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| Heimaey, Westman Islands. Vestman |
Westman Islands may not have many residents, but their stories are quite intriguing. Today, I’d like to share the story of Guðrún Sigmundsdóttir (1892-1975).
Guðrún’s father, Sigmundur Finnsson (1859-1942) was a fisherman and didn’t think much of otherworldly phenomenon. In 1913, he built a house for his family which he called Uppsali efri on Faxastígur 7b. Only three years later, when Guðrún was 13, her mom, Ragnheiður Sveinsdóttir (1856-1916), passed away.
Shortly after her passing when Guðrún was 14, she started feeling sick. There was something wrong with her nose. Her nostrils were tender and filled with scabs making it difficult for her to breathe. She went to see Dr. Halldór Gunnlögsson. He examined her, but couldn’t figure out what was wrong, leaving Guðrún without any answers to her ailments.
She wasn’t going to give up this easy and went to see another doctor, Dr. Ólafur Þorsteinnsson, an ear, nose and throat doctor in Reykjavík. After examining her, he diagnosed her with swollen glands and wrote her a prescription.
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| Guðrún Sigmundsdóttir (1892-1975) grew up on Uppsalir-efri on Faxastíg 7b. It was built by her father, Sigmundur Finnson, in 1913. Viktorpetur |
Guðrún had only been taking the prescription for a short time when she lost it. It was too early to tell if it had made a difference. Not long after, she started feeling a strange growth on her left breast near the nipple. Guðrún was worried and went to see Dr. Kolka. You may remember him from previous blog post where he expressed his frustration and concern regarding mediumistic healings.
After examining her, Dr. Kolka couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It was definitely not cancer, he thought. She was way too young for cancer, but she should come back in a month for a follow-up.
About a month later, on Friday, March 27th, 1925, Guðrún went to see Ms. Henriksen who worked as a massage therapist. She examined her left breast and felt the lump. She was concerned about it and told Guðrún to have it removed as soon as possible. Henriksen’s mother had experienced a similar thickness in her breast. After she had it removed it turned out to be cancer.
That same day, Guðrún went to see Dr. Kolka and shared with him the fears she had after talking to Ms. Henriksen. The doctor stuck to his original belief that she was too young to have cancer. Nonetheless, it was important to keep an eye on it. He advised her to use lukewarm water compresses.
That same day, Guðrún’s husband, Vilhjálmur Tómasson, went to see Guðrún in Berjanes to ask for Friðrik’s help. That same evening, Guðrún became calm and slept well all night, something she hadn’t done for a very long time.
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| Vilhjálmur (1888-1958) was known for his hard work and adored by those who knew him. Þjóðviljinn |
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| Vilhjálmur built the house, Herðubreið on Heimagata 28, in 1925. Daníel Steingrímsson |
Saturday evening, March 28th, 1925, at 10:30 p.m. Guðrún had got into bed and right away felt a surge of electricity course through her body. She felt it first in her left arm and breast. From there it exploded throughout the rest of the body ending in her head. This lasted for about 30 minutes and during the entire time she couldn’t move at all.
At 11:00 p.m. there was a pause, but then at midnight it started back up again. The surge of energy, now even stronger than before coursed through her body. This time she also found herself doing involuntary breathing exercises where she was breathing in through her mouth and out through her nose. Finally at 01:00 a.m. she fell asleep and slept through the night.
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| The house Vík on Bárustíg 13 that Þorbjörg Sigurbjörg Theódórsdóttir (1903-1932) lived in before she married Theódór Jónsson . Þorbjörg had been clairvoyant from a very young age, but even in adulthood she continued to be somewhat childlike and naïve as if there was nothing unclean about her. Her story is a blog of her own as her experiences are very unique and otherworldly. She for instance saw herself lying in a coffin and knew she would have a short life. She died 2-3 years after her vision. |
Sunday March 29th, around noon, Guðrún was cleaning her bedroom. Suddenly all her strength left her body and the same strange experience she had the night before, happened again. She laid down on a chaise where she involuntarily performed the same breathing exercises as before.
At 12:30 p.m. there was a pause. When Vilhjálmur arrived home at 01:00 p.m. it all started up again. This time the incidence was more intense. She was now also performing involuntary arm exercises that just kept going all day long with very little breaks in between.
Einar Lárusson showed up at the house at 3:00 p.m. that Sunday. Guðrún was still performing all types movements and exercises, including breathing exercises. It was no doubt in his mind that she was in an altered state and under some type of otherworldly control.
