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The utter agony of love

Glaumbær. mariejirousek

Being in love with a priest was a foolish thing for Sólveig. She was a simple maid from an insignificant family line. Reverend Oddur Gíslason (1740-1786) was the son of a bishop, so whether he loved his housekeeper or not was irrelevant. Marrying her would dishonor his parents and look bad for his and his family’s social status.

The young Sólveig didn’t give up hope and almost a decade of tending to Oddur’s home, she still longed for becoming more than just a housekeeper. She had been in Oddur’s household since 1768 and some say even earlier than that.

Miklibær farm and Miklibær cemetery sometime between 1935 and 1950. Ólafur Magnússon

The hope of one day becoming the reverend’s wife was crushed on May 13th, 1777 when Oddur and Guðrún Jónsdóttir (d.1811 at age 59) from Goðdalir got engaged. It was a sudden decision and it’s possible that Sólveig had no idea there was even a relationship between them. It hadn’t exactly been a union of deep-rooted love. In fact, It was Guðrún’s father’s idea. He was a priest himself, Jón Sveinsson at Goðdalir. One day he visited Bishop Gísli Magnússon (Oddur’s father) and asked him if his daughter could marry his son.

The couple got married in Hóladómakirkja in the summer of 1777 and moved into Miklibær where Sólveig still worked as a housekeeper. A miserable situation was about to become unbearable for the young lady. Not only was there a Mrs. Oddur Gíslason that wasn’t her, but the Mrs. also took over her job as a housekeeper. Even so, Sólveig stayed on at the farm as a maid.

Sólveig had a hard time accepting Oddur’s marriage. Tíminn

The increasing agony

Watching the two of them tore her soul apart and she fell into a dark depression. People said she literally lost her mind. To add a little push closer to the edge of the deep dark pit Sólveig was heading towards, Guðrún quickly became pregnant with their child (Gísli).

Life had become utterly meaningless and too painful to exist in. Sólveig felt betrayed and everything had been taken from her.

Guðrún pregnant with Oddur’s child. Source

With every opportunity, Sólveig attempted suicide. She had come close a few times, one of them was when she tried to drown herself in Gegnir, a deep stream running right below the farm. Today the spot is known as Solkupyttur, named after Sólveig.

Solkupyttur in Gegnir by Miklibær, summer of 1985. Hjalti Pálsson

Of such little significance was Sólveig that her last name is known, neither is she in any records of any kind. There have been some speculations of who she was. The most concrete idea of who she could be, was told by Hrólfur Einarsson from Lónkot in Sléttuhlíð who had heard she was from Hrolleifsdalur and her last name was Þorleifsdóttir. This remains a speculation.

Hrolleifsdalur. Navaro

Sólveig was so relentless in her suicide attempts that she was placed under a 24 hr. watch. With constant supervision, it was difficult for her to sneak away. During the day, the people at the farm kept a constant eye on her and at night a woman, Guðlaug Björnsdóttir (Rev. Snorri’s sister), was assigned to sleep in the bed with her.

– The story from here on out varies slightly, depending on who’s telling it. I have chosen to tell the story using all versions as a reference and retell the story to the best of my ability. –

The main room is called baðstofa and it´s where people sleep and do their daily hangouts. This photo is from the museum at Glaumbær. Guðni Þórðarson

The escape

It was Saturday, April 11th, 1778, the day before Palm Sunday and less than a year since Oddur married Guðrún. Sólveig and Guðlaug sat in the baðstofa doing some needlework and whatever else needed to be done. Sólveig needed to pull some threading out of the clothing she was mending, but the knife she needed for the job had been taken away from her.

Sólveig looked up at Guðlaug and asked her if she could use the knife just so she could mend her clothes. Guðlaug looked back at Sólveig. What could go wrong? She was there watching her, so she made the decision to trust her and hands Sólveig the knife.

