Huldrefjord
Kraken
- Names
- kraken
- Habitat
- in the depths of the ocean off the coast of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland
- Danger level
- High
Listen · 2:38
AI voice
Our audio guide is being renewed. While we update the exhibition, the new recordings are read by an AI voice in English and Norwegian. They will later be recorded by real voices in more languages. Thank you for your patience!
If you’ve ever been at open sea, you may have been awe-struck by its vastness and felt quite small in comparison. At the same time, deep beneath you, slept a creature so big that it could produce the same effect. Consider yourself lucky for not meeting the kraken face-to-face.
Appearance
The kraken is believed to be the largest creature in the world, bigger than the blue whale and even some islands. It is so big that only a handful of them can possibly exist. Its most common form is that of a giant many-tentacled octopus or squid, though it can also appear as a giant turtle, whale, or dragon.
Behavior
The kraken spends most of its time in deep sleep on the ocean floor. But when awakened, it attacks sea vessels indiscriminately, grabbing at them with its tentacles, crushing them against rocks and cliffs, and dragging whatever is left underwater with it.
Fairy tale
Fishing Over the Kraken
A kraken usually lies motionless in the depths of the sea. Above it, vast shoals of fish gather, a fact the fishermen of the Helgeland coast know well how to exploit. But “fishing over the kraken” is always dangerous. As the shoal above it grows smaller and smaller, the beast rises ever closer to the surface, until at last it reaches out to seize both boat and crew and drag them down into the deep.
Once, two fishermen were out at sea. Their boat quickly filled with fish, but greed got the better of them, and they kept fishing for more. Before long, they noticed that the water beneath them was growing shallower. To their horror, they realized they had been fishing over a kraken.
Terrified, they turned and rowed for shore with all their strength. But suddenly, several great tentacles burst from the sea, and the men had to struggle desperately to escape. One of the tentacles wrapped itself around a rowan tree growing from the cliff above them, but the Kraken was evidently not satisfied with such meager prey.
Now the creature’s immense body began to rise above the surface, and it flung all its tentacles over the cliff face. At that moment, a huge boulder broke loose with a thunderous crash and tumbled down onto the kraken. The monster disappeared back into the depths.
The two fishermen escaped thusly with their lives. The falling rock must have mortally wounded the beast, for long afterwards was the sea below the cliff covered in a foul-smelling, greasy substance, and the fishing in the area was ruined for a very long time.