HULDUFÓLK – THE HIDDEN PEOPLE OF ICELAND: WHY STORIES OF ELVES SURVIVE IN A MODERN COUNTRY
- Roman Pech
- 22. 7.
- Minut čtení: 7
Aktualizováno: před 3 dny
In Iceland, Huldufólk are not spoken of merely as an ancient legend. Stories about the Hidden People are told not only by traditional storytellers, but also by modern Icelanders, foreigners who have lived on the island, and people with university degrees. Some claim they have even seen Huldufólk themselves. Over the years, I have heard dozens of such accounts. And then came one night when I experienced something that I still cannot explain – together with four other people travelling with me.
They are not the elves of modern fairy tales with wings and magical powers.
In Icelandic tradition, Huldufólk – often translated simply as elves – are beings similar to humans. They have their own homes, families and way of life, existing in a kind of parallel world alongside ours.
But the most fascinating thing is not only that these stories have survived.
The truly interesting question is how many people claim to have had personal experiences connected with them.
The Encounter Near Laugarvatn
Something similar happened to me one night.
I was travelling with five friends. We had left Laugarvatn and were driving towards Geysir, hoping to see the Northern Lights.
We were still in an area where the town’s street lighting reached the road.
Then we noticed something strange.
In the opposite lane stood a long wooden bench. It stretched from the centre line all the way to the edge of the road.
Children were sitting on the bench. Behind them stood adults.
The entire group looked as if they were preparing for a family photograph.
The women wore long skirts, the men wore waistcoats. Some of the children had flat caps.
They looked like a rural Icelandic family from the late 19th or early 20th century.
But what was even stranger was their behaviour.
Nobody looked at us. Nobody moved. Nobody reacted to a car passing directly in front of them. They simply stared straight ahead.
The scene felt completely real.
And that was exactly why we could not understand why anyone would be standing in the middle of a road at night.
“Did You See That Too?”
After a few moments, we passed the group.
I looked at my friend sitting beside me.
“Did you see that too?”
She was silent for a moment.
Then she answered:
“Unfortunately, yes.”
We asked the three friends sitting in the back.
They all confirmed the same thing.
None of us tried to convince the others of anything. First came the experience.
Only afterwards did we realise that all five of us had seen exactly the same scene.
When We Returned, Nothing Was There
After several minutes, we decided to turn back.
We were worried that someone was standing in the middle of the road at night and that an accident could happen. We returned to the same place. But there was nothing there. No bench. No children. No adults. Only an empty road.
We had no idea what we had actually seen.
“This Is Simply Iceland.”
When I later told my story to Jóna, the co-owner of the hostel in Laugarvatn where I had been staying, I expected surprise, questions, perhaps an attempt to find an explanation.
But Jóna simply listened.
Then she shrugged and calmly said:
“This is simply Iceland.”
Nothing more.
She did not try to convince me that we had seen Huldufólk.
But she also did not try to dismiss the story or explain it away.
Her reaction was as if experiences like this simply belonged to Iceland.
And that was the moment I realised that perhaps the most interesting thing was not what we had seen.
Perhaps the more interesting question was how Icelanders themselves think about such things.
We Are Not the Only Ones
Over the following years, I discovered that our story was far from unique.
Similar experiences were described to me by people from different countries and professions. They were not people looking for attention or fascinated by mysteries. They were ordinary people who admitted that they had no reasonable explanation for what they had experienced.
And often, they were the ones who brought up the subject themselves.
One Czech woman who had worked in Iceland for several years told me about a night journey she had taken on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.
On a path ahead of her, she saw a figure she described as a troll.
It was not aggressive. It was simply standing in her way. She asked if she could pass.
According to her story, the figure stepped aside and allowed her to continue.
Another story came from a psychology student who described seeing a table covered with a tablecloth and several chairs standing in the landscape, as if someone had just prepared a family lunch there. The scene appeared completely real.
But when she reached the place, there was nothing.
No table.
No chairs.
No traces.
“Huldufólk Exist.”
Anna Kristín Magnúsdóttir, my Icelandic friend and a journalist, never doubted it.
Throughout her life, she stated with complete seriousness that Huldufólk exist.
Not as fairy-tale creatures, but as part of a world that humans cannot always explain.
According to Anna, stories about the Hidden People were not simply sagas, myths or old folk tales.
They were part of the Icelandic experience.
And Anna was certainly not alone.
What Do Icelanders Themselves Think?
