The Living Dead and Ghost Sickness in Medieval Icelandic Sagas

In 2014, researcher Kirsi Kanerva published a study titled “Disturbances of the Mind and Body: Effects of the Living Dead in Medieval Iceland.” Kanerva examines accounts from texts like the Flóamanna saga, where the restless dead appear as corporeal revenants. According to the research, these physical ghosts were believed to cause severe fear, madness, illness, and even death among the living.

The paper highlights the concept of ‘sóttir’, or illness, within the medieval Icelandic worldview. Researchers note that symptoms modern audiences might separate into mental or physical categories were historically viewed as entirely bodily in nature. Physical diseases attributed to ghosts were deeply intertwined with emotional experiences and mental disturbances. For those studying folklore and the occult, these findings illustrate how historical cultures understood the relationship between the supernatural, the mind, and the physical body.