The Troll Forest

Öland · Sweden · Forest

The gnarled oaks, among them the Troll Oak, were both revered and feared — at dusk the shapes in this wind-twisted pine wood have long shown people something other than trees.

In the north-eastern corner of Öland grows a grazed pine wood where the trees have twisted through centuries of sea wind. The trunks are gnarled, lichen-covered and partly dead, and at dawn and dusk the shapes have long made people see something other than trees — the district is rich in tales of vättar and trolls, and the old gnarled oaks, among them the Troll Oak, were both revered and feared in folk belief. Beneath the trees lie burial cairns and stone settings, and on the western side of the bay stood an important naval base in the fifteenth century. Out on the shore lies the wreck of the three-masted schooner Swiks, built in 1902 in Upesgriva in Latvia. She ran aground here in 1926 in an Öland blizzard. The crew got ashore but wandered for hours in the drifting snow before they found an inhabited cottage.

FAQ

Where is The Troll Forest located?

The Troll Forest is in Öland, Sweden.