has happened to the fish, no one has ever investigated the mysterious Mjoes orm. Until I came along---

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