Words by

Andie Sophia Fontaine

Photo by

Hjörtur Kjerúlf

Japanese state television is in Iceland conducting investigations of the mythic “Lagarfljót Worm” aquatic monster.

RÚV reports that reporters from Japanese state broadcasting (NHK) are in northeast Iceland to investigate the Lagarfljót Worm, a giant, mythical water serpent reported to be living in Lake Lagarfljót. The reporters have already spoken with Hjörtur Kjerúlf, the farmer who recorded the original video, to try and get to the bottom of the case.

“They were trying to figure out if I had made this up; whether I falsified this,” he told reporters. “Trying to show that I made fools of Icelanders and the whole world by pretending I recorded the worm.”

Madoka Adachihara, who hosts the programme investigating the worm, told reporters that the video Hjörtur took is very popular in Japan (there are actually two, which you can see below). Madoka and her crew have spoken to many residents in the area to get their point of view on the worm.

As reported in February 2012, Hjörtur took a video of what appears to be a long object moving in a snake-like motion across the current of the river feeding into the lake and uploaded it to YouTube. There was speculation that this was the famed Worm of Lagarfljót.

The video went viral, attracting attention as far afield as Japan. Although it was later debunked as fishing netting tangled in ice, in May 2012 the NBC show “Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files” went in search of the Worm, as did ABC News the following June. Shortly thereafter, the 13-person truth committee was established to verify or dismiss, once and for all, the existence of the Worm.

Last year, the committee concluded that the worm is real, as “there was no reason to doubt that there was some kind of creature or being in the water”.

Skeptics and believes alike can judge for themselves by the videos below.