Gunnuhver's steam plumes by Gerry van Roosmalen

About "Gunnuhver's steam plumes"

by Gerry van Roosmalen

About the artwork

A freshly fallen carpet of snow lies over Iceland. The hot spring Gunnuhver squirts its white plumes of steam into the air as if nothing is wrong, where the vapour slowly becomes one with the icy and white snowy air. Just before she died, Gunna had an argument with the local sheriff, Wilhelm, whom she hated. When she died, their disagreement had not been resolved. Nevertheless, Wilhelm attended her funeral. The next day, he was found dead; his body bruised and blue, his bones broken. His remains were taken to the Útskálar church, where the priest, Gísli, had to fight all night with the ghost Gunna because she was determined to drag the sheriff to hell. Gunna, the ghost, did not get her way and went completely mad. Wilhelm's widow suddenly died an unexplained death; people travelling on the peninsula got lost, died or went mad. Everyone knew Gunna was the culprit. She refused to stay dead - and was quite visible. Life on the Reykjanes peninsula became unbearable. Until two farmers with some occult knowledge decided to let the priest of Vogósar, Erik, catch the ghost. Knowing that Eric would be reluctant, they decided to bribe him with a rather potent drink - which he was known to enjoy a little too much. After listening to their plight, the priest gave the farmers a rope with a knot at one end. He told them to give the untied end to Gunna; the knotted end would roll away and drag her to a place where she would be trapped forever. The peasants did as they were told, and the last time they saw Gunna the spirit was when she tumbled into the hot spring. They declared her dead, the peninsula safe from her misconduct, and gave the hot spring its name so that everyone would know where Gunna met her end.