Laugarvatnshellar - Iceland
Posted by: 
tatie
N 64° 12.981 W 020° 53.037
27W E 505632 N 7121128
Laugarvatnshellar is located in Iceland
Waymark Code: WMEYYM
Location: Iceland
Date Posted: 07/25/2012
Views: 12
The Caves of Laugarvatn are remarkable as people lived there in the last century and a child was even born in the cave.
A young couple, Indriði and Guðrún decided to take up residence there in 1910 and lived there for 11 months. Indriði was raised in the vicinity of the caves and considered the caves not being any worse a place to live in than some other homes in Iceland at this time.
He was a carpenter and he dug out dirt, manure and rocks and installed a living room and a kitchen in the bigger cave and in the smaller cave they kept sheep. They also made a potato garden east of the caves. Indriði shot ptarmigans and sold them in Reykjavík and during the summer time they raised a tent on the lawn in front of the caves and sold coffee, bread and cakes, which Guðrún made in the cave, to tourists.
One more thing about the caves - they are haunted - or maybe elves live there. Want to hear why? The farmers used the caves as stalls for their sheeps. Þorsteinn, who was a new shepherd, went to the caves to put the sheeps in there but the sheeps refused to enter.
He tried to light a candle but the light went out again and again. He got very angry and entered the caves and banged the walls with a cane. The sheeps then finally entered and he laid down to sleep in the fartherst end of the caves. He was abruptly woken and got dragged by the feet all around the caves. This happened again and again and he finally gave up and took the sheeps back to Laugarvatn saying that the caves were haunted.
But as soon as he arrived in Laugarvatn a blizzard broke out which lasted for many days. If Þorsteinn had stayed in the caves he would have starved to death. That is why we think that the caves are inhabited by elves and not ghosts as Þorsteinn's live was saved in this way.
Public access?:
There is no restriction! It is open to public, all the time.
Visting hours:
www.thecavepeople.is
Website about the location and/or story: [Web Link]
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