Sólveig just needed to use the knife real quick to mend her clothing. Photo from Stóri-Ás farm. Þorsteinn Jósepsson

It had only been a moment when Sólveig got up and darted towards the door and made it outside before Guðlaug had the chance to react. She didn’t stop running until she got to a rock-hewn ditch, still holding on to the knife. In that moment, one of the field workers, Jón (Þorsteinn?) Steingrímsson came walking out of the farm and saw her raised the knife and slit her own throat. She collapsed into the ditch.

He ran over to her, but it was too late to save her. The blood was gushing out of her neck. He muttered to himself, There the devil received her. Still with a weak pulse, Sólveig used her last breath to request one last wish.

Heartbroken, Sólveig saw no escape except from life. Amy Haslehurst

The last wish

Sólveig’s dying wish was a message for her darling Oddur to bury her in the cemetery in sanctified dirt. This was quite the wish. Committing suicide was considered a horrific sin and not worthy of a proper Christian burial.

– A month after the suicide, on May 11th, Oddur’s first child, Gísli was born –

Miklibær and Miklibær Church sometime between 1935 and 1950. All Sólveig wanted was to be buried within the cemetery walls. Ólafur Magnússon

Devastated and distraught by her death, Oddur rode over to his father, Bishop Gísli Magnússon, to receive permission to bury her in the cemetery. Gísli was not about to allow a suicide victim into sanctified dirt and rejected the request. During all this, Sólveig’s corpse rested inside the farm awaiting burial.

Oddur returned to Miklibær with the unfortunate news. Instead of granting Sólveig her dying wish, they buried her outside of the cemetery walls. They laid her head as close to the cemetery as possible.

This wasn’t good enough for Sólveig and yet again, she felt betrayed. This time, she wasn’t going to lay there and watch everything her heart desired go in vain.

Upset and hurt, Sólveig appeared to Oddur in a dream. She was angry and with a threatening tone she said, If you won’t have me rest in holy ground, then neither will you, and then she walked impetuously away.

Sólveig. Artist: Gísli Sigurðsson

The hauntings

The dream turned out to be one of many and soon she wasn’t just appearing in dreams, but she began haunting both Oddur and others. Her hauntings scared the living daylights out of the Miklibær residents who now refused to go outside alone after dark. It got so bad for Oddur that he refused to even ride his horse alone after dark.

Sólveig was known to visit Litla-Hlíð farm, east of the river in Vesturdalur. Bergþór lived in a shed on the Litla-Hlíð farm. She’d be riding a brown horse. Whenever he saw her coming, he’d run out to a hill north of his shed and stop her before she entered Vesturdalur.

On a farm called Bakkakot lived the brothers Jón and Þorlákur Gunnlaugssons. One time they were making hay below the farmhouse. One brother saw Sólveig in the valley, she was heading towards Hverhól and across the river and towards them. The brother called out to the other: Watch out for the devil that’s approaching you!

Bakkakot in Vesturdalur. After Sólveig died, she was often seen approaching this farm. Kristján C. Magnússon

Vesturdalur. Lucia13

Vesturdalur. Gertjan Van Noord

Vesturdalur. PJT56 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Grief and guilt

Sightings of her ghost were common place and many claimed she haunted them. She was usually seen with her head turned backwards and her throat slit.

Oil painting of Sólveig fighting The Deacon of Dark River. Artist Þrándur Þórarinsson

Although Oddur now had a family, he suffered greatly for what happened to Sólveig. The feeling of guilt and being somewhat responsible for her death, his depression and drinking was ever increasing.

At times he was caught acting strange, some would even say he was bordering crazy. If being terrified of the dark, Sólveig’s around the clock visitations, depression and heavy drinking wasn’t enough, Oddur’s tribulations were about to get much worse.

Turbulent times

In June 1783 an eruption known as the Skaftáreldar or the Skaftá fires caused about 14 km³ (3.4 cu mi) of basalt lava. The lava was said to have reached 800-1400 meters (2600-4600 ft.) high, but the gases reached about 15 km (10 miles) up in the air.

The eruption lasted through the rest of the year and all the way until Feb 7th, 1784. At the same time (1783-1785) another eruption was happening at Grímsvötn volcano which was spewing out 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride and 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere.

