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Tomten On Holiday?

 

A couple of years ago I submitted an account to YGS with the somewhat sensationalistic title, "Demonic Voices In The Night". In the fascinating comments that followed, Tweed steered me in the direction of the Tomten, creatures described in Scandinavian folklore. Valkricry then provided samples of ancient Norse being spoken that seemed very close indeed to I had heard. For all the thought provoking back and forth about the two voices I heard in a customer's house, and believe to have been Tomten, please check out the comments under that earlier account. I have a great little book titled "A Field Guide to the Little People", and it states that the Tomten originally lived in trees but have now moved indoors. It also states that they have been spotted in some communities in North America. This is pertinent to the following account. My question to the YGS community, which you can decide upon after reading the following is this: Did the Tomten follow me to an isolated island off the coast of Maine or did I somehow stumble across a second pair of Tomten?

Here's the skinny--My wife Julie and I went on a vacation at the beginning of May this year to Monhegan Island, which lies off the coast of Maine. We first flew from Chicago to Boston then transferred to a nine seat, twin engine Cessna and flew to Rockland, Maine. Then it was an hour plus ferry ride on the Elizabeth Ann from Port Clyde over what turned out to be wildly rocky seas to the equally rocky Monhegan Island. We rented a house for the week. To briefly digress, I urge anyone reading this to check out images of the island online. It's a mind-blowingly beautiful, rugged island with headlands, cliffs, spectacular crashing waves, black forests, seals chillin' on rocky ledges and that rarest and (for me) most cherished of things--solitude. Artists still flock to this secluded outpost and the likes of Rockwell Kent, Robert Henri, Edward Hopper and three generations of Wyeth's (Jamie still has a house there) have sought to capture the majesty that is Monhegan.

I love islands. Their circumscribed nature and the people that choose to live on them attract me. To quote James Coburn's character from one of my favorite movies, "The Last of Shiela", "Tiny islands fascinate my ass." Monhegan is one of those small, special places where locals write books chronicling the histories of every house. On one of the well stocked bookshelves in our house was a book titled, "Monhegan: Her Houses and People 1780-1970". The house that Julie and I had rented was built by Archibald Brown in 1925. It has passed through may hands since and in 1983 it was purchased by the family who still own it. They call it Fair Hill House. The land it sits on was, prior to 1925, farmland and is mentioned for the first time in 1807 as part of Josiah Starling's property. The front of the house borders "Main Street". Like all the roads on the island (there aren't many) it's an unpaved gravel track. Winding its way up a steep incline behind the house is another road that leads up to the lighthouse that overlooks the tiny town, along with small Manana and Smutty Nose Islands, which create a snug harbor. It's this road that my encounter centers on.

Every day Julie and I would hike for several hours through the spruce forests and along the cliffs. Some of the forests have such thick canopies that very little sunlight filters through and they can seem like something out of a fairy tale, or a Hammer horror film. The latter comes to mind because thick mist often rises from the earth after a rain and adds a truly haunting element to these (as the islanders call them) "wild lands". Outside the micro harbor town the vast majority of the island is undeveloped. Although privately owned, the "wild lands" are cared for and protected by Monhegan Associates, which was founded in 1954 by Ted Edison--Thomas Edison's son. This group cares for the upkeep of the twelve miles of trails and protects the flora and fauna that make the island so magical. The paths, particularly along the cliffs, are quite difficult but rewarding for the unfolding vistas that emerge around each new turn.

After our daily hikes I would build a roaring fire in the brick fireplace that sits in the center of the front room. I hadn't brought in enough firewood one night, so I headed out to the side of the shed behind the house where the split logs were stored under a tarp. I had with me a small flashlight my wife keeps on her key-chain. As I was picking out some choice logs I became aware of a sound. It struck me initially as something like music. This sound seemed to be coming down the steep gravel road that was within a few feet of the shed. The stars were blocked by clouds and it was a profoundly black night. Continuing to sort through the logs what I initially thought was some distant music seemed to coalesce into two voices talking. For some reason, far from being alarmed, I was annoyed that on an island with an off season population of around fifty people, that two of them were approaching the rear of the shed where I happened to be. It struck me that the voices sounded REALLY odd. They sounded very old, hoarse and cracked and I remember thinking that their jagged, croaking nature was something my brain as a boy would have equated with trolls. I really need to emphasize that I felt absolutely no fear and was only mildly annoyed.

