There’s not a lot of murder in Iceland — there was a disconcerting spike in the number of homicides last year, 8 altogether — so, obviously, there aren’t a lot of murderers. And none of the murderers of Iceland are serial killers. With one exception. In the last part of the 16th century, not long after Iceland had been forced to institute the death penalty for capital crimes (this was Denmark’s idea), Axlar-Björn Pétursson, who lived out on the west coast, on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula, murdered lots of people who came by his farm looking for work, and became Iceland’s one and only serial killer. And then, on account of the death penalty part, didn’t get to just go be an exiled outlaw. Besides the details, such as they are, of Axlar-Björn’s crimes, Anne is quite taken by Snæfellsnes and its eco-tourism, and Michelle, though she appreciates the folk-tale quality of the whole story, really wants to let us all know about Jón Árnason, the eminent Icelandic folk tale collector, because he was a self-taught scholar who is deserving of high honor, and Michelle does admire scholars who get lots done on a budget.
Link to Transcript
I’m a newish fan and I like to listen to the podcast when I’m doing my walks I started at the beginning, but then it occurred to me that you might’ve done something recently, so here I am and here you are. I really enjoy this
How kind of you to tell us! We have been doing things recently. Over the last year, we were not able to do as much as we like, but we are, we do believe, coming back up to speed. We do this because we are having fun — but it is very lovely indeed if there are other humans who like it, too.