Originally published at: The Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft tells the story of Iceland's 17th century "witchcraze," complete with "necropants" | Boing Boing
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NECROPANTS is the name of my new goth-pop band.
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Just to make this clear, the necropants on exhibition are a plastic replica of what they would have looked like. I’m not aware of any evidence that this was ever done.
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I hear you guys are opening for Witchcraze at the Strandagaldur Festival!
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Witchcraft in Iceland was largely a male occupation, the kunnáttumadur were generally highly regarded by the population who had no real problem with witchcraft.
The persecution of witches began very late in comparison to the rest of Europe and it was imported from Denmark which was then the colonial power in Iceland. It’s thought this was done because the Icelanders were thought to be insufficient pious.
The trials only came to an end in the 1680s when local courts lost the power to convict people of witchcraft and all cases had to be confirmed in Copenhagen - which by then had stopped convicting people of witchcraft.
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Is the patchy hair distribution on the necropants a necessary aspect of the spell, or the result of shoving the necropants under the couch when company drops by and having all the cat hair end up clinging to them?
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Funny that this shirt showed up in my Boing Boing browsing today.
It truly completes the outfit.
I have no idea how this ended up in the ad choices selected for me.
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I assumed almost everyone in Iceland lived in Reykjavík so I checked and it turns out that Hólmavík has 375 inhabitants and is served by Strætó, Reykjavík City Bus.
Oh, it also has a swimming pool which is not heated geothermally so I’m thinking the locals either don’t use it much, or it’s heated in some other fashion. Candles maybe.
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Semi-related: There’s a book called “The Museum of Whales You Will Never See: And Other Excursions to Iceland’s Most Unusual Museums” by A. Kendra Greene, which includes essays on this museum and several other odd Icelandic museums. It’s a fun read, if you’re into museums and Iceland.
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HELLLLLLLLLL FIIIIIIIIIIRE!!!
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I guess here in the States, Ed Gein came close, though profit was not the motive. 
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I’d recommend heading to Drangsnes where there are three hot pools right by the beach which are free to use (although please leave a donation if you can).
There’s nothing like sitting in super hot water on the edge of the Arctic with snow falling on you - although getting out of the water is terrifying. Like any good galactic traveller have your towel and parka close to hand.
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I’ll stick with the space pants, thank you.
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When I lived in northern Kazakhstan one of the winter pastimes was to sit in a hot sauna, get thwacked by a birch branch (with leaves still on) then go jump in and roll around in the snow. Take a shot of vodka, repeat.
It was actually quite refreshing!
And no necropants required because nope.
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Suggested cover:
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I love quirky museums in out of the way places so when we visited the Westman islands we found the Sagnheimar Folk Museum. It was just delightful! It was a perfect place to spend a couple hours and get away from the rain outside.
The greatest part of this particular museum was the cartoonish rendition of the Turkish raids of the island in 1627. Looks like it was drawn by kindergartners but the material was super graphic and really quite disturbing (depicting events such as pillaging, kidnapping, rape and murder).
https://icelandictimes.com/search_page/sagnheimar-folk-museum/
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Yep - the Atlas Obscura page isn’t very clear in that regard. It’s still a fun little museum though.
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Interestingly, Icelandic witches were sometimes given credit for warding off the Barbary pirates which sometimes came to the island to capture people. They were said to be able to turn the weather and waves against hostile invaders.
If you like quirky Icelandic museums, I can certainly recommend the Saga Museum in Borganes located right in the heart of where most of the Sagas were set. Charming little exhibits depicting all the nastiness of Viking life in an adorable way.
And the food is amazing.
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Everything except the hákarl…that stuff is nasty! (Oh, and so are the fried cod skins).
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