The 1769 and 1770 incidents

Nes, a peninsula into the lake Mjoesa, and also my home community.

This case is one of the few unique incidents where old court documents can tell us what happened.

Two men each had their observation of a sea serpent early in the autumn causing much gossip and rumours among people as the winter progressed. At last the rumours hit magistrate Robsahm who decided to investigate the stories and summon both men to the court.

At March 9th 1771 both Nils Gjestvang-eie and Peder Arnesen Lie appeared before the court at Aske farm to tell the magistrate Robsahm about their meetings with a strange creature in the lake. Both had to swear with a hand upon the law book to tell nothing but the truth. Both were told about the severe consequenses of lying to the court which consisted of magistrate Robsahm himself and eight citizens of Nes.

The 1st incident. A land observation.

Time: September 1769.
At: The shore outside the now gone farm Dysju, west of the Kise farms.
Seen by: Niels Andersen Gjestvang-eie.

The testimony of the tenant:
"When the harvest was finished the autumn of 69 he had rowed aross the lake to take some corn to a mill at Toten. Back at Nes he returned the boat to the rightful owners of Kise-eie, a boat he had borrowed for the trip, and started walking back to his cabin with the flour bag. Walking along the shore of the Dysju farm, right in front of him an animal was lying on the beach close to the water. This day was a windy one, and the waves constantly washed over the animal. The witness claimed that the thickness of the animal could be compared to a big log, or a "half barrel". The head of the animal was the same size as a horse´s head, and the eyes had the size of horse´s eyes. The total length of the body, as far as he could see, was like that of "a measuring rod", or 7 - 8 "alen" [equvalent of almost 16 feet or about 4,75 m]. As soon as he got as close as 7 - 8 steps close to the animal, the animal curved its back (displayed a hump) and plunged into the lake and was gone in an instant.

The witness confirmed that this happend in broad daylight. How the tail or rear end of the body looked like he was not able to tell the court. He had never in his life ever seen such an animal, not before the incident, nor later."

The 2nd incident.

Time: August 1770
At: Outside the shore of his farm Lie, a mile or two away from area of the 1st sighting.
Seen by: Peder Arnesen Lie.

The testimony of the farmer:
"After having sworn the oath Peder Arnesen Lie testified that he had been out on the lake with his rowing boat. This happened during the harvest last autumn. He had taken his rowing boat out the Lie rocks to check the fishing nets of his, on the fishing grounds called the Sheep´s Belly.

During this work he noticed some unusual disturbance towards south about 4 - 500 m away. Water was thrown high in the air. The witness was able to see some sort of blackishly coloured animal causing this disturbance. The animal displayed three humps, each the size of half a rowing boat. The distance between each hump was 4,4 m [see below]. The witness was not able to tell the court about any other particular details. Back at the shore with his boat, he also noticed big disturbance in the surface close to the Sterud rocks (closer to the shore). Back at his farm a considerable distance away from the lake (about 500 - 600 m), he was still able to see several humps out there, and he saw water being thrown high in the air.

This incident happend in very calm weather. He had left the shore in broad daylight in the morning. When he detected the disturbance near the Sterud rocks he estimated the time to be about 12 o`clock. The witness had never before or nor later experienced anything like what he saw that particular morning."

The magistrate added that he would like to try more witnesses in this case, to a later time granted by the court."

The beached animal that Nils stumled upon in 1769. Dark, 4,5 m long, weighing 400 kg.

This is a close encounter with some very good details, considering the age of the report, and that the observer tried to describe to the solemn court a totally unknown creature by comparing various details of the animal to things aready known to him. For some reason the animal was partly out of the water resting on the beach and did not notice the approaching human until the man literally stumbled across it. The creature could not have felt either the vibrations or heard the noise of the steps until the man was very close. Only then the animal turned around and lunged into the water to escape the danger.

This strange animal was estimated 7 - 8 "alen", (norwegian measure: 1 alen = 0,63 m). Total length 0.63 m x 7 ˝ alen = 4,73 m
A measuring rod ~ 4,4 m. Let us end at a length in between these two - at 4,5 m.

In Mjoesa there exists absolutely no known aquatic or terrestial animal that can be mixed up with what Niels saw. In our lake there are no known creatures of this size. The biggest of both pike and lake trout occasionally reach 1 m; the odd otter hardly over 1,4 m. Lake Mjoesa is situated far off from the sea and no marine animals and fish can ever enter the lake due to both distance and some water falls. Any present biological life inhabiting the lake stems from the post glacial period 10 - 12 000 years ago when the sea level reached the mouth of the lake. A very few species are probably introduced in historic times. If indeed these strange lake creatures are real, they chose to stay in the lake when there was easier access from the sea than today, and have continued to do so for thousands of years ever since.

I will try to calculate the weight. My numbers are based on detailed information gotten from the local slaughter house, on how to calculate body weight taken into consideration both body tissue, fat, bones and so on. The calculation is based on a relativley slender body tapering in both ends to a tail at the rear and a neck with a head the size of a horse. Then there also needs to be limbs or flippers of some kind attached to the body. I am not at all discussing a slim serpentine/snake like body able to making loops like so many classic sea serpents are depicted. Far from it. This creature obviously has a relatively narrow and longish body where the middle section is clearly somewhat thicker than the rest, with a head that resembles a horse`s head.

To adjust for muscle tissue and bones I will apply a factor of 1,1, just to be on the safe side. This yields a live weight of 394 kg ~ 400 kg. A horse´s head normally weighs 17 - 18 kg according to my information. Then there are the weight of possible limbs or fins. Thus the beached animal that Nils encountered in broad daylight 230 years ago obviously weighed 400 kg, or far more. Seen in comparison with animals from my much younger sightings this animal must have been just a baby lake "monster", not an adult Mjoes Orm.

The basking animal in the surface in 1770. Black and 20 m long.

The court books indicates that Peder saw two animals each at two different locations, but this is not clearly stated. Anyhow, what Peder saw was a huge animal basking in the surface for some reason, an animal he was able to study, not just a glimpse. The creature stayed surfaced for hours all the time making big waves and spraying water high in the air. The phenomena of a surface basking lake creature was also seen in 1969, almost 200 years later.

Considerating the distance of the observation, a "calculated" a length of about 20 m will do, although a length of 25 m is equally plausible. This creature was obviously an adult. Do you think my calculation of this length looks exaggerated? Whatever these animals are, another orm with the same size was seen in the Nes sound in 1960.

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