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1. LonseyriIn the saga of Hávardur from Ísafjörður, the story is told of Thorbjörn Thjódreksson killing Ólafur Hávardsson at Lónseyri. Then Sigrídur, Thorbjörn's head servant and the fiancée of Ólafur, disappeared, and various tales were told about her that connected her to Kaldalón fjord. In the census of 1703 there were 11 people living at Lónseyri at Kaldalón. Among those listed as living there at the time was Margrét Thórdardóttir, the widow of Pastor Tómas Thórdarson, the cleric of the Snæfjöll area; Margrét was called Galdra-Manga (Magic Margaret), and the Möngufoss falls further out on the Strandir coast are named after her. Witnesses declared on oath at the Althing in 1662 that Margrét was innocent of witchcraft. In the Jardabók (Book of Lands) of Árni Magnússon and Páll Vídalín, which was finished in 1709, is written: "This settlement has been uninhabited since the epidemic." And: "No one uses this land now, nor has anyone for almost two years." It's clear that an epidemic had wiped out the residents of Lónseyri and left the land deserted in the beginning of the 18th century. In the land of Lónseyri, further in along Kaldalón lagoon, is an old deserted farmsite called Lónhóll. Here the farmers of Lónseyri made hay. Gudmundur Engilbertsson and Sigrídur Jensdóttir lived at Lónseyri in the early 1930s. At that time there was a stone house built at Lónseyri with a cellar, second floor, attic, and corrugated metal roof. Jens, their son who used the name Kaldalón, took charge of the farm around that time, and was responsible for building the house, which still stands today. Bjarni Gudmundsson from Lónseyri told the story of a female troll who harassed the hay cutters at Lónseyri around the middle of the 19th century. The troll wore a coat of animal skin, with a trough under her arm. She stopped when she saw the men, but grabbed two rams and flung them over her shoulder. A story is told of a cave in Háafell, and another in Votubjörg from where a bad smell came; it was considered that the troll lived there. Back |