NorsePlay Investigates: The Stone Of The Hidden Man!

During a far too short stop of my recent cross-Atlantic trip in Reykjavik, I went to investigate the Map Of Midgard site of The Stone Of The Hidden Man!

Tucked behind a strip of shops at 32 Ármúli Street is an elf stone, the Huldumannssteinn (literally "Hidden Man Stone"). This stone was originally bigger and partly demolished, but this large portion was left.

The then-owner was visited in a dream by its resident alfar, who asked him to leave his remaining home alone or else bad luck & misfortune would come of it, so he did.

[Looking through the split.]

According to Terry Gunnell's The Hidden People of Iceland (2008 CE), some bakers later bought this property to open a chicken farm whose chickens wouldn't lay once they bore holes into the remaining stone for demolition. When they figured out this cause, they spared the rock and the chickens resumed laying eggs again the next day.


My cabbie, a Reykjavik Icelander for over 30 years, said he had no idea that this was even here, and thanked me for letting him know about it, but then he probably never has gotten a fare asking him to drive to an obscure spot behind a row of shops ... well at least not for this reason.

Objective observations: The rock is about two parking spaces in size, four feet at its highest, and placed about 16 feet away from the back of the strip in the midst of the rear parking. As pictured, it exhibits a split pretty much making it uneven halves of a formerly larger rock, probably from the two attempts at demolition. Lichens coat about half its surface on the top, and I didn't see bore holes, so I might presume the second attempt at removal went ahead, but the stone's mass mostly survived. The city has obviously grown around it, paved streets and modern buildings in the very immediate surroundings. It's angular, very solid, with small layers around the top before drops at the sides. Some very sparse grass skirts around its muddy base, and grows sheltered in the split. There was no evidence of offerings.

Subjective observations: The incongruence of this stone in the very urban 108 area of Reykjavik only doesn't attract curiosity out of the fact that it's not visible at all from the street, but once you round the corner behind the medical lab, boom, there it is, present & squatting unapologetically, unconquered within the row of parking. My impression is that the stone's resident likes its off the beaten path isolation, given its home's history of having to warn mortal property owners away. The sheered sides and angularity also gives an impression of an otherly nature. I greeted the Hidden Man, asking pardon for any interruptions, introduced myself, let him know I had come from very far away to specifically visit him, and apologized for not thinking to bring an offering or guest gift, but would acknowledge him back home, and praised his endurance in clearly winning against the human progress around him. What I can say is there was a feeling of presence, not directly engaged but acknowledged in an "mmmm-hmmm" way, like the differing nature, or his dimensionally separated attention, or perhaps just the Hidden Man also being busy doing Alfar things in his expansive inner rockspace that I wasn't able to see from the outside. There was no verbal response, only the above impressions of rather distant attention, and I left feeling as though I'd made a passing acquaintance within this very mild sense of connection.

The Stone Of The Hidden Man's GPS: 64.13509, -21.87772

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.