Poisonous lava is spewing out. Draugur

This became known in Europe as Laki haze. Europe suffered dire consequences and by the end of June 1783 many European cities were covered in a poisonous fog rendering boats port-bound. It was estimated that in Britain alone, 23000 people died from the poisoning.

The poison being the sulfur dioxide gas which causes the internal soft tissues to swell and a person chokes as a result. When the gas comes in contact with the moisture in the lungs, it produces sulfurous acid.

The poisonous air killed both humans and animals. Draugur

Beside killing humans, it also changed the weather conditions into thunderstorms with large hailstones. This is said to have killed a lot of cattle.

The following winter, Britain suffered severe continuous frost only to be followed by flooding in the spring. The severe weather changes by the hands of Laki lasted several years. In fact in C.A. Wood’s The climatic effects of the 1783 Laki eruption he mentioned that it may even been a contributing factor to the French Revolution in 1789.

The poison finds you. Draugur

As a result, a disaster known as Móðuharðindin or Mist Hardships occurred. It’s estimated that 20-25% of the population died from famine and fluoride poisoning. About 80% of the sheep, 50% of the cattle and 50% of horses died from dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis from the contaminated grass.

On July 20th 1783, Reverend Jón Steingrímsson (1728-1791) held a mass that became known as the eldmessa or fire sermon:

This past week, and the two prior to it, more poison fell from the sky than words can describe: ash, volcanic hairs, rain full of sulfur and saltpeter, all of it mixed with sand. The snouts, nostrils, and feet of livestock grazing or walking on the grass turned bright yellow and raw. All water went tepid and light blue in color and gravel slides turned grey. All the earth’s plants burned, withered and turned grey, one after another, as the fire increased and neared the settlements.

Miklibær and Silfrastaðir, the two parishes that Oddur served, suffered the ill effects of this as well. In 1783, he buried 4 people, but in 1784 when the mist hardships were really taking an effect, he buried 27 more. These are big numbers for a tiny community. In addition, being the priest, he would have been personally engaged in comforting the survivors and the struggles they were facing.

A struggle to the end

In August 1783 The mist hardships caused horrific damage to Oddur’s parish. Much of the cattle was lost due to fluoride poisoning and in the aftermath, people died. In all Oddur buried 31 people.

In 1784, Oddur requested a transfer away from Miklibær, but his request must have fallen deaf ears, because he never left Miklibær.

The evening of October 1st, 1786, Oddur was riding home at dusk from performing a mass at Silfrastaðir. On his way home, he stopped by at Víðivellir to drink coffee with Sheriff Vigfús Scheving. Afterwards, the sheriff offered to escort him home, even though Miklibær was just down the road. Oddur declined and left alone.

– Some version say he was escorted most of the way by one of the sheriff’s men. –

The church at Silfrastaðir as it looked in 1850. Reverend Oddur was assigned to preach at this church and at the church at Miklibær. This church has since been rebuilt at the Árbær Museum in Reykjavík. Emanuel Larsen

Víðivellir farm where Sheriff Vigfús Scheving lived. Þór Eyfeld Magnússon

The house on Miklibær. In the distance is Víðivellir. Oddur disappeared somewhere on the 2 km stretch between the two farms. ai

Inside Miklibær farm the people were gathered in the baðstofa when they heard a strange knock at the door. It wasn’t the normal three knocks, which was the sign of a living person knocking.

Someone inside the baðstofa looked at little Gísli and said, Go, little Gísli and open the door. Your father has come. The terrified young boy walked down the dark corridor towards the door. Something didn’t feel right and it definitely didn’t feel safe, so little Gísli turned around and rushed back into the baðstofa to the others.

A dark hallway connecting the baðstofa to the front door. Glaumbær, Langholt. Guðni Þórðarson

Then suddenly they heard someone rush up on to the roof and by the window. Everyone was quiet and focused on the eerie sounds above their heads. Then suddenly it was as someone was being dragged down from the roof, but then as suddenly as it all began, the sounds stopped.

