The Lagarfljót Worm: Iceland's Lake Serpent, Legend & Evidence

On February 2, 2012, a man in eastern Iceland filmed a long, dark shape twisting through an icy river. It looked remarkably like an enormous serpent. The footage spread far beyond Iceland, bringing an old legend back into the spotlight: had someone finally captured the Lagarfljót Worm on camera?

The man was Hjörtur Kjerúlf. The creature many viewers wondered about was Lagarfljótsormurinn, Iceland's legendary lake serpent.

The story stretched back centuries. A medieval record described something immense appearing in eastern Iceland's waters, while a later folktale told of a girl whose attempt to multiply a gold ring created a terrifying worm.

Then, two years after Kjerúlf's recording, a local committee voted in favor of the monster interpretation, and the filmmaker received a monetary reward.

Yet the video wasn't filmed in the lake itself, and the committee's decision was more complicated than the headlines suggested. The key question was whether the strange object was moving through the river or the river was moving around it.

The Video That Revived the Legend

Watch the recording that brought the Lagarfljót Worm international attention in 2012. What do you think you're seeing?

The shape bends and twists while water flows around it. At first glance, it seems alive. But as we'll see, the river's current may explain much of that apparent movement.

First, the legend that made viewers think of a giant serpent.

What Is the Lagarfljót Worm?

The Lagarfljót Worm is a legendary serpent associated with the lakes and waterways of eastern Iceland. Its Icelandic name, Lagarfljótsormurinn, means approximately "the worm of Lagarfljót."

In older European folklore, a worm could be a serpent or dragon-like creature rather than an ordinary earthworm. Iceland's famous worm belongs to that tradition, with descriptions of an elongated body, enormous size and mysterious appearances in the water.

Some accounts describe several humps or loops rising above the surface. Others mention a strange shape that disappears before anyone can identify it.

A Lake, a River and a Glacial Landscape

Lagarfljót is a connected river-and-lake system in eastern Iceland. Its principal lake section, also known as Lögurinn, stretches roughly 25 kilometers through the valley near Egilsstaðir.

Forested slopes and mountains surround parts of the lake. Sediment carried from Iceland's glaciers gives the water its cloudy appearance, making objects beneath the surface difficult to see.

Across the world, lake-monster legends often grow around unfamiliar shapes glimpsed in the water. Lagarfljót has something more unusual: a medieval description that survives in Iceland's written historical record.

The Strange Thing Recorded in 1345

The Lagarfljót Worm is often said to have been documented in 1345. There really is a medieval account associated with that year, but it doesn't tell the familiar story of a girl, a gold ring and a growing serpent.

The source is Skálholtsannáll, one of Iceland's medieval annals. Under the year 1345, it describes an extraordinary phenomenon in Lagarfljót and the surrounding district.

The description becomes more remarkable as it continues. The phenomenon sometimes resembled large islands. At other times, portions rose in loops, separated by channels of water. Its reported length was enormous, measured in hundreds of fathoms.

Yet the narrator admitted that no recognizable head or tail had been seen. The writer believed the phenomenon was alive, but the account offers no certain way to identify what people witnessed.

Why the Date Matters

There's an important distinction behind the famous date. The surviving manuscript containing the entry was written around 1362 or later. The year 1345 refers to the reported event, not necessarily the date the surviving text was written.

So the historical record describes something strange in eastern Iceland's waters. It doesn't explicitly identify a giant worm, and it never mentions a gold ring.

That more elaborate story belongs to another part of Iceland's folklore.

The Girl, the Gold Ring and the Growing Worm

According to the traditional tale, a mother gave her grown daughter a gold ring. When the daughter asked how she could increase her wealth, her mother offered unusual advice: place the ring beneath a small heath-worm.

The girl followed the instructions, putting the ring and worm together in a linen box. She left them undisturbed for several days.

When she returned, the creature had grown so large that the box could barely contain it. Instead of finding greater riches, she discovered an enormous, frightening worm.

Terrified, she threw the box, worm and gold into Lagarfljót.

But the creature kept growing beneath the water. In the story, it eventually threatened people and livestock and could spread poison.

Two figures called Finnar in the Icelandic text were summoned to kill it and retrieve the treasure. They failed to recover the gold, reporting that an even more formidable worm lay beneath it.

