The Loch Ness Sea Monster is one of those things people rarely see even in the famous Loch. But fishermen seeking a catch in the icy waters of Iceland’s Lagarfljot found something equally bizarre snaking its way between the broken bits of floating ice. Is this the legendary monster said to live in Lagarfljot? The astounding footage they took of the bizarre formation seems to suggest just that.
The footage is strange, to say the least.
If you’re having difficulty pronouncing the name of the lake, Lagarfljot, you’re not alone. The lake, also known as Logurinn, is 53 square kilometers of icy frigid waters said to contain a mystery. The creature, said to resemble a massive worm, has been termed the Lagarfljotsormurinn is said to inhabit the icy cold near one of Iceland’s tallest waterfalls.
Just like Nessie, the Loch Ness Sea Monster, the Lagarfljotsormurinn has been sighted for years by locals and visitors to the area as a massive strange creature not entirely unlike a snake. But if it is a snake, it has some very un-snakelike characteristics – like the ability to survive even in the frigid temperatures of Lagarfljot during the winter. The creature filmed can clearly be seen moving its body from side to side like a normal snake or eel swimming. Ordinarily you would not be able to see a cold blooded creature like a snake moving very much at all while the temperatures got this cold. In fact, most ectotherms would not survive the harsh conditions of Lagarfljot.
The origins of the creature date back all the way to the 14th century when a folk tale was told of a woman who put the worm on a ring made of gold in order to make the ring grow substantially. Unfortunately, as the story goes, rather than increasing the size of the ring, it was the creature she placed on it that grew to immense size and was captured in a net. But that wasn’t the end of the Lagarfljot, for it escaped the net and into the waters where it remained for many years. Though stories about the creature continued, there have been very few actual cases of people filming the strange lake monster. And while the folk tale is generally accepted as more a story than a historical account, it does suggest that something has been sighted in the waters there for many centuries. The monster appearing in this footage could be that legendary creature.
There are other explanations, but looking closely at the way the formation in the waters moves, it’s hard to mistake it for anything else. Rather than be carried to and fro like a piece of ice or floating rope, the creature reported to be the Lagerfljot moves steadily forward, undulating as though with a great sense of purpose. This seems to be some of the most authentic footage of a mysterious sea creature defying the known laws of convention captured in several years. But only time will tell if the Lagarfljot with its incredibly strange name and even stranger appearance will turn out to be real or just another fish story.