Sólveig’s ghost dragging Oddur who’s holding on to the window frame. Artist: Bjari Jónsson

The search

The morning after, the farm people walked outside to perform their daily chores. To their surprise, Oddur’s horse was outside grazing out on the grass, but the priest was nowhere in sight. His mittens and whip had been tucked under the saddle, as if he had gotten off the horse and tucked them there himself.

– Some versions of the story say they went out that same night to look for him. –

The people were even more scared now. Oddur had definitely arrived home, but where was he? They searched as much as they could without any luck.

Worried something had happened to the priest, they alarmed the neighboring farms and soon they had a large search party out looking for him. For the next 8 days, 40 people had joined the search and after that, rumor has it that up to a hundred people showed up to help. It was beginning to look like Oddur had vanished into thin air.

Stories of Sólveig being responsible for the disappearance of Oddur began to circulate and many were convinced she had come back for him. Þrándur Þórarinsson

Could Sólveig have dragged him down into her grave? Some people thought so, including Guðrún (Oddur’s wife) who wanted to dig her up to find out. This was where the line was drawn. Sheriff Vigfús wanted to hear nothing of it. This was pure nonsense and superstition. They were not to dig up her grave!

As the days went by, the group of searchers got smaller and in the end they gave up the search altogether. All but Þorsteinn, the field worker who saw Sólveig when she slit her own throat. He wasn’t going to give up until he found the priest, so that evening, he gathered some of Oddur’s clothes and belongings.

Guðlaug, who had handed Sólveig the knife, was there in the baðstofa with him. She watched Þorsteinn tuck Oddur’s belonging under his pillow. Þorsteinn looked back at Guðlaug and explained he was hoping this would help him dream of Oddur and asked her to stay awake to watch over him. He need her to observe in case something happened, but whatever happened and no matter how troublesome the situation, she was not to wake him up.

The ill fate of Oddur. The famous Icelandic poet Einar Benediktsson wrote a poem about this tragic event. This drawing is based on lines from the poem: “Dunar dátt í svellum, dæmdur maður ríður”. Artist Gísli Sigurðsson

The dream

With the candle still burning, Þorsteinn struggled to fall asleep. Guðlaug patiently waited until finally his heavy eyelids took over and soon he crossed over to a peaceful sleep. The baðstofa was quiet and calm. With the candle still glowing, Guðlaug sensed a change in the room. Sólveig had come and she was carrying something in her hand.

Guðlaug watched Sólveig closely as she approached Þorsteinn and leaned over him. She could see now the shiny object in her hand aimed at his throat. Þorsteinn, although still asleep, began to move around, punch and kick. This was too much for Guðlaug. She got out of bed and rushed over to help him. When Sólveig saw her coming, she vanished without causing any harm to the lady who she had shared a bed with during her last year of life.

When Þorsteinn woke up she asked him if he had dreamt anything. That he had. Sólveig had appeared and told him he would never know what happened to Oddur. Then she proceeded to slice his throat with a machete. The pain and the red mark across his throat served as a proof that it wasn’t just all a dream, she had really been there.

Gegnir, summer of 1985. Gegnir was a long deep stream. Some believe Sólveig drowned Oddur in Solkupyttur (Sólveig’s pool). Hjalti Pálsson

Rumors and conspiracies

There were a few rumors of what happened to the vanishing priest. One was that Sólveig got hold of him that night at the farm and dragged him down into the grave with her. Another was that the priest had committed suicide and those who found him conspired to cover it up. So what actually happened, no one knows, but here’s the rest of the story, taking both rumors into consideration (Sólveig vs. suicide).

It has been suggested that he was either murdered or committed suicide. He had no known enemies and when all the known pieces are put in place, suicide sounds like the more logical answer. After all, he had found himself constantly haunted by Sólveig’s ghost. He was seeing here everywhere when awake and asleep. He had become neurotic and perhaps even slightly crazy. In addition, he had for the past 2-3 years suffered immensely due to the loss of so many beloved people in his parish.

