When I was at the open-air museum Skansen, I heard a story about trolls. This got me thinking about other mythological creatures and monsters that inhabit Sweden. And a new series was born!
Today – Torspjäsku.
It’s a shame that so much rain is forecast this week, because then you have to be on the look out for Torspjäsku – especially if you are on the island of Gotland.
This monster is a kind of giant troll that from the front looks like a kind, friendly and normal woman. However from the back, she is a hollowed-out tree trunk.
When it is thundering and lightning, Torspjäsku wants to take shelter inside a house to protect herself from the wrath of Thor. But whatever you do, don’t let her in, she is not very nice! In what way she is not nice, nobody knows as there are no survivors to tell the tale.
To protect yourself from this monster, put a piece of steel on your threshold, for example a pair of scissors. Then she cannot cross.
So secretive is she, that I don’t even have a picture to share! So here’s a picture by photographer Claes Grundsten of the mystical Gotlandic rock formations (rauker) instead!
Watching the Swedes 