A 2007 survey of Icelandic beliefs showed that only around 13–14 percent of Icelanders considered the existence of Huldufólk completely impossible.
More than half of respondents did not rule out their existence entirely – some considered it possible, others probable, and a smaller group believed that Huldufólk truly exist.
This does not mean that most Icelanders claim to have seen Huldufólk.
Rather, it shows that many Icelanders leave open the possibility that the world around us may not be as simple as it appears.
Elves in Iceland: What Does Science Say?
One of the leading experts on Icelandic folklore is Professor Terry Gunnell from the University of Iceland.
He has studied the phenomenon of Huldufólk for more than thirty years and has contributed to several major surveys of Icelandic folk beliefs.
According to Gunnell, it is a mistake to ask Icelanders a simple question:
“Do you believe in Huldufólk?”
As he explains:
“Very few Icelanders will immediately tell you that they believe in Huldufólk. At the same time, very few people will completely deny their existence.”
For many Icelanders, Huldufólk – or elves in Icelandic tradition – do not represent a religious belief. They are part of cultural identity and a particular relationship with the landscape.
In traditional stories, they do not resemble the elves of fantasy literature.
They are described as human-like beings who live hidden among rocks, lava fields and hills, forming a kind of parallel society alongside our own.
Yet there are also people who claim not only to believe in Huldufólk, but to have encountered them.
One of the most famous figures connected with Huldufólk was Erla Stefánsdóttir (1935–2015), a piano teacher and well-known Icelandic figure associated with the Hidden People tradition.
For decades, she claimed that she was able to perceive the homes of Huldufólk and other hidden beings.
She created maps of their supposed settlements, led tours in Hafnarfjörður, and her work attracted attention not only from tourists but also from international media and documentary makers.
Although her claims have not been scientifically proven, she became one of the most recognised personalities connected with the modern Icelandic Huldufólk tradition.
The most interesting findings, however, come from the latest University of Iceland survey from 2023. (The original survey is available here.)
The researchers did not only ask whether people considered the existence of Huldufólk possible.
They also asked a direct question:
“Have you ever seen álfar or Huldufólk?”
Approximately 5.9 percent of respondents answered:
“Yes, I think so.”
In other words, roughly one person in twenty in Iceland believes they have had a personal experience with the Hidden People.
This is, of course, not proof that Huldufólk exist.
But it reveals something perhaps even more interesting.
Stories about the Hidden People are not merely ancient legends preserved in collections of folklore.
For some Icelanders, they remain part of their own personal experiences – and this is why they continue to be a living part of Icelandic culture in the 21st century.
Why Iceland?
Perhaps the real question is not whether Huldufólk exist.
Perhaps the more interesting question is why stories like these have survived in Iceland until today. It is a country where nature still sets the rules.
Where volcanoes, glaciers, fog and long winter nights constantly remind people that not everything can be controlled or explained.
For centuries, Icelanders lived in close contact with a landscape that was far more powerful than they were. And perhaps that is where stories about another world were born – a world existing alongside our own.
A Myth – or Something More?
Modern science offers many possible explanations for unusual experiences like these.
Human perception is not perfect.
The brain can create patterns and connections where none actually exist.
Light, perspective or expectation can influence what we see.
But that does not change the fact that people continue to describe such experiences – and they describe them with complete seriousness.
Perhaps the goal is not to decide who is right.
Perhaps it is more interesting to accept that even in the 21st century there are places where people occasionally encounter something they cannot easily explain.
Conclusion: This Is Simply Iceland
When I look back today at that night on the road between Laugarvatn and Geysir, I still do not know what we saw.
I do not know.
Neither do the four people who were sitting in the car with me.
Perhaps there is a completely rational explanation.
Perhaps there is not.
But one sentence has remained in my memory ever since.
Jóna simply shrugged and said:
“This is simply Iceland.”
And perhaps those words describe Iceland better than all the sagas, legends and scientific explanations combined.
About the Author
Iceland has fascinated me for many years. Over the course of numerous journeys across the island, I have driven tens of thousands of kilometers, experienced storms that changed travel plans within minutes, and witnessed days when choosing the right route meant discovering places that most visitors never see. I documented many of these experiences in my documentary film Island in the North.
Through this website, I share practical travel advice, up-to-date information, and firsthand experiences from the field to help others explore Iceland more safely and gain a deeper understanding of its unique landscapes and ever-changing nature.
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