The church and farm at Goðdalir in 1945. Páll Jónsson

Oddur was possibly found in the spring of 1789 and received a Christian burial performed by bishop Sigurður Stefánsson on May 10th, 1789. He was Oddur’s cousin. Reverend Pétur Pétursson, Vigfús Scheving and Stefán Thorarensen amtman and some others had sworn an oath of silence to never reveal the discovery and burial of Oddur’s earthly remains. He was buried in the most obscure cemetery in Skagafjörður, the Goðdalir cemetery.

Sometime after the burial, Rev. Pétur Pétursson dreamt that Rev. Oddur came to him and said: It’s sad to see my friends ride and walk so near me and not be able to tell them where I am.

A woman by the name of Ragnheiður Þórarinsdóttir (d.1819) was married to Jón Skúlason, the son of the National Sheriff Skúli Magnússon (Landsfógeti, which one of the highest titles in the country). Ragnheiður had close connections to many of the prominent Icelanders, including Sheriff Vigfús Scheving.

Amtman Stefán Thorarensen, who was a part of covering up the truth about Oddur’s remains, was Ragnheiður’s half-brother. In 1789 she wrote a letter to a Sveinn Pálsson who was studying in Copenhagen to become a doctor. In the letter she wrote, …and Rev. Oddur Gíslason was found in the spring in the lake Gegnir.

Letter from Ragnheiður Þórarinsdóttir. The underlined portion is where she mentions the discovery of Oddur´s body.

When they found the body and based on its appearance, they suspected Oddur had committed suicide. If this was the case, just like Sólveig, the reverend couldn’t be buried in the cemetery. All his belongings would be removed from his family and given to the crown (the queen). If they kept their discovery a secret, they could provide him with a proper Christian burial.

The people’s belief that Oddur was buried with Sólveig was strong. Many bet their own heads on the fact that if they dug up the grave, his body would be there. It was also believed that Oddur’s body laid in the north/south direction across Sólveig’s body with his head resting under her breasts. This belief ran very deep.

Gegnir (Solkupyttur), the stream which Oddur was possibly found by. In the photo is the theatre crew of a play about Sólveig contemplating Oddur’s possible death in Solkupyttur. Golli

The amazingly talented Frederick W. W. Howell had made several trips to Iceland in the last decade of the 19th century. His excursions and beautiful photographs and penmanship about our breathtaking island would have continued on had he not drowned in Héraðsvötn river in the summer of 1901 when helping a hesitant tour group across the river. He is buried in Miklibær cemetery.

The men who dug the grave for Mr. Howell said they discovered a man’s feet laying across the freshly dug grave with the toes pointing downward. On the feet were eroded riding boots with spurs. Rev. Jón Hallsson who was the priest in Miklibær at the time Mr. Howell drowned, told them to cover up the remains and not tell a living soul about them.

The rumors about the findings still spread and it was believed these were Oddur’s feet in Sólveig’s grave. Surely this was proof that she dragged him down into her grave, many thought.

Frederick William Warbreck Howell 1857-1901 is buried in the same area as Sólveig was first buried at Miklibær cemetery. William Bridge

Sólveig’s grave

In 1910, the cemetery was expanded northward, moving Sólveig into sanctified grounds. Then on Dec 22nd 1914, an old lady, Guðrún Hallsdóttir from Hjaltastaðahvammur, was to be buried. Two farmers, Sigurður Einarsson (1890-1963) and Jóhannes Bjarnason (1875-1963) dug a grave for her right at the border of where the old cemetery wall used to be. They hadn’t dug long when their shovels hit a wooden box facing in the north/south direction. The grave they were digging for Guðrún was facing in the east/west direction. They figured it had to be Sólveig.

They began to remove the wooden box to make room for Guðrún. As they were moving the coffin, it fell apart and inside it were the remains of a woman. The bones were still in tact and the hair was clearly black and curly. There was also quite a bit of clothing buried with her. They tucked all the remains very neatly in the southern pocket of the grave they had just dug.

Miklabæjarkirkja sometime between 1935 and 1950. The church doors face eastward. Sólveig was buried outside the northern (north-east) fence of the cemetery. Ólafur Magnússon

Rev. Björn Jónsson, the priest at Miklibær, asked the men not to tell anyone about the remains. That didn’t stop rumors from spreading and soon people were saying that Rev. Oddur’s remains were found lying on top of Sólveig’s coffin.