Her eyes were open and she communicated with the others in the room. Finally at 6:00 p.m. Guðrún’s exercises stopped, but before long it was back on and now even more intense than before. Even her trance-like state became deeper.
At this point she lost control of her speech. She sensed an otherworldly being there with her and it was helping her. This otherworldly helper was Friðrik and he communicated with Guðrún by speaking through her. She spoke to him through her thoughts.
Guðrún looked very uncomfortable. Every once in a while she would sing hymns and rub her left breast in between. Her eyes were closed. Einar wanted others to witness this phenomenon, so he left to get Hallgrímur Jónasson from previous blog post.
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| Einar Lárusson (1893-1963) Heimaslóð |
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| Einar Lárusson lived at Reynivellir on Kirkjuvegur 66 with his wife Sigrún Vilhjálmsdóttir. Daníel Steingrímsson |
During this time, friends and relatives had stopped by to see her. She wanted as many as possible to see that she wasn’t in control. Friðrik, spoke to her. He wasn’t able to heal her with this many people present. It was too loud. Guðrún’s father had come in and told her to stop this nonsense. Then an otherworldly voice spoke through her and said: Get out, Sigmundur. This is not Guðrún speaking.
Around 9:00 p.m. Einar arrived at Hallgrímur’s house telling him to come with him east in town where an otherworldly occurrence had been taking place since noon. When they got back, Vilhjálmur was there and Sigmundur (Guðrún’s father) who was now convinced it was real. Guðrún was lying on a chaise and occasionally opening her eyes. She would also randomly start singing psalms, rub her left breast and her nose. She didn’t appear to be conscious, yet she was aware when new people entered. This was surprising because those already in the room couldn’t see nor hear when others entered.
Guðrún continued the exercises as she sang psalms while also performing breathing exercises. It appeared as though she couldn’t control her movements at all. Ever since Friðrik the Huldu-doctor promised Vilhjálmur that he would help her, she had been in various altered states.
The men stayed with Guðrún for a few hours and then left to get Ms. Þorbjörg Theódórsdóttir who they knew was clairvoyant. She agreed to come with them. When they got back to the house it was 10:00 p.m. By then, Guðrún had been forced to stand on her feet and perform upper body exercises and sing hymns. Everyone left Guðrún’s room except Þorbjörg. Einar went home.
Now with just Þorbjörg in the room, Guðrún was told by the otherworldly voice to take her clothes off, then she was told to beat and knead her left breast, even squeeze it. This type of exercise or treatment had occurred throughout the day. This was also followed by a deep and quick blows through the nose.
These exercises continued with very little rest until 8 a.m. the morning after. It was now Monday, March 30th and Guðrún lied naked in bed for the most part. She began talking to Vilhjálmur. He tried to listen closely, but it sounded like mumbling and was hard to understand. As he focused in on the voice, it didn’t sound like her at all. It was gruff and commanding, even towards the others in the room. The voice spoke about Guðrún as if it were a separate entity and not attached to her in any way.
At 10:00 a.m. Einar returned to see Guðrún. She was sleeping, so he left and came back at 12:30 p.m. By then Guðrún was in a deep sleep-like state. She was lying in bed with her eyes closed and rubbing her nose and breast. By the way she was speaking, it was apparent that her consciousness was elsewhere and some other personality was using her vocal cords.
The deep voice said, Go, Vilhjálmur and buy eggs for her. She needs eggs and milk because she is weak. Vilhjálmur did as he was told. When he returned, the voice said in a surprising tone, Did you buy Guðrún’s eggs already? Then the voice spoke to Guðrún while she was simultaneously rubbing her breast and nose, The thing about your nose, Guðrún. I think I should know it. You have had it since you were 14. Then a little later the voice continued, I’m expecting to leave you around 3:00 p.m. You are very concerned, but you are fine. It is best to get on with it as soon as possible.
Vilhjálmur got up from the chair and stood next to her bed. Eventually Guðrún fell back asleep. Half an hour later, Finnbogi felt it would be okay for Vilhjálmur to sit down in the chair and fall asleep too. Vilhjálmur sat down, but as soon as he fell asleep, Guðrún startled and said, Now Vilhjálmur has fallen asleep, no doubt about it. Shortly after, Vilhjálmur was told to go boil an egg for Guðrún because she was hungry. While he was gone boiling the egg, Finnbogi heard a whisper saying, You should try to get some sleep, dear, while he’s boiling the egg, he´ll stay awake in the mean time.
