Given that it's #FolkloreThursday, I thought I might tell you a story about witches and fart runes (yes, fart runes) from the #Westfjords of #Iceland. THREAD

The Westfjords are a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland, one of the truly remote regions of the country. Only 7,000 people live in an area roughly half the size of Scotland. No wonder that this remote region has for centuries been associated with dark arts and witchcraft.

The main attraction here is the solitude and breathtaking scenery: the cliffs at Látrabjarg comprise the longest bird cliff in the northern Atlantic Ocean, and the uninhabited and dramatic Hornstrandir peninsula is a hiking paradise for those seeking solitude in summer.

But dark magic is showing everywhere: in Hólmavík, the largest town in the Strandir region with around 500 inhabitants, is Strandagalur, the Museum of Sorcery & Witchcraft.

Post-Reformation, the use of magic spells became more prominent here. Between 1654 and 1690 a large number of court cases connected to the use of magic symbols was recorded, though most of these cases had to do with white magic, the way of using magic for your own benefit.

Not that it mattered to the authorities: between 1625 and 1686, nearly 200 people were charged for use of magic or possession of a magic book; more than 20, the majority of them men, were sentenced to death on the stake, and the period became known as Brennuöld (The Age of Fire).

The story I wanted to tell takes place in Ísafjörður, the capital of the Westfjords, in 1659.