Sweden’s Blue Maiden ‘Blåkulla’ Island – Mythical Place With Dark Secrets Of Witches And Wizardry

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - The island of Blue Maiden or Blåkulla, a Swedish island situated in the Kalmar Strait, is a mythical place that has fascinated and discouraged for centuries.

The blue island's immense plain is located 86 meters above sea level and 130 meters
above the seafloor. As early as the 15th century, the island was associated with magical notions of
witches, witchcraft, and witches' sabbaths. In Swedish folklore, the term distant 'blue mountain' also traditionally meant the place of trolls' origin.

Bizarre stories of witches that arrived annually to meet their master, the devil himself, go far back in time. It is said that a large house is at the plane's center, and "a church is there with a demon the size of a twelve-year-old child on the altar.

It was a mysterious place for certain ceremonies taking place there…" 1

How long have people been aware of the island's existence it is hard to say but the name 'Blåkulla 'first appeared in 1410 in a story about a ship on its way from Lübeck to Stockholm that found itself in a critical position in the Kalmar Strait between Öland and mainland Sweden.

The Cave Virgin chamber inside. Note the large bowl-shaped indentation on the vertical wall to the left, and the elevation of the ground below it. Photo Louis Papmehl-Dufay/Kalmar

Successfully, it was rescued near a place called Blåkulla, which identifies with the island of Blå Jungfrun.

From the middle of the 1500s, there were stories of female supernatural beings, to
which clothes and other objects were sacrificed and thus won her protection; the early
ethnographer Olaus Magnus wrote in his 'Historia' in 1555.

Magnus pointed out the significance of the Blå Jungfrun. He stated, "Seafarers in the
vicinity were not to call the island Blåkulla because then a tremendous storm would brew."
The sacred status of these sites is evident, not only from testimonies of tradition.

In 1741, Carl von Linné (1707 - 1778) visited Blåkulla, another name given to the island
even then. But the stay does not seem to have appealed to him since he describes his visit
as follows:
"If any place in the world looks horrible, this certainly is one of the most atrocious."

Apart from being the legendary meeting place of witches, it carries several taboo and noa names and is one of the most frequented sites of sailor´s baptism in the Baltic. Olaus Magnus testifies on offerings here in 1555. A large stone labyrinth is built on its massive undulating rocks. Photo: The island Blå Jungfrun - Credit: Adobe Stock - aalut

Carl von Linné was also the first to mention the Trelleborg labyrinth on the mysterious island.
he island has long been an important landmark used to predict the weather. It also has
many ancient caves that have fascinated people from time immemorial.

Apart from the evidence of Stone Age rituals, the island has long been linked with tales of witchcraft, supernatural powers, and curses.

It was believed that they could have been entrances to the dwellings of trolls and other mythical creatures. One of the island's caves has a massive hollow, about 2.3 feet (0.7 meters) in diameter,
hammered into a vertical wall. A fireplace lies underneath the hollow.

"We believe the hollow is man-made and that the fireplace has been used in connection to
hammering out the hollow, probably on several occasions," according to Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay,
an archaeologist from Kalmar Museum.

Blå Jungfrun caves contain diverse bone material. Photo: Kenneth Alexandersson

"In two caves, distinct ritual features were identified."
Blue Maiden seems to be a place" at all times" associated with various taboos and mythological
beliefs.
At the same time, surprisingly little is known about people's relationship to and presence
on the island in the past.Nobody knows how long the Trelleborg labyrinth has laid there on the rock, or who put it there and why?

Trolleborg labyrinth - Blue Virgin - Blåkulla island. Photo: Sigge Sundström

What is known is that setting up labyrinths in the archipelago was relatively common in the past. Often, people walked in them as a ritual - for fertility, good fishing luck, or a calm sea on the way home.

During four days in late May 2014, the island was surveyed only at selected locations,
where researchers dug test pits.

The uninhabited Blue Maiden or Blåkulla island has many secrets from the past, and
there's still much to investigate in granite's cracks, caves, and niches created by
million-year-old boulders on the island - the 'meeting-place of witches'.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on Oct 23, 2023

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