Scandinarnia

Scandinarnia: Unlocking the Dark & Mystical North

What if the stories we were told as children were never meant for children at all?

Scandinarnia opens the door to the older, darker layers of Scandinavian mythology, folklore, and cultural history—before they were softened, simplified, and made safe. This is a podcast for those who want to understand not only the stories themselves, but the world that created them.

Each episode explores a creature, a place, or a tradition from the North: the Nøkken who inhabits rivers as both musician and predator; the Huldra, whose beauty conceals something deeply inhuman; the Myling, a voice of guilt and unresolved justice; and countless other figures drawn from oral tradition, archival sources, and historical accounts.

But these are not simply stories retold.

Through a blend of narrative, anthropology, and cultural analysis, Scandinarnia examines:

how folklore functioned as social control and moral instruction
how fear, landscape, and survival shaped belief
how Christianity reshaped older mythologies
and how these figures continue to live on in modern imagination

You will hear not only the tales themselves, but the meanings beneath them—the anxieties they reveal, the behaviours they enforced, and the realities they reflect. Rivers become thresholds. Forests become spaces of transformation. The supernatural becomes a language for very human fears.

Drawing on historical texts, folklore collections, and lived tradition, Scandinarnia invites you to step into a world where myth and reality were never clearly separated.

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Episoder(17)

Werewolves in Scandinavian mythology

The wolf waits at the edge of the firelight.In this episode, we venture deep into the forests, mountains, and forgotten folklore of Scandinavia to uncover the chilling history of the werewolf. Long be...

29 Mai 20min

The Deildegast Ghost

Tonight on Scandinarnia, we wander into the shadows of old Scandinavian folklore to meet one of its strangest and most unsettling spirits: the Deildegast. Born from greed, betrayal, and cursed boundar...

23 Mai 20min

The «Wannabe Vikings» and my views on them as a Norwegian academic

Why do so many Scandinavians hate on these «wannabe Vikings» that so proudly dress up as Norsemen and learn the Runic alphabet so they can tattoo their favourite Odin quote on their skin? I use this e...

12 Mai 22min

Ghosts and the paranormal.. general thoughts and reflections

In this episode I reflect upon ghosts and encounters with them… not a scary episode this time- just some general thoughts from a sceptic who really wants to believe 👻

12 Mai 26min

The Black Books- Svartebøkene. Magic, Recipes, Prayers and Life Saving Rituals

Deep in the forests of Scandinavia, hidden beneath church floors, tucked inside farmhouse walls, and whispered about in candlelit kitchens, there existed forbidden books known only as Svartebøkene — T...

10 Mai 24min

The Danish Lantern Man- Lygtemanden

Deep within the fog-drenched marshes of old Denmark, travellers once whispered of a wandering light that appeared only after dark. A lantern drifting soundlessly across the wetlands. A glow that seeme...

8 Mai 15min

Stallo- The Terrifying Giant Of Sàpmi

In this deeply unsettling episode, we journey into the ancient folklore of the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia to uncover one of the most terrifying figures in Arctic mythology: the giant cannibal...

6 Mai 20min

Seiðr and the Power of the Natural Born Seeresses

In this episode, we step into the world of Seiðr—the most feared, misunderstood, and powerful form of magic in the Norse world. Not the heroic magic of gods and warriors, but something far stranger. F...

4 Mai 19min