When the egg was ready, she ate it and drank a little bit of milk. The two men were reminded to stay awake, they would get their rest later. They were then told to pray for Guðrún, so they did. Late that night they were given permission to sleep. Finnbogi went into the kitchen and fell asleep for an hour.
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| Finnbogi Finnsson (1898-1926). Finnbogi worked by tending to the motor at the local icehouse. The motor kept the refrigeration going, it was ran by 40 horsepower engines. The motor was started via air pressure. On August 5th, 1926, Finnbogi had turned the air pressure on to start the motor. Two days later on August 7th, at 7:00 a.m. Finnbogi’s coworkers heard him turn the motor on. Shortly after, a loud bang was heard through much of the town. It was coming from the engine house down by the harbor. Those nearby came running only to see Finnbogi lying on the floor practically naked. His clothes had been torn to pieces and is body severely wounded. He was still conscious and in great pain. He was taken to the hospital where he died three hours later. Finnbogi had been restocking the carbonic acid storage when the explosion happened. Upon investigation, the barometric pressure cover on the motor had been blown to bits. The blast had broken every window in the building. It was speculated that the barometer was broken and therefore Finnbogi didn’t know he had adjusted it to high. His father drowned in klettsnef in 1901. He was not married and living with his elderly mom and taking care of her. He was said to have been a wonderful and trustworthy young man. In the aftermath it was out of the question to everyone that he had been sloppy or not careful. He had worked there for several years and done an excellent job. Ljósmyndasafn Vestmannaeyja |
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| Finnbogi had been living with his mom and other family members at the Icehouse from 1920-1923. Finnbogi began building a house for his mom and other family members and in 1925 they all moved into Nýjaland on Heimagata 26. Daníel Steingrímsson |
At 2:00 p.m. Þorbjörg arrived and Einar left for an hour. When he returned again around 3:00 p.m. Þorbjörg and Guðrún were squeezing pus out of Guðrún’s breast. The voice told Guðrún to knead her left breast. Afterwards the voice told Þorbjörg to do the same. After some massaging a yellowish green pus oozed out. The wound the pus came out of looked like a surgeon’s cut around the nipple. The voice commanded them to burn the pus as soon as it oozed out.
Einar and Vilhjálmur went into the kitchen. Soon after, Þorbjörg came out with a folded cloth wet with yellowish discharge. The otherworldly voice called out, pour oil on it and burn it right away.
Soon after, the voice called out to Vilhjálmur telling him to go down to the pharmacy and buy carbonic water so they could wash the spots out of the table cloth and chaise. Then Þorbjörg proceeded to wrap the breast and get it ready for next round. When she was done bandaging Guðrún’s breast, she walked into the kitchen.
Suddenly the voice called out How is it, Þorbjörg, with the spot on the chaise. It hasn’t been cleaned yet. It is best to do it while I am still here, because after that Guðrún will need to be alone in peace. Then the voice said, Thank you, dear Þorbjörg, I should say thank you on behalf of Guðrún as I am not letting her speak to you this time.
The pus removal from the breast went on until 6:00 p.m. Guðrún was able to get a little rest in, but then an hour later it was full on again with exercises and all. Hallgrímur and Finnbogi were there watching these strange occurrences happen to Guðrún. At 8:30 p.m. an exhausted Vilhjálmur, asked Hallgrímur to watch Guðrún that night so he could sleep. When Einar returned at 10:00 p.m. he helped Hallgrímur watch Guðrún.
While the two men stayed in the room with Guðrún, the voice returned and said, It’s nice of you to help, boys. Einar took first shift, so Hallgrímur went home for now. Einar had just barely sat down in the chair near Guðrún’s bed when he saw her lips moving and the voice spoke again.
This time it said that Guðrún was so nervous that it didn’t help to have anyone but her husband (Vilhjálmur) there, so Einar could go home. If necessary, Vilhjálmur could ask Finnbogi to come stay with him. Einar asked the voice if he could come back the next day to help. The voice answered, There won’t be much happening from here on, because Guðrún is getting better and she will be herself in a conscious state.
Einar left to get Vilhjálmur. The men both knew they had to do as the voice said, so Vilhjálmur got up and went to be with Guðrún. As he sat there watching her sleep, it was hard not to doze off. Except, every time he did, Guðrún would startle and wake up. It was as if her sleep was dependent on him staying awake.
Vilhjálmur told Finnbogi to go to Guðrún in Berjanes and ask her how long this was going to go on for. Finnbogi did as asked. When he returned, he told them exactly what she had said. She didn’t know how long Friðrik would be there, but advised against touching her or talk to her but to do everything that Friðrik told them.
