For the old fishermen there was a lot of things to remember. Different signs to look for at sea the day before to maybe have some sort of idea what the weather would be the day after. Would it be good weather? Stormy seas? For a profession set at sea, the weather could mean the difference between life and death, and it is not all that weird that supernatural warnings could also be signs to look for. If it was just sayings, and the screams of draugen could be something entirely different, it was a deep-rooted belief to those at sea, and like in this story, the seasoned fishermen will know what is the smartest to do when you hear his call.

Lars Hansa and Per Olsa came rowing from Smiholmen and down to Kremmarvika. It was a moonless night, so they didn’t even see their hands before them.

However, it wasn’t that dangerous from them – they knew the bay area as well as the back of their hands, and knew how to find the way, even if they had worn blindfolds.

The rorbues (traditional Norwegian season homes for fishers) were stacked at both sides, and people were living in most of them. Small glows of red lights shone weakly through the dirty windows. It was early winter, but a lot of fishermen had already come to Stamsund.

“Shh, you hear that?” Per Olsa said.

They put their oars up and listened. Then they heard a strange sound. It was like a human that whimpered and moaned, whined and wailed. It sounded like. “Ow-ow.” Or maybe it was “Help-help.”

“What the hell is this?” Lars Hans said.

“It has to be people that has fallen into the sea and is in deadly peril. Listen, it sounds like he is able to get away still. Maybe it is a child? We probably have to go there and salvage.”

They put down the front oars again, and rowed so it splattered around the boat. They tried to row after the sound. But when they stopped to listen, it was like the sound somehow moved around in circles and then back again. They rowed through all bend and crooks, soon they were back at Smiholmen and even further out south. Now and again they held the oars silent and listened.

Then they thought it was like they heard more sounds. “Boat-boat, ow-ow.” It said more times, like it was whimpering. They thought they saw a pair of big yellow, ugly eyes that shone frighteningly towards them across from the darkness.

However, now they had gotten so off track that they talked together about it and decided to turn around and get home. This was starting to get too creepy.

The second they turned, they heard a splash, and the strange creature went back to the sea, leaving a line in the water as it swam.

Then they heard the scream – the worst and the most ghoulish they had ever heard in their lives.

“That cannot have been anything else than Draugen.” Per Olsa said, when they got ashore in Kremmarvika.

“No, it probably was him. Oh well, we know what that guy warns. Tomorrow has not been decided yet. Maybe we will get more weather.”

And that was right. The day after there was a big storm over the Lofoten sea. He came with darkness and silent seas – it was like a bag was wrapped around them. The boat just laid there and drifted. They stopped fishing and went back to land. However, in the northwest the winds blew up again, and many had to ride the wavs that day. Many lost their lives.

(from Draugen – hevneren fra havet. Page 9-12)

Another story about people hearing the screams at night ended up quite different though. A story written down by O. Overaa in 1910, he tells of his own encounter with Draugen. He was travelling for work and had his wife with him. On their way to Tromsø they start hearing screams from the sea, and all of them know what is screaming.

“And then we heard horrible grim yell, that in the silence of the night had a infernal effect on us all, especially my wife. One of the boys started mimicking the screams and yelled that he had to scream more. It so happened he followed the request so well the boy fell silent.

Until now we had not seen anything, then it was like some sort of beast shoot up from the sea beside the boat, and with a scream that echoed in the mountains around, the beast fell back down with a long gurgling sound.”

It was at this moment one of the young workers decided it was a good idea to toss fish at the beast and tell it to keep away. Draugen didn’t like this, and the screams followed them for so long they decided they had to get to land and sleep at one of the farms around for the night. The next day they went out again, and as there was a lot of drink going around, the boys kept getting more and more brave with bothering the sea creature, even as the screams seemed to echo from the sea right under them.

Offering the creature some of their drink didn’t seem to fall in good taste, and after the creature almost got them stuck there, Overaa heeded his terrified wife’s pleas and got them to land again. The following day Draugen had left them a warning.

“In the morning when we got to the boat and ready to continue the trip, had Jens’ oars been laid the other way in the boat. He almost denied returning into the boat with us, but he relented in the end. Fourteen days after, Jens’ disappeared at sea in a storm. Draugen had come for him.”

(From For noen troll. Page. 281-282)

sources:

Draugen – hevneren fra havet, Tore Skoglund 1992

For noen troll – vesener og uvesener i folketroen, Birger Sivertsen. 2000

Image used from Flickr. Image from page 70 of “The American annual of photography” (1912) https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14765734025/