By the fantastical waterfall Foss á Síðu, south in Iceland, there are rumours about a ghost in the form of a dog that has been haunting a family for nine generations. Although the haunting of the ghost called Hörgsland-Móri started a long time ago, there are still tales about seeing him in the area. 

Foss á Síðu is а historic farm in Iceland with rich history and folklore dating back to the country’s settlement erа in the 9th century. Behind the farm there is the majestic waterfall that people travel long to see. The water flow can be so thin that Foss á Síðu becomes one of Iceland’s upside-down waterfalls on a windy day. One legend around these parts is about а ghost dog named Móri. Some locals believe thаt Móri has disappeared, while others claim thаt the ghost dog still wanders аround the farm аnd waterfall.

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A Móri is a male ghost in Iceland. When a male is raised from the dead for such a purpose like vengeance, he is not called a ghost, but a Móri. Often the term Fylgja ghost was used interchangeably with the Draug ghost. The female version of this vengeful ghost was called Skotta. Móri means rust brown in Icelandic and the ghosts were named so because of the color of their clothes.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Iceland

The ghost in Síða in Skaftafellssýsla southeast of Iceland is called the Hörgsland-Móri or Bergs-Móri. This is not because he was originally sent to Hörgsland, nor because of Reverend Bergur, the person he ended up being linked to, but because he is thought to follow the Berg family. Reverend Bergur was the last of them at Hörgsland and the ghost is said to have followed him from there. The origin of the ghost goes back further and is therefore somewhat unclear.

The Hörgsland-Móri Cursed to Haunt a Family like a Dog

It is said that there was a priest at Arnarbæli (1676–89) named Oddur Árnason. His wife was Katrín, the daughter of Reverend Jón Daðason, who had served there before him. Oddur and Katrín had at least two children, a boy and a girl named Ingibjörg. One winter, the priest had ridden across the ice, and the boy, who was very fond of his father, ran after him, fell into a hole in the ice, and drowned. 

“Reverend Oddur found no joy in being there, besides other things that displeased him,” says Dean Jón Halldórsson. Both rumor and record suggest that the “displeasure” at Arnarbæli was that his wife had previously been betrothed to another man, but had broken her promise to him and chosen another. Because of this, the man she betrayed sent her a curse: a ghost in the form of a dog named Móri, who was to haunt her and her descendants to the ninth generation. 

In some versions it is actually the Reverend Oddur who sends the ghost after Katrín allegedly divorced him after their son’s death where the man was never the same. Was it actually their son they raised from the dead who came back to haunt his own family?

Reverend Oddur later received the parish of Kálfatjörn south-west in the country, where he remained until his death in 1705. 

The Mori Haunting his Descendants

His daughter Ingibjörg married Jón Ísleifsson, sheriff in Skaftafellssýsla (1721–26), a well known scoundrel. 

Their daughter Katrín married Reverend Jón Bergsson the elder of Kálfafell in Síða, dean of the western part of Skaftafellssýsla from 1754 to 1773. It was believed that Móri caused his death, for stories claim that Reverend Jón died suddenly at Eyrarbakki.

Icelandic Ghosts and Ghouls: Fylgja or the draugr ghosts attached themselves to people that they haunted. They could also attach themselves to buildings or even entire towns. Many stories also talk about it being a generational haunting where the ghost decides to haunt all of the descendants of the original person it cursed. Most often the female line of the family. // An illustration to the Icelandic legend of the Skeleton in Hólar Church (Beinagrindin í Hólakirkju). From Icelandic Legends : Collected by Jón Arnason, illustrated by Jules Worms.

Their only son, Bergur, was later minister at Kirkjubæjarklaustur, and he also lived at Prestbakki and Foss, but in the end he was at Hörgsland, where he died and where the ghost got his most well known name. 

It was said that whenever quarrels arose between Reverend Bergur and his wife, Móri was seen at the farm, and people thought he was the cause of their disputes. After the couple’s deaths, he followed their daughters; as soon as the eldest died, the next inherited him, and she soon became half-mad. He had many daughters, and Móri followed all of them, and still follows them, according to local tales. 

The Fading Ghost by Foss á Síðu

The story was first written down as the ghost reached the fifth generation of the family haunting, after attaching himself to their ancestress Katrín, their great-great-great-grandmother although there aren’t many stories told about his time then.

One of the sisters, Þorbjörg, was married to a man known as the hospital-keeper. It is said that she “portioned out” food to Móri. People claimed that at holiday feasts, when she served, she would slip whole sides of mutton down by her thigh; they were never seen again, and it was believed that Móri took them all.

Image: Mathieu Poumeyrol/Wikimedia

Before the ghost reached the ninth generation of haunting, the people of Síða said he had grown so faded that he looks from behind like nothing more than a wisp of steam. Because of this, opinions are divided as to whether he will endure as long as was foretold. There are no remarkable stories of his doing harm outside that family, but he has sometimes been glimpsed when one of their kin was on the road. He is not accused of having killed anyone for a long time, except possibly members of the family itself, and it is widely said that he caused madness among many of them.

So the question is, did he finally reach the ninth generation, or did he simply fade away? 

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References:

Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri/Draugasögur/Hörgslands-Móri – Wikiheimild

Scholars’ Mine Icelandic Folklore and the Cultural Memory of Religious Change

Explore Foss Á Síðu: Iceland’s Majestic Waterfall аnd Tranquil Farm Right by the Ring Road – Buubble