Vilhjálmur asked Finnbogi to sit with Guðrún while he went to find a night watcher for the night. Finnbogi sat down in the chair and Vilhjálmur left. Soon after, Guðrún started speaking, but it sounded like someone else, Here you can see her breast; I will soon get the stuff out of it.
As these words came out of her mouth, she uncovered her left breast and Finnbogi could see where the pus had been coming out. The voice continued, Then there is this thing with Guðrún’s nose, I have to fix it; It originates from this bad tooth. Guðrún’s tooth in her upper gums was exposed. I have to take it, said the voice.
The voice explained that there was an infection behind the tooth that was causing the nasal problems, so in order to clear the nose, the tooth and the infection have to be taken care of. The otherworldly being tried to get the tooth out with its fingers but was unable to. Then Finnbogi said, I don’t think you’ll be able to get it without tools. The being then said Oh! I have plenty of tools even though you can’t see them.
The voice said, I’m surprised, Guðrún, that you haven’t had these bad teeth pulled already. You need to have them pulled as soon as you are better. Friðrik the Huldu-doctor wasn’t able to pull the tooth, but he got rid of the infection in some other manner.
It was now the following day and Finnbogi and Vilhjálmur were with her. The voice said that Vilhjálmur could stay awake for a few more hours. Guðrún had barely gotten any rest that day or the night before. She seemed to sleep much better when Vilhjálmur was there with her.
Vilhjálmur was asked to come sit in a chair behind the bed and sleep there. He did so and Finnbogi stayed awake. Every once in a while he saw Guðrún squeeze her breast or play with her tooth while also speaking, but always in third person as if she was someone else.
At one point she started inhaling something from her hand into her nostrils. She acted as if she was holding something. Then Finnbogi heard the voice say to him, Now I am having her inhale menthol through the nose, you suck it into your nose. Finnbogi did as the voice told him and inhaled. He felt a strong scent, like that of menthol. There weren’t any medications or anything else present in the room except a bottle of carbonic water.
Around 2:00 p.m. Friðrik told Finnbogi to wake up Vilhjálmur. Finnbogi was reluctant to do so, but the voice insisted. They needed the additional energy (power). After Vilhjálmur woke up, an otherworldly being, probably Friðrik, spoke to him through Guðrún saying, I need to take your sleepiness and put it inside Guðrún. Vilhjálmur was then asked to sit down at the foot of the bed and take Guðrún’s hand.
Guðrún started reading some beautiful verses and was near sleep when Vilhjálmur startled slightly. He had accidentally dozed off as he was extremely sleepy. With this, Guðrún startled as well and through her, the voice said, You can’t do this Vilhjálmur, get up instead. Then you’ll be awake while she’s sleeping. God knows that you have to stay awake.
Finnbogi stayed watch until 6:00 a.m. the following morning. Einar showed up to see how Guðrún was doing. Guðrún finally regained full consciousness at 11:00 a.m. and was clearheaded for the first time since the whole ordeal began. She suddenly realized she could breathe without difficulty again. Her throat and nose had completely cleared up. She looked down on her left nipple and noticed a wound. She vaguely remembered that her and Þorbjörg had been told to squeeze yellowish green fluid out of it.
On April 4th all ailments in her nose and throat were completely gone, never to return. The lump i her breast was also completely gone. She was herself again and would never again return to that altered state.
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| Top photo shows the locations of the homes mentioned in this blog as shown on openstreetmap. Pink : Faxastígur 7b; Dark Blue: Kirkjuvegur 66; Light Blue: Heimagata 28; Yellow: Bárustígur 13 ; Orange: Heimagata 26, Bottom photo is the original image. Pintafontes |
When Finnbogi went to see Guðrún, he didn’t believe in otherworldly phenomenon. His plan was to visit her and tell her that this was all nonsense and delusional. By the time Finnbogi left, he was completely convinced that there were in fact otherworldly phenomenon at work.
Her husband, Vilhjálmur, was very skeptical about all otherworldly phenomenon as well. In fact, he simply did not believe in them. After what he had just experienced, he had no choice but to put aside his skepticism and become a believer.
The same with her father, Sigmundur. When he heard what Guðrún was up to, he went to her to put an end to this shenanigans. Just like Finnbogi and Vilhjálmur, he couldn’t deny what he witnessed and no matter how hard any of them tried to justify their notion of chicanery, it was very clear that there was truly an otherworldly phenomenon taking place right in front of their eyes.
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