Suddenly, like a wind encompassing me, the voices drew nearer and their hoarse, gravelly nature, turned into a jagged overlapping conversation. They clearly seemed to be coming down the steep, twisting gravel road from the direction of (thanks to info gleaned from that earlier mentioned book) artist Andrew Winter's house and studio. The house is presently unoccupied and is owned by Monhegan Associates awaiting renovation. Winter built the house in 1940. He lived there until his death in 1959 and his wife continued to use it as a summer cottage until the early 1970s. The book lists May 11, 1959 as the date the deed switched from Andrew to his wife Mary. I'm not sure if that's the date that Andrew Winter died but it seems likely. This date is significant because I heard the voices on the evening of May 10, 2017. Although I had a small flashlight I didn't shine it in the direction of the voices. You see, at the time I thought it was two people walking and talking. However these voices sounded utterly bizarre and weren't speaking a language I understood. My lack of concern when this encounter occurred might have had something to do with a telepathic element at work. This telepathic element might very well divert the consciousness of the person experiencing the event. In other words, my consciousness was focused on the voices while the reactions I might have had under "normal" circumstances were temporarily shut off. Like the two voices I heard several years ago in a house, these voices were jagged and hoarse with a slightly high pitch and they spoke simultaneously.

I grabbed up several logs and headed back into the house. As I walked towards the house Julie briefly stuck her head out the back door to see how I was getting along. Dropping the logs in the wood bin in the kitchen, I quickly went out to get the rest of the logs I had put aside. The voices were gone. Julie hadn't heard them. Only after the fact did I consider some very important details. It struck me that there had been absolutely no sound of feet walking on the gravel. Julie and I had heard many people during the course of our stay, mostly hikers and "birders", going up and down that road. The sound of their feet crunching on the gravel was always as clear as their voices (if they were talking). The voices I heard were coming down a particularly steep part of the winding road that makes a person have to lean back slightly to change their center of gravity and to take short, shuffling steps. These shorter, shuffling steps cause a person to scrape and kick up the gravel. Every person we heard going up or down that road, including ourselves, had a very noticeable footfall. Whatever was coming down that road made no sound other than speaking and carried no light.

Over the course of the week, Julie and I had seen a few people ascending and descending the road with flashlights after dark. That these overlapping voices were carrying on a discussion that seemed to be the sole focus of their attention and carried no light makes it seem almost certain that their footfall should have been quite pronounced. So focused were these voices on their weird discussion it seems likely they wouldn't be paying as much attention to their steps and a shuffling, scraping sound should have been prominent. The voices approached me swiftly too, not like people carefully and quietly picking their way along the road to avoid tripping or falling. Something else that struck me after the fact is just how similar these voices were to the two overlapping voices I heard years earlier in Illinois. I do believe those voices were Tomten. So the questions I pose to YGS are these--were these voices Tomten too? Were they associated with the Winter house and studio just up the road? Was Andrew Winter walking and talking with another deceased friend? If they were Tomten and had previously been connected to Andrew and Mary Winter, had they decided to stay on after their deaths? Or were they in some way connected to the house we were staying in? Were they some other type of nature spirit? After all, the house Julie and I rented was situated right next to the "wild lands" of the island. Maybe, just maybe, they were two Tomten taking a vacation just like Julie and I were.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Manafon1, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Rex-T (5 stories) (288 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-14)
Melda and Manafon,

Agree, nasty, spiteful and loves the rush of doing something naughty and getting away with it.

They still have a ways to go to be judge and jury as these people are known - only the executioner is hooded.

One day a real life challenge will teach them humility and what's really important in life. Amen.

Rex-T
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-14)
Manafon - I agree with you. Probably just some nasty, spiteful individual who more than likely posts a load of rubbish on YGS and subsequently gets his/her comments closed.

I had to get the whole situation off my chest because it has been happening for a while and was starting to annoy me intensely. My rant is now over and life continues 😊

Regards, Melda
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-14)
Melda - As I wrote, often negative karma points are given for no discernible reason. I just received two for a comment on one of Ghosthunter's stories. I have no doubt one was from GH herself but the other one does suggest some little pud is making the negative karma point rounds.

It's probably the only action they can think of that will get any attention. And if that's what "action" has come to mean in their existence... Well it kind of speaks for itself. One can imagine the "karma dealer" visualizing themself astride a mighty steed, meting out justice as he/she sees fit. Judge, jury executioner. When in reality they're a lonely pud at home alone on a Saturday night on their ipad.
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-14)
Manafon - I just have to love you! I mean that in a very good way. All you have to do is mention George Harrison, my favourite Beatle, to get my senses rolling forward and outward. I remember telling you once before that GH was my favourite Beatle and you told me that he was yours as well 😊

Personally, as far as the karma points are concerned, I can handle the negative ones when I deserve them. I have deserved some recently. What annoys me is that somebody is going around targeting perfectly innocent people who haven't passed any offensive remarks. This isn't only about me, it affects others as well.

Thanks for your welcome response.

