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The Lake and Its Monster : Communicating Connections with Landscape, Belonging and Sense of Place with Great Lake Monster Narratives

Händén-Svensson, Sanna LU orcid (2025) In Arv. Nordic Yearbook of Folklore 81. p.112-129
Abstract (Swedish)
This article explores the longstanding connection between a local version of a widespread cultural phenomenon – sea and lake serpents – and the community that cares for it. Legends and observation narratives, memorates, from the seventeenth century onwards concerning this lake serpent are analysed. The study further discusses how these narratives constitute the best-known Swedish version of lake serpents, the Great Lake Monster in the province of Jämtland, as an intermediary in connecting humans, history, landscape, and societal transformations, and how these narratives convey a sense of place. These intimate links position the Great Lake Monster as a protective spirit of the locality, a genius loci. Centred around one key question – “In... (More)
This article explores the longstanding connection between a local version of a widespread cultural phenomenon – sea and lake serpents – and the community that cares for it. Legends and observation narratives, memorates, from the seventeenth century onwards concerning this lake serpent are analysed. The study further discusses how these narratives constitute the best-known Swedish version of lake serpents, the Great Lake Monster in the province of Jämtland, as an intermediary in connecting humans, history, landscape, and societal transformations, and how these narratives convey a sense of place. These intimate links position the Great Lake Monster as a protective spirit of the locality, a genius loci. Centred around one key question – “In what ways do Great Lake Monster narratives express connections between people, history, landscape, and place?” – the article shows how early interpretations of this phenomenon were shaped by life embedded in the everyday interaction with nature and the landscape. With the older legends functioning as a formative foundation for the later shaping of the idea as a cryptid, or “hidden animal”, I argue that they can be viewed as bridging the shared idea of the lake serpent on the Frösö runestone, Jämtland, Sweden, and the cryptozoological tradition of an observed animal in the lake. (Less)
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author
organization
alternative title
Monstret och dess sjö : KOmmunicering av kopplingar till landskap, tillhörighet och platskänsla genom berättelser om Storsjöodjuret
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Storsjöodjuret, monster, belonging, platsskapande, platskönsla, narrativ, berättelser, kryptozoologi, Storsjön, Jämtland
in
Arv. Nordic Yearbook of Folklore
volume
81
pages
18 pages
publisher
Almquist & Wiksell
ISSN
2002-4185
DOI
10.61897/arv.81.48343
project
Natursyn i föreställningar om Storsjöodjuret
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d4a8dff6-8d86-48d0-b0e3-46071314663c
date added to LUP
2026-02-18 16:44:42
date last changed
2026-02-20 13:03:55
@article{d4a8dff6-8d86-48d0-b0e3-46071314663c,
  abstract     = {{This article explores the longstanding connection between a local version of a widespread cultural phenomenon – sea and lake serpents – and the community that cares for it. Legends and observation narratives, memorates, from the seventeenth century onwards concerning this lake serpent are analysed. The study further discusses how these narratives constitute the best-known Swedish version of lake serpents, the Great Lake Monster in the province of Jämtland, as an intermediary in connecting humans, history, landscape, and societal transformations, and how these narratives convey a sense of place. These intimate links position the Great Lake Monster as a protective spirit of the locality, a genius loci. Centred around one key question – “In what  ways do Great Lake Monster narratives express connections between people, history, landscape, and place?” – the article shows how early interpretations of this phenomenon were shaped by life embedded in the everyday interaction with nature and the landscape. With the older legends functioning as a formative foundation for the later shaping of the idea as a cryptid, or “hidden animal”, I argue that they can be viewed as bridging the shared idea of the lake serpent on the Frösö runestone, Jämtland, Sweden, and the cryptozoological tradition of an observed animal in the lake.}},
  author       = {{Händén-Svensson, Sanna}},
  issn         = {{2002-4185}},
  keywords     = {{Storsjöodjuret; monster; belonging; platsskapande; platskönsla; narrativ; berättelser; kryptozoologi; Storsjön; Jämtland}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{112--129}},
  publisher    = {{Almquist & Wiksell}},
  series       = {{Arv. Nordic Yearbook of Folklore}},
  title        = {{The Lake and Its Monster : Communicating Connections with Landscape, Belonging and Sense of Place with Great Lake Monster Narratives}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.61897/arv.81.48343}},
  doi          = {{10.61897/arv.81.48343}},
  volume       = {{81}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}