You rest when Sólveig rests

Still in a state of unrest, Sólveig began seeking the help of spiritists. Haunting people and scaring them, didn’t seem to help. Gísli, who was Oddur’s son, was one of Sólveig’s favorite people to haunt. On Gísli’s weeding night, Sólveig came to him and attacked him and he had to use all his strength to fight her off. She was relentless in her hauntings of the poor man.

On June 11th, 1937, Rev. Lárus Arnórsson (1895-1962), the priest at Miklibær received a call from Pétur Zophoníasson (1879-1946) requesting Sólveig’s remains to be dug up and given a proper burial at Glaumbær cemetery. This was a strange request.

Pétur went on to explain that Sólveig herself and other individuals who had passed on, had appeared at several séances making requests that he (Pétur), Rev. Lárus and one other individual would organize the transfer of her body and give her a Christian burial.

Ca. 1939. Rev. Lárus Arnórsson and his wife Guðrún with their two sons Stefán and Björn. District Museum of Scraps

On Saturday, June 12th, 1937, Þorsteinn Björnsson (1889-1980) from Hrólfsstaðir was working road construction. After his lunch break, he went into his tent to take a nap. He wasn’t sure whether he was awake or asleep, but he saw the late Rev. Oddur, a tall dark haired man with trimmed beard. He walked towards Þorsteinn and quietly said, I can see that you will do as is asked of you.

Þorsteinn Björnsson (1889-1980). Vísir

The day after, Sunday, June 13th, Þorsteinn had errands at Miklibær. When he got there, Pétur’s son, Zophonías Pétursson, later the president of NLFÍ (holistic rehabilitation and health clinic), had arrived to dig up Sólveig’s remains and move them to the cemetery in Glaumbær.

Zóphonías (1910-1984). Morgunblaðið

They headed over to the cemetery, but when they got there, they realized that all the grave site tussocks looked the same. The cemetery had changed a lot since Sólveig was buried. The cemetery used to have a round shape and her grave was to the north-east. Now it’s square with different borders.

They didn’t have anything written down about the locations or a map drawn of which one was Sólveig’s. All they had to go on was their memory from the grave they dug 23 years earlier. The men disagreed where the grave was, but they decided to dig where the old lady’s son said she had been put to rest.

Turned out he was wrong, there was no grave where he thought it was, so they returned back to the farm without finding her remains. Sometime later, they went back out and dug where Sigurður had told them to dig. There was a big sigh of relief from the men when they saw the old lady’s coffin and Sólveig’s remains to the south of it.

Her remains were pretty much still intact, except the curly black hair was gone and the clothes ruined. It appeared to them that Sólveig had been rather short. Her teeth were intact and healthy looking. They picked up her remains and carried them inside the Miklibær church.

The actress playing Sólveig is lying in the spot where her remains were dug up and moved to Glaumbær cemetery. The play is after Ragnar Arnalds and was shown in the National Theatre in Reykjavík. Vigdís Gunnarsdóttir as Sólveig and Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson as Rev. Oddur. Golli

On Sunday when the people arrived at Miklibær church, Sólveig and her beautiful small white casket that Rev. Lárus had someone make for her, was placed underneath the altar tablet where the choir usually stood. Rev. Oddur himself had gifted the church with this tablet in 1775. His name and the year was engraved at the bottom of the tablet. Sadly, the tablet burned when the church burned in 1973.

Miklabæjarkirkja (Miklibær Church) burned to the ground on Feb. 13th 1973. To the left is the image from the newspaper Tíminn taken by Stefán Pedersen. To the right is a digitally colored image of the photo by Steingrímur Árnason

The kids were allowed to look inside the casket where Sólveig’s bones were neatly organized. Then the casket was closed and the kids were told these were the remains of a very unhappy woman and they all needed to pray for her soul. Then they all blessed the casket. Rev. Lárus held a memorial for her where he gave a beautiful sermon. The congregation sang psalms and prayed lovingly for her remains both before and after the sermon.