Regards, Melda
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-04)
Yeah, some of those nineteenth century photos, like "Thing" on the bureau, and the Confederate soldier climbing the stairs, are from the period when faked "spirit" photos were all the rage. As photography was such a relatively recent development and most people assumed that "the camera never lies", there were all kinds of unscrupulous folks out there trying to make a buck on grieving people whose husbands, wives and children had died.

Even Mary Todd Lincoln cherished a photo that supposedly depicts a ghostly Abraham Lincoln with his hand on her shoulder. Although most of these shots are crude by modern photography standards, they were taken as proof by many people hoping for evidence that their loved ones still watched over them. Man, some people can be real bastards!
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-04)
The guy in front of the house, YES I got creeped out at his expression too! The figure in the window could be curtains also. Amusingly that house looks like one from my childhood lol.

I love the bureau with the hand, it's Thing from the Addams Family!
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
6 years ago (2018-01-04)
Tweed - I actually hadn't seen that one photo before. It's quite compelling. Of the batch of miscellaneous photos, I have seen all but a couple. Some are really intriguing. The photo of the elderly woman with her husband (who had died ten years earlier) appearing behind her head (almost sprouting from it) I first saw in Fortean Times many years ago. It's a fav of mine because the strange out of proportion quality of the male figure is common to many likely authentic images.

On another note, the photo of the guy standing in front of his house with a spectral image of a man in the front window is also of note. I think the "ghostly" image is either a reflection or a cardboard cutout but take a look at the guy posing in front of the house. I mean, his expression is super creepy and scarier than a lot of the other ghost shots!

Thanks for adding these links. Hey everyone else out there in YGS-land, check out these images and see what you think!
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+2
6 years ago (2018-01-04)
Manafon, I've been looking up ghosts on film again. (Seem to be doing this a lot lately) I just found this, you're probably already aware of this photo, but if not I reckon it'd interest you:

Http://beforeitsnews.com/contributor/upload/325314/images/r15.jpg

The rest of the article is random pics:
Http://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2015/04/real-life-scarily-true-ghost-stories-2488124.html
babygoatpuller (4 stories) (432 posts)
+3
7 years ago (2017-06-12)
Wow Manafon, you couldn't have described that any better! If I ever get back to the east coast, it's only going to be the rugged northeast end of it.

Could Andrew and Mary have been walking and talking with each other? This one is a stumper. So many options and all of which can't be discounted.

Thank you for sharing Manafon. I thoroughly enjoyed it! 😊
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2017-06-10)
Melda--It was a bit bewildering how the voices seemed to change from an almost musical sound to weird overlapping voices. As I wrote though, it only struck me as truly odd in retrospect.

Glad you liked it enough to add to your faves--I tip my imaginary stovepipe hat to you 😜.
Melda (10 stories) (1363 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-06-10)
Manafon - This is a truly fascinating account. You must have been pretty bewildered by the nighttime wanderers!

The comments are very interesting as well. Time for me to do research on tomten!

This is going straight to my faves 😊

Regards, Melda
Argette (guest)
+1
7 years ago (2017-06-09)
That I will do, Manafon. I'm intrigued and now wonder if the times I've heard odd things could have been paranormal occurrences.

Throughout most of my life, I dismissed strange events as my imagination. Now I'm not so sure...
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-06-09)
Argette--Criehaven (gotta love it's alternate name Ragged Arse!) was a place my wife and I considered visiting but as we were flying instead of driving to Maine and there are no stores on the island, well the logistics became a bit too difficult.

I also read that, as there are no rentals on the island, that you have to be invited by an islander. It looks beautiful though! However, I can highly recommend Monhegan. Hopefully you can visit an island off the coast of Maine soon--there are tons of 'em. If you do and run into another tomten let YGS know about it 😁!
Argette (guest)
+3
7 years ago (2017-06-09)
Manafon, that was an eloquent and riveting account! I agree with Lady Glow.

I've always wanted to visit a Maine island, specifically Criehaven (Ragged Arse), but Monhegan would be great, too. I even looked up the cottage you rented.

I know nothing about Tomten. But I like your style.
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
Mack--Thanks for your thoughts on my latest account. Actually a residual type of thing might have been at play. I can easily imagine a lot of the houses, roads and forests of the island having absorbed many emotional situations over the years that could replay under certain circumstances.

It is true too that apparitional voices can be garbled and difficult to understand. Still, there was something really weird and non-human sounding about them that makes me think it was something like the tomten. That said, maybe it was an echo of two long deceased islanders taking a stroll down a darkened road.
Macknorton (5 stories) (646 posts)
+2
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
Hi Manafon

Thanks for sharing this experience - so vivid and well written, I felt like I was there with you.

I can't offer anything more than what has been suggested, other than I thought it was possibly a residual haunting? However, the fact that you felt there was a telepathic element, suggested to me that these voices / spirits were directing their activity directly at you? Which kind of makes the residual theory redundant.

