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I was 19 years old when my great-uncle told me he had the sight. I was visiting my Icelandic family in Akureyri for the first time and my great-uncle was giving me a lesson in Icelandic legends. “There, I’ve seen them there,” he said, pointing at a faraway mountain range. He said he could see ghosts and the elusive Huldufólk, or hidden people—fae elves who dwell in the rocks and only appear to some humans.
Huldufólk are thought to live parallel lives to humans. As long as we don’t disturb them, they don’t disturb us. They may even help us in times of need. Threaten their homes, however, and they can cast great malady and misfortune upon us.
“What do they look like?” I asked my great-uncle, staring at the grey, craggy mountains across the water.
“Like us. But with old clothes. Dated. Maybe a bit taller,” he said, waving his hand to indicate height. “I’ll show you.”
We drove back to his cozy wooden home, where my great-uncle retrieved artifacts for me to examine: pictures of my Amma (grandmother) when she was younger and an old photo of their mother—my great-great-grandmother—who also had the sight. Finally, he brought me a thick tome written in Icelandic and turned to an illustration of people dressed in Victorian clothing, veiled in a rainbow aura.
“I have seen them,” he said, pointing at the Hidden People. I didn’t doubt he had.
According to a 2007 survey, 62% of Icelanders say that the existence of Huldufólk is possible, likely, or certain. The Hidden People are so ingrained in Icelandic culture that, since at least the 1930s, activists have disrupted construction projects in defense of elf habitat and culture. These efforts have, in some ways, protected the natural landscapes that Iceland is famous for. This Arctic country attracts around 2 million tourists each year, many of whom are drawn to its waterfalls and geysers, volcanoes and ice caves, Northern Lights and tectonic fissures. Believe in the elves or not, the Huldufólk have played a role in conserving these natural wonders.
In 2013, a highway project was halted until Iceland’s Supreme Court considered its impact on elves and the environment. Environmental activists and Huldufólk seers said that the new road would have paved over a rock believed to be an elf church. Eventually, the dissenters settled for a compromise: The rock would be relocated before resuming construction.
