“The Money Chest Lay by His Head”

Abstract

This article deals with two versions of a ghost story from Skittenelv in Troms, written down around 1700. Located at the farm of the magistrate Søren Bogø, a ghost apparently was heard disturbing the people at the farm. The earlier version of the story is down-written in 1695 by the magistrate Søren Bogø and was published in transcribed form by Håvard Dahl Bratrein in 2016. The later version is down-written in 1716 by Isaac Olsen and is part of his copybook, which is preserved in the original form. By using narratology as a methodological approach, the article offers an interpretation of the ghost story with emphasis of the function of the narrator. Also, attention is paid to changes in the story’s content occurring during a time span of 20 years. Contextualization of the ghost story is paid attention to.