Anyway, thoroughly enjoyed it!

Cheers

Mack
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
Thanks for your very kind words lady-glow! Glad I could send you on a trip of the mind. It's certainly cheaper than actually going anywhere 😜.
lady-glow (16 stories) (3149 posts)
+1
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
Manafon: the only thing I can say is I love your description of that place, while reading I could almost breath the aroma of the forest.

Thanks for the imaginary trip!
Manafon1 (6 stories) (712 posts)
 
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
Augusta--I will check out that book. Sounds very interesting! You might really be on to something. The earliest recorded visitations to Monhegan were in the 1500s. On the tiny Manana Island across the harbor from Monhegan there is a boulder with very controversial inscriptions that some claim are Phonecian. As Norse explorers were in the general vicinity, I see no reason they couldn't have brought some little fellas with them who decided to stick around.

Val--Thanks indeed for the fun facts. The tomten are also often referred to as tomte. It seemed a logical assumption to call two tomte's tomten. The Danish call tomte's "nisse", the plural of which is nisser. Ahhh, the wacky world of singular and plural names for elvin creatures and sprites! I too have read that tomte follow the family they attach themselves to wherever they may go. One of my theories is that they may have been attached to Andrew Winter and his wife in the house just up the road and upon their deaths decided they liked the place and stayed on... Who knows!

Tweed--Haa Haa! Sadly I paid the ferryman BEFORE he got me to the other side. Sorry Chris DeBurgh πŸ˜†. The voices you heard in your garden sound very similar. I wonder if the little fellas were Barrett fans? I have been high on fatigue and other things in my life (to keep, up the DeBurgh thing even 'High On Emotion') but it sounds like you had a close encounter with a couple tomar or tomte's or tomten. The voices I heard, like yours, spoke an unknown (to me) language and were very gruff sounding.

As for the spoon thing, that occurred at my house. It would be kind of cool, if the little guys from that customer's house attached themselves to me and Julie. That said, I just have a feeling that these guys were "locals", either attached to the Winter house, the house we were staying in or the forest.

Thanks for your thought provoking responses!
Tweed (33 stories) (2475 posts)
+3
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
Far out Manafon. When I first read your Demonic Voices (great title😜) It reminded me a lot of something I heard. I don't recall if I imparted this on that thread. I don't plan on submitting this because I was high on fatigue when it happened. That is I don't do mood altering substances anymore. But I do embrace the odd sensations which accompany fatigue. I heard two or more garbled voices coming from one patch of garden. I seemed to have stirred them as I did whatever. It was evening with a light rain. I think the voices kept talking or they may have paused here and there. Like you, I didn't have any fear. But when I'm fatigued I turn into a bit of a clown, so I started singing Syd Barrett to them. (!)

Anyway, they sounded like the kind of noise which could be mistaken for frogs. I would've though tthey were owls, as they make similar sounds sometimes. Except these noises were coming from the ground. But the weird part was they were loudest every time I poked around in that patch of ground. Like they were reacting to it, probably telling me to go away lol. Sounded more like gruff voices, speaking an unknown language than frogs or any animal. But I was high on fatigue, so not very reliable.

Were you at this same location when you heard a spoon or something drop into the sink?
Think back, or go through any notes you have from your paranormal investigationing days (technical term). You might have picked these guys up from some location many years back. Or, if I may be so dippy, maybe these guys take care of the pair of you. I got the impression from this encounter, and the first one, that they were there and active on your behalves.

Also "Then it was an hour plus ferry ride on the Elizabeth Ann from Port Clyde over what turned out to be wildly rocky seas to the equally rocky Monhegan Island."
Did you pay the ferryman before he got you to the other side?😜
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+3
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
Manafon,
The plural of tomten is either tomar or tomtarnas - just a fun fact to add to your arsenal of fun facts.
I am hard put to say whether these were yours or another pair. From the description, it certainly sounds like their kind of surroundings, and they do favor farmland.
However, it has been said that a tomten will follow its chosen family, where ever they may go.
AugustaM (7 stories) (996 posts)
+3
7 years ago (2017-06-08)
I don't know whether you have read 'American Gods' - if not, I highly recommend it - it isn't a treatise by any means, it is a fictional novel but, all the same, I really liked the premise the author put forward that all the many and varied people's and cultures that have come to North America over the millennia have brought their gods, mythical creatures and ghosts along with them - their belief keeping them alive in this new place - and it matters not how long they may have stayed here, once that entity was evoked in North America, an iteration of it remained here. Going by that notion and given that your experience took place off the coast of Maine, it is would seem entirely possible that Norse explorers happened upon that island hundreds of years ago and unwittingly brought the Tomten with them. Granted, it is wildly unscientific of me to base my opinion off of a work of fiction but that particular premise always struck me as so reasonable.

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