This Icelandic saga tells the story of seven generations of settlers in the valley of Western Iceland known as ‘Salmon-River-Dale’. The saga was written down in the late thirteenth century, but the contents relate to a much earlier period: the first chapters deal with the departure of Ketill Flatnose, the ancestor of the chieftains of the Salmon-River men, from Norway in AD 890, while the death of Snorri the Priest, mentioned in the saga's last chapter, is dated to 1031. The early part of the work covers a time when, as with any period of settlement in new and unclaimed territory, fresh land is being opened up for farming and the landholders are zealous in the defence of their possessions against neighbours and new immigrants. It is in this context that one should read the saga's account of the haunting of his former homestead by the curmudgeonly farmer Hrapp. The haunting follows his insistence on being buried in the farmhouse doorway so that, in death as in life, he might keep watch over his lands. Similarly, it is only when there is further expansion of cultivated land into the wilderness to which Hrapp's body has been removed by the chieftain Hoskuld that Hrapp's ghost begins to walk again and cause problems for the succeeding generation.

Hrapp's Ghost

Chap. XVII

It is said of Hrapp that he became most violent in his behaviour, and did his neighbours such harm that they could hardly hold their own against him … but his power waned, in that old age was fast coming upon him, so that he had to lie in bed. Hrapp called his wife Vigdis to him and said, ‘I have never been of ailing health in my life, and it is therefore most likely that this illness will put an end to our life together. Now, when I am dead, I wish my grave to be dug in the doorway of my fire hall, and I want to be placed in it, standing there in the doorway. In that way I shall be able to keep a more searching eye on my dwelling.’