They did manage to bind the original creature in two places, restricting its movements. Even then, its appearance above the water remained a bad omen. A raised hump could foretell hardship or a poor harvest.

One unexpected detail makes the story especially interesting: some people in the tale doubted the worm existed. One episode even involves a priest rowing across what others believed was the creature.

Skepticism was already part of the tradition, long before the modern video controversy.

When Was the Story Written Down?

The familiar gold-ring tale appears in Jón Árnason's 1862 collection of Icelandic folk tales, under the title Ormurinn í Lagarfljóti.

Like many folk stories, it may have circulated orally for generations before being collected. But its documented written version and the medieval annal are separate sources, recorded centuries apart.

Together, they give the Lagarfljót Worm a rich history. Whether any of those stories describe a real unknown animal is a different question.

What Have People Reported Seeing?

The legend continued into modern times. Unusual shapes and disturbances on Lagarfljót were sometimes identified as the worm, and several accounts preserve the names of people who reported seeing something strange.

A Dark Shape in 1962

On the morning of October 5, 1962, Sigurður Blöndal reportedly noticed something unusual near Þurshöfði. In a later interview, he described a dark, rounded form resembling a whale's back. He also recalled calling Þórný Friðriksdóttir to look.

Some later versions date the sighting to 1963. Because the account survives through memories recorded years afterward rather than a clear photograph, the identity of the object remains unknown.

The Damaged Cable of 1983

In October 1983, workers laying a cable between Hallormsstaður and Geitagerði reportedly encountered unusual instrument readings and damage to the cable.

Could something large have been moving below the surface? The story raised that possibility, but the original instrument records and engineering findings have not been located. Without them, it's impossible to tell what caused the readings or damage.

Schoolchildren Spot Something Pale

Another account, recorded by the late 1990s, involves Kristín Gunnarsdóttir and pupils who reportedly observed a pale, elongated shape on the water near Geitagerði.

Interestingly, the object appeared stationary. That detail leaves open ordinary possibilities, including floating material or something beneath the surface.

These reports kept the legend alive, but their descriptions varied considerably. Then came 2012, when a camera provided something eyewitness memories couldn't: a recording that people around the world could examine for themselves.

What Did the 2012 Video Actually Show?

Hjörtur Kjerúlf made his recording on February 2, 2012. Iceland's national broadcaster RÚV reported it that same day.

At first glance, the object looks remarkably serpent-like. Its dark body appears to bend repeatedly while the surrounding water rushes past.

But the filming location is important. Kjerúlf wasn't recording something crossing the open lake. According to RÚV's contemporary report, he filmed the object in Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, below the farm Hrafnkelsstaðir.

The river flows into the Lagarfljót system, linking the scene geographically to the legend. Its current also offers a possible explanation for the object's unusual movement.

Could It Have Been a Frozen Fishing Net?

The possibility of fishing netting trapped in ice appeared in Icelandic coverage almost immediately after the video emerged.

Imagine a long piece of flexible material caught against ice or an obstruction in the river. Water continues rushing past it. Loose sections bend, twist and flutter, while the part holding it in place remains relatively still.

From the right angle, those movements could resemble a swimming serpent.

In a February 2012 LiveScience article, Benjamin Radford discussed an analysis by Miisa McKeown. She compared the object's position with fixed points visible in the scene, rather than judging its movement by the flowing water alone.

Her analysis suggested that the object remained largely in the same place while the water moved around it. That would be consistent with flexible debris held in the current.

The exact material has never been conclusively identified. No particular net or rope has been recovered and matched to the footage.

Was It a Hoax?

Kjerúlf denied staging the incident. And there is an important difference between a deliberate hoax and an honest mistake.

Someone can film a real object, believe it is something extraordinary and later discover that an ordinary explanation fits the recording. An authentic video doesn't automatically mean the interpretation is correct.

The stationary-object explanation offers a plausible answer to the mystery without assuming deliberate deception. What Kjerúlf actually filmed remains unconfirmed.

Why Did an Icelandic Committee Vote for the Worm?

The story could have ended with the debate over the video. Instead, local officials in Iceland gave it an extraordinary second chapter.

