Hauntings in Solberg (Supplement to 2531 et al.)

Today I spoke with 71-year-old Nils Larsson here in Solberg, who for four years served Kristoffer Persson during the much-talked-about haunting period. Larsson's accounts agree quite well with what others have had to tell. He asserts with certainty that 'sprites' WERE there. One evening, or perhaps more accurately, night, after he had been away in the village and was walking home, he himself saw a light shining in the window of one of the rooms. As he well knew that things were not right in the house, he fixed his eyes sharply on the light and did not let go of it. When he was very close, it vanished at once. He went inside, for he was at home there. Everyone was asleep and the stove was completely cold. Another time he woke up in the night and found that the pillow had been taken from under his head and placed down at his feet. He had a companion in the bed. He had felt it when the pillow was moved. — Kristoffer Persson's wife had woken up one night and sat up in bed. Then she had seen a coffin on the floor in front of her. She was on the verge of being scared out of her mind. L-n himself had heard her speak of this. — Strange light phenomena appeared both outside the houses and inside them. Many teamsters – such people almost every night stayed at the farm – were completely astonished when they came into the stable late on a winter's evening and found that they could see objects very well, even though there was no burning light. Travelers were often disturbed at night. Bedclothes, for example, were pulled off them. This led to one person after another seeking other quarters. In the end, no one wanted to stay at Kristoffer's farm. — L-n has also heard that J. Julin was summoned to banish the spirits, but he does not know if this is true. — When Kristoffer Persson himself lay dead at the farm, it had haunted more than ever, but as soon as he had been buried, it became calm and has been so ever since. — It has always been believed that the hauntings stemmed from some crime (murder) that was said to have been committed at the farm. Many are said to have seen headless figures disappear into a small barn above the farm. It was therefore believed that a corpse was buried there. When the barn was torn down shortly after K. P-n's death, a thorough investigation was made, but nothing was found. — The recorder dares not express any definite opinion regarding the innermost nature of the phenomena described here but is most inclined to consider the whole thing to be exclusively of a psychological nature. One must remember that the population in these areas was caught in deep ignorance and purely heathen superstition, as well as that the vice of drunkenness was terribly prevalent. I believe that many such visions were simply delirium visions.