The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-02-26
Tremendous Sea Scrpcnts.


They are young men, and were born in Of
| oddcn, Norway, ut the head of the West
Fjord, Oh thcnorthwcstcrn coast of Norway.
, The elder is mechanic and Peter is a clerk.
The room in which they live gave evidence
OF the character Of the inmates. On a late
occasion the elder Carlson said to reporter
up the West FjOrd and into the Ofoddcn
FJori used to come every year and they
conc now, sea scrpcnts. 1t was not more
than once in ten years that they failed to
come; sometimes one and sometimes two,
Ttc people there say that they have known
three to be there ut one time, but this ia
uncertain, for it was difficult to say lust
how many were in the water ut one time.
Certain ii is that there was one serpent that
came up about the LIST Of April every Year,
and remained about four months-that is,
during the warm weather. The first indica-
ton of the presence of the serpent was tha,
the fish of all kinds-cod, haCtlock, and
| othcrs-bcgan to die, and noatcd to the
shore. Then the people said that the scr
pcnt had come. and that he had poisoned
the water"
but did you ever sec the serpent"
"1cs, indeed. | saw il once very plain
~. That did not sec il more than once
was because our house was back some two
miles from the shore. But one night, about
II o'clock, | was with IL party of friends
fishing. 1t was perfectly light, for the sun
docs not go down at all in that season of
the year there, and that night it was SEEM
ingly Just about Il foot above the water in
the horizon, and its red glare made the
waters OF the fjordrcd Suddenly we heard
70 the northward rushing noise like
heavy wind, and, looking in that direction,
81 hin all
on the seats of the boat to sec better, and
soon we disccrncd coming toward us the
serpcnt. Evidently lie was pursuing flock
of elder ducks that were flying directly in
front Of him. They cannot fly high, and
the serpent seemed bent upon scizing them
Ills head and neck reared aloft some fifty
feet and the noise wo heard was that made
by the water as he rushed through it. In
front OF him the water spurlcd up as it does
before large and fast steamer. The ducks
were flying straight toward us, and We
feared that we should be overwhelmed by
the serpent, when, seeing lis, the ducks
turned sharply OF to the westward, and flew
straight toward the sun. The serpent turn
! ed, too, but whether unable to face the sun
or not, or for some reason he dove forward
into the sea; fold after fold of his great
body appeared and went down like great
links where the head first disappeared, and
tho water was so agitatcd that our boat rock
ed violently upon the water, which was but a
few moments before quite calm. That was
my best sight at the sen serpent, and what
| am telling you is very true"
"And how long did you think tho serpent
to he.
The young man smiled. "Ah, there is
tho difficulty. You will not believe me,
but could bring you plenty of men who
would be quite willing toswcar that he was
at the least four English miles long. Others
will say five or six miles long. I never
heard any one say that the smallest serpent
seen was less than 500 feet long Ofcoursc
there is the difficulty Of telling how long al
animal moving through the water is. There
may be two, chasing each other. There
| may be more than two. But I will tell
you this: One evening when the water
| was very quiet, my brother Peter went up
on the mountain and looked down upon the
ford. The serpent lay perfectly motion
less on the surface of the water, and nv
brother, Judging from the distances along
tho shore relatively to the serpent says he
was at least five miles long 1t was Il cur
ious fashion the scrpcnts had of lying mot
ionlcss upon the water for rs much as three
days at time, then sinking out of sight
and remaining unseen for days. l think this:
that they came up in'thc ford to fiji them
selves with food, and, being gorgcd, lay
torpid rs do land snakes for a long time. |
well remember one summer when the ser
pcnt lay around an island up near The head
Of the fjord. The island was about two
miles in circumference, and the resort of
millions of sea fowl. The serpent lay COM
plctcly around this island, and in some
places his whole thickness could be seen.
l should judge him to be no less than TWEEN
ty feet in diameter in the spot where | saw
him, for wc took boat and rowcd out over
him. My father said that he should make
| a harpOOn out of an anchor, which he could
very we'll do, for he was blacksmith, and
try to capture the serpent; but the author
tiles, hearing of his plan, forbade IL, for
| they asked what would he do with Inn af-
| ter he had caught him, and was thcro not
danger that, being unable to dispose of the
great body, it might float in the water, and,
in dccOmposng, poison the air and the wat
or, and thus bring sickness and perhaps n
pestilcnce to the people. Indeed, | have
heard in my travels, for was in the whale
fisheries of the North Sea, that serpent
once dying so poisoned the wa.'r and the
air that the people were forced /, tow the
body out to sea-"
At this point in the wonderful narrative,
which was given in the most matter of fact
way and with evident sincerity the younger
brother, Peter, entered tho room. He was
a rosy faced young fellow, with frank, blue
eyes. Ills brother introduced the visitor
as a reporter seeking sca-scrpent informa-
tion. ooh, yes" he exclaimed. ''and
have seen one myself. Did you tell of tho
time went on tho mountain2 saw him
very plainly then, and think-indccd,
am quite sure-that he was full Norwcg-
ian mile in length, and Norwegian mile is
about seven English miles,
GLOW far is it from Fulton Ferry to Gov
ornor's Island7" asked the elder brother.
"Well, the scrp, ut would easily reach from
one place to other Nine or ten years ago
there was an investigation by the Govern.
mcnt, or some aullorities, about the SER
pent, to ascertain whether 1t was man
eater or not. The investigation was held at
Stavanger, and l we'll remember reading
about it in the NEWSPAPERS. There was