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What I saw at Seljord |
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What I saw at Seljord |
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| Time: 2000, August
3rd, about 19.15
We were staying at Sanden camping close to Road 36. Sanden is at the northern side at the middle of the lake. The main purpose of the expedition to trap one of the mysterious lake creatures failed but attracted hordes of journalists instead. The hydrophone listening device caught nothing but a lot of static and the same strange sounds as the previous year. However at a depth of 84 m our echo sounder one day indicated two 18 - 21 m long creatures swimming a a dozen meters or so above the sea floor. One evening we were all down by the beach talking together. Too late I turned my head to
see a sudden turmoil of water, but not what caused it. 60 m right outside our group the water violently
whirled about, like if something very big had just turned in the surface. The ring was
already about 8 m wide. Small fish jumped out of the water to the left together with a
smaller wave as the rings quickly spread out. I was bewildered, looking in all directions
instantly looking for the cause of the water disturbance, a maniac speedboat driver or
something else. There was nothing in sight. Being a hunter it is contrary to my instinct
to shout when something happens. I barely managed to nudge the elbow of the two nearest
people so they too could watch the vanishing waves and see the surface quickly settle back
to a calm. It all happened so violently and quickly, and above all quietly. There
were no splashing
sounds. It would take a fish the size of tons to cause such a disturbance. I have seen
porpoises breaking the sea surface at sea leaving less ripples. Who really expects to see
something like that in a quiet lake? It all happened so fast that I simply did not react
by shouting out to the others. It was not fish and absolutely not gas
bubbles rising to the surface. The
biggest fish in Seljord lake is lake trout of 10 and sometimes 14 - 15 kg. A fish of that
class hardly makes a ring bigger than 1 m when it jumps.
The head Time: 2000, August 8th, about 12.15 Two of our cars were driving towards Seljord along Road 36; me and my car at the rear. This road is relatively high above the lake with cliffs down to the lake. I saw something in redbrown coloured sitting out in the lake. At first I thought it might be a bird, but there hardly are any birds at Seljord matching what I saw. "May be it is the head of a sea serpent?" was my next thought. I had a camera with a tele lense in my lap, but the heavy traffic prevented me from even trying to aim it. After the next hill I knew there would be a car stop. Before I got there I saw a boat leave the far shore and speed out towards the middle of the lake. The "thing" just sank and left a little wave and some ripples, just like when ducks dive, only bigger. Both our cars stopped at the car stop, but the "thing" never surfaced again. Later that day I spent four hours parked along the road looking for the redbrown thing, for birds or animals to compare size with and watching different wave forms. The next morning I started off at 5.00 a.m. in the same errand. Conclusion: Any ducks in Seljord were far too small and had the wrong shape compared to what I saw. There are no other animals or birds to get mixed up with either. The head that I judged it to be, was redbrown in colour, irregular in shape, and in size somewhat bigger than the head of a big male red deer. |