Some of the things found buried with Sólveig were a few of her precious belongings such as this needle and copper buttons. Feykir.is

Sólveig’s final resting place

In 1937 when Sólveig appeared at séances, some of the things she revealed was that she hadn’t killed Oddur, instead he had sunk into a deep water pit called Solkupyttur in the outer part of Gegnir and his remains were still there.

He had suffered by the hands of earthly men who drowned him. It was about 15 minutes from the farm, she continued, but it couldn’t be seen from the farm. This happens to be correct because the edges of Gegnir are so high up that you can’t see past them from the pit.

Among the objects they found when they opened Sólveig’s casket was a small piece of cloth. This was an important find, because it had been pointed out at a séance that it would be there. It’s theorized with much confidence, that she was buried in her clothing chest.

The old Miklibær church that burned down. Seen from the south-west angle looking towards north-east.

Before heading back to Reykjavík, Zóphonías asked Þorsteinn to make a grave for her in Glaumbær. She was to be buried at a specific spot which he didn’t yet know the location of, but would receive further instructions on. He thought it was because she wanted to rest near a relative.

Þorsteinn waited and waited for Zóphonías to tell him where to dig and was beginning to worry as the planned digging date was coming up. Then the night before the digging was to take place, he dreamt that he was in Glaumbær cemetery and saw an open grave near the east wall, north of center of the cemetery.

With the dream as the only guide of where to dig, on a Saturday morning, the day before the funeral, Þorsteinn and Stefán Jónsson from Höskuldsstaðir headed out to Glaumbær cemetery.

When they got there, Þorsteinn wondered if they should dig next to Gísli. After all, he was Oddur’s son and maybe Sólveig would like to lie next to him. Gísli had died at 77 years old in 1855.

When they got to the spot where Gísli was buried, it was’t the same as in his dream, so it didn’t feel right to bury her there.

The tombstone of Rev. Gísli Oddsson, the son of Rev. Oddur from Miklibær. It is located in Glaumbæjarkirkjugarður (Glaumbær Cemetery). Morgunblaðið

As the men looked around, Þorsteinn found a spot that looked exactly like the one in the dream. This was it. Later on they realized that the location was the exact same as her grave had been at Miklibær. Stefán measured the distance from the east corner of the cemetery to the grave and it was the exact same length as at Miklibær.

Sólveig’s casket being carried from Miklibær Church to Glaumbær Church. Front left is Þorsteinn Björnsson, behind him is Jóhann Lúðvíksson. Front right is Stefán Jónsson and next to him is Margrét Rögnvaldsdóttir (Þorsteinn’s wife). Behind her is Sigurður Einarsson and behind the casket is Helgi Valdimarsson. The church burned to the ground in 1973. Glaumbær.is

Just like he had done at Miklibær church, when they arrived at Glaumbær, Rev. Lárus held a beautiful sermon and gave prayers both before and after. The church was filled with people wanting to be a part of this unique funeral service.

Glaumbær. Gunnar Rúnar Ólafsson

Afterwards, they carried the casket out to where she was to be buried while singing psalms. It was safe to say that on this day Sólveig’s last wish was fulfilled two-fold. First at Miklibær then again at Glaumbær.

The famous author Halldór Laxness was present at the re-burial of Sólveig and took this picture. Halldór Laxness

The theatre crew visiting Sólveig’s final resting place. The play is after Ragnar Arnalds and was shown in the National Theatre in Reykjavík. Vigdís Gunnarsdóttir as Sólveig and Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson as Rev. Oddur. Golli

All the remains from Sólveig’s old casket was buried with the new one.

Sólveig’s current burial site in Glaumbæjarkirkjugarður (Glaumbær Cemetery). Glaumbær

Miklibær farm and Miklibær cemetery. You can see how the newer additions to the cemetery have stretched norward. (The main road is to the east).The creek/stream appears dry when this areal was taken. Click on the link to see more of the surrounding area. Map.is

Miklibær 1929. Lesbók Morgunblaðsins

The new Miklibær church which was built after the old church burned to the ground. Skagafjordur.is

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