A regional reward for evidence of the Lagarfljót Worm had existed since 1997. After Kjerúlf's footage attracted international attention, Fljótsdalshérað appointed a thirteen-member committee in 2012 to consider the submitted evidence.

This was a local committee, not a national scientific panel. Its work continued into 2014.

On August 23 that year, regional news outlet Austurfrétt reported the result.

Seven Yes, Four No, Two Blank

Seven members supported the interpretation that the video showed the worm. Four voted against it, and two submitted blank ballots.

Some later summaries described the result as seven to six, incorrectly counting the blank ballots as votes against.

The committee also considered a separate photograph, which received only one affirmative vote.

Its chair, Stefán Bogi Sveinsson, declared “Ormurinn er til!”, meaning "The worm exists!"

That declaration made headlines. But the committee's vote reflected the judgment of a divided local panel, not scientific proof that an unknown species inhabited the water.

The Monetary Reward

Kjerúlf received 500,000 Icelandic krónur through the municipal reward.

A separate tourism cooperative awarded another 50,000 krónur for the publicity the footage brought to the region.

These were two distinct payments, recognizing the claimed sighting and the attention it generated.

The episode remains one of the legend's most remarkable chapters. A centuries-old monster story had become the subject of an official local vote, ensuring that the 2012 footage would remain part of the region's folklore.

Could a Giant Unknown Animal Live in Lagarfljót?

Beyond the old stories and the 2012 footage lies a straightforward question: could a large animal unknown to science actually live in Lagarfljót?

The lake's cloudy water certainly makes observation difficult. But an unknown resident species would also need a food supply, suitable habitat and enough individuals to reproduce over generations.

What Researchers Have Found

Iceland's Marine and Freshwater Research Institute has studied fish populations in the Lagarfljót system, documenting familiar species such as Arctic charr and brown trout.

Researchers have also examined changes in the lake's environment. Since 2007, hydropower-related water diversion has altered inflow and sediment conditions, affecting the aquatic system.

These studies do not examine every possible hiding place or rule out every unknown organism. But the available biological research has produced no verified evidence of an enormous, unidentified serpentine species.

What About a Giant Eel?

A giant eel might seem like a possible explanation. An unusually large, elongated fish glimpsed through cloudy water could easily resemble a serpent.

Still, the giant-eel hypothesis would require actual evidence of such an animal in this particular lake system.

The same is true of theories involving prehistoric survivors. An unusual silhouette alone tells us little about the type of animal, much less its ancestry.

As our guide to lake-monster evidence and misidentifications explores, an unfamiliar shape can make a compelling mystery without revealing exactly what caused it.

Visiting the Landscape of the Legend

Whatever you think about the worm's existence, eastern Iceland offers an unforgettable setting for its story.

Egilsstaðir provides a convenient base for exploring Lagarfljót. Nearby Hallormsstaður forest, mountain scenery and roads around the lake offer opportunities to experience the landscape associated with generations of monster tales.

Visitors can explore regional viewpoints and learn more about local folklore through Visit Austurland, eastern Iceland's tourism resource.

The exact river location associated with the 2012 video is not a designated public attraction. But exploring the wider valley provides a sense of the landscape where that famous recording was made.

What Remains of the Lagarfljót Worm Mystery?

The Lagarfljót Worm has endured for centuries, but its story isn't built on one continuous chain of evidence.

The medieval annal describes something unidentified in eastern Iceland's waters. The nineteenth-century gold-ring tale gives the creature its memorable folkloric origin. Later witnesses reported strange shapes, while the 2012 video introduced an entirely new controversy.

That footage genuinely looks peculiar. Yet its apparent movement has a plausible explanation involving flexible material held in a flowing river.

No authenticated specimen or other verified evidence has established an unknown giant aquatic species inhabiting Lagarfljót.

That leaves an unusual kind of mystery. It may not be an undiscovered monster so much as a tradition in which medieval writing, local experiences, folklore, a viral video and an official vote have become intertwined.

In the fourteenth century, a writer described something strange rising in loops from the water, with no recognizable head or tail. In 2012, viewers watched another unfamiliar shape move through Icelandic water and debated whether it was alive.

Nearly seven hundred years separated those accounts. Neither, by itself, told observers exactly what they were looking at.