At the bottom of Vestfjorden near the Ofoten fjord is the Sag fjord at 67 degrees 50 minutes north. Here are seven smallish lakes, the Sagvatnan waterways, along the valley Sagvassdalen. Closest to the sea is ROTVATNET which ends as STRINDVATNET. A short stream of 20 – 30 m further and 1 m elevated is SANDNESVATNET (the Third lake), finally finishing with SJETTEVATNET (the Sixth lake) and SJUENDVATNET (the Seven-end-lake) at 171 meters height. A couple of larger lakes in high country, Rekvatnet and Slurikajavrre,also drain into the waterways. The highway, E6, runs along the eastern shore of four of the seven lakes.
There are two tiny lakes in the same area called Trollvatnet which may refer to watertrolls. Vann, vatn, also sjø means lake, javrre/javre/javri is Sami and järvi is Finnish language. Aside from the Sagvatnan waterways there are sveral smaller ones, and a myriad of lakes of different sizes located close to the sea as well as in the alpine region. The creatures exist both in the fjords and the lakes, obviously able to travel most rivers and creeks to get to their destinated lake habitats.

Rotvatnet
The lake is 44 meters above sea level and is the first lake from the outlet. [Pronounces: r o o t  v a t n e t]

In the summer of 1910 Oline Sandnes once rowed across the lake bringing food to her husband Steffen who was logging on the other side of the lake. The weather was nice and the lake surface a mirror. Oline enjoyed the rowing, making small talk with her little boy sitting in front of her. Suddenly the wooden boat bumped so hard against something that her kid fell off his seat, while Oline barely managed to steady herself. This part of the lake was supposed to be deep, but it felt like the boat had hit a sand bank or a floating log. Looking into the water next to the boat she could hardly believe her eyes. A huge and dark creature was lying in the surface. It made a sudden jerk and dived, leaving Oline wet from the spray. No doubt she had seen the watertroll. A later survey found no sand bank or log where Oline had her close contact.

Years ago, some time before 1960, somebody rowed a boat up the lake in the dark hours, when in the middle of the lake, between Strindberg and Storholmen one oar hit a smooth back. The back immediately submerged at an angle. It was smooth, dark, 1 1/2 meter long and in profile curved like an upturned small boat.

Sandnesvatnet
The two brothers Olaf and Villiam Sandnes saw the watertroll in the mid sixties. It was 3 - 4 meters long, dark and looked like an upturned boat. It sped across the lake for five minutes. Water cascaded when it dived.

One of the strange stories is this one. Some farmers were fishing char with fish traps. Suddenly one of the fish traps quickly disappeared towards the deep complete with string attached to a plastic floater, never to be found again.

Early seventies; a tourist from the capital experienced a watertroll trailing the wake of his boat. The disheartening spectre was a heinous looking, brownish coloured creature with a small triangular head and a tail thrashing water 3 - 4 meters further back. Hence he rushed ashore as if in mortal danger. Armed with a camera the tourist spent the rest of his holidays safely on land, but to no avail. The watertroll never reemerged.

Two air force officers from the town of Bodø were out on the Sandnes lake leisure fishing, eventually finding themselves being pursued by a big eyed creature with the shape of an upturned boat. Fear and panic made the men head for shore, and they did not stop until they had rowed the boat well onto dry land.

Karl Sandnes at Kråkmo in Hamarøy saw the watertroll one summer day in 1975. He was sitting next to a window in his home when he saw the watertroll near a small peninsula on the far side of the lake. Swimming 300 meters in the surface along the lake before it submerged, it then resurfaced, only to make a final dive. Its speed was far faster than a boat with an outboard engine, and it looked like an upturned boat. However, Karl was able to see that it was dark on one side and white on the other.

Aminda Sandnes also saw the watertroll. In 1983 she said to the newspaper Nationen:  "I observed the phenomenon for 10 minutes some years ago. A quiet and calm August day I watched a boat arrive from Kirkfjell arcross the lake. It travelled along quite fast. I continued my work without any concern for the boat. When it was 100 meters away, I got suspicious since it had no oars. It must be the watertroll; we call it watertroll as long as we do not know what it is. Grey white in colour and 3 - 4 meters long the creature continued gliding towards the shore. Then it sank out of sight. The bow waves remained and hit the shore with force."
Luckily her neighbour Selma Utheim was able to corroborate her story: "The distance was too great for me to see any detail, but the rounded body looked like an upturned small boat."

Forsanvatnet
The Forsan lake is at a height of 258 meters and drains steeply into the Sag fjord. The lake is due west of the outlet of the Sagvatnan waterways. In 1942 an object was seen floating in this lake. Per Høivåg and his father assumed it to be a manmade thing looking like the pontoon of a seaplane, but second guessed it to be an islet. When they were ready to check it out, the islet had vanished. The Forsan lake is 150 meters deep with very steep shores and possesses no islet!

LAND OBSERVATIOS

1. Sandnesvatnet.
"Injured cow" left a slimy trail.
The grandchild of a witness reported that that her grandfather once saw something that looked like an "injured cow" on a rocky ledge at the shore. He watched it slide into the lake and vanish when attempting to get closer. Upon investigating the place he found that the rocks were slippery due to some slimy substance.

2. Vegglandet at Sagfjorden (the sea).
Beached with a head like a little horse.
In the Sag fjord there is one single story of a watertroll, back at the time of WW2. Some Finnøy fishermen detected a beached creature at Vegglandet that had a head like the head of a small horse or a foal. However, when moving the boat closer, they saw the creature plunge into the sea and disappear.

3. Rumbovatnet.
Stinking watertroll carcass.
The tiny alpine lake Rumbovatnet or RUMBOJAVRRE at 456 meters, 11 - 12 km east of  the Sagvass valley, drains steeply eastwards into the Hellmo fjord which further out is called the Tys fjord. Nils Kalstad, a man of sami origin, recalled an incident that happened years ago at the Rumbo lake. Since way back his family kept their reindeer herd in these mountains, and now they intended to go to their habitual fishing spot at the lake. At their very summer camp ground they found a strange, big creature that evidently had entered the shore and died. Several people saw the dead creature which they remembered to be 4 - 6 meters long. The rotting cadavre stank so wildly that they had to evacuate, only a couple of years later being able to return with their reindeer.

4. Makkvatnet.
Another dead watertroll.
Makkvatnet 117 above sea level drains into the first lake, Rotvatnet. An anecdote tells of remnants of a dead watertroll once claimed to have been found here.

Sightings and anecdotes courtesy the files of  JØRN E. GÅSVÆR.
(His home page in Norwegian language: http://home.c2i.net/jeagle)
Sources:
The newspaper Nordlandsposten, Bodø, 25.10.1975 - artikkel v/Øyvind A.Olsen
Year book of Hamarøy 1998 - artikkel v/Trond Inge Mathisen
Hamarøy bygdebok, bind 2 - artikkel ved Elvine Skavikeng
Jørn`s personal contacts with witnesses.