Chasing Elves In Iceland, 2006

People in almost every culture have some kind of mystical creature that they believe in, and in Iceland it's elves. Drive around an Icelandic suburb and you'll see little houses on many properties. When we were there, we were told that these weren't dog houses, but places for elves to stay. Meanwhile, Iceland's government takes the elf situation seriously and won't allow people to build in areas where elves are said to live. The government has even hired official elf communicators to deal with the little guys when they become angry; there's a story of how machinery kept breaking during some project and a communicator spoke with the elves who lived there; she was able to negotiate with them and the project continued. Elves aren't a huge part of American culture (unless you count Santa Claus or the Keebler elves), but we were intrigued by Iceland's elf legends. Our interest was especially piqued when we learned that Iceland even had an official elf map created by a communicator named Erla Stefansdottir. Erla claims to have been speaking with elves since she was a child. According to her, they whisked her away to their special world and introduced her to elf customs and food. She also says that she has an elf who lives with her and among her other talents, can speak with the dead. It might sound out there, but I don't like to mock people's beliefs. I also like to keep an open mind. Plenty of people I know have seen ghosts and I even have a friend who says she can talk to the dead. Just because I haven't had these experiences personally doesn't mean they're not true. I like to give the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, it doesn't matter if Erla's stories are true or not. What IS true is that she's considered to be one of Iceland's top elf experts and the government takes her word seriously. She also led "Hidden Worlds" tours (though she's retired and another woman has takn her place) and her elf map has become a well-known piece of literature throughout the country. Most of the elves seem to live in the Reykjavik suburb of Hafnarfjordur. We didn't take an elf tour, but did want to see if we could see any for ourselves. So while we were there, we stopped by the Chamber Of Commerce and purchased Erla's official Hidden Worlds map. I forget the exact price, but it was something like 14 Euros. A little pricey, but it's a unique souvenir. Erla's creation is more than just a map, though. She does tell you where you can locate elves, hidden people and light fairies, among other types of creatures, but also has drawings and stories of her relationships with these elves. Check it out:

Once we had the map, we drove around to the places that Erla said were "hot spots." We drove to a little park in the neigborhood and tried to follow the meditation that she'd recommended. No elves. We drove past a field where a hermit was supposed to live. No hermit. We even drove down a quiet road called Elf Street. And ... we didn't see anything. I can't really say that I *expected* to see something, but part of me hoped we would because *that* would've been cool! Even though we came up empty-handed -- or would that be empty-elved? -- we still came home with Erla's awesome map as a souvenier. And when we brought home a kitten a couple of months later, we named her Maya Erla Stefansdottir since she's OUR little elf.