Today I will tell you a story from the south of Lapland. This story take place not far from Kittelfjäll, and it is about a grouse hunter on a winter tour…

I have never been superstitious, I’ve never have believed in preternatural things. But I think that there is tings that cant be easy to find explanation of. I thinking of the cry I once heard in the near of Lasterfjället. I heard from the Sami’s that it was lots of grouses in the area of Lasterfjället close to the Ransarån valley, so I decided to go there for a hunt. I put on my skis, and went away. From Ransam it was 20k to the place for the hunt, the skiing was hard and I struggle hard to get to the shelter that day. It was in the black-winter and the day was short, and it also was snowing. The pack was heavy with the gun, axe and food for a week of hunt. When I reach the shelter it already was dark. I have to dig out the snow from the shelter with my hands, and plug the worst hole with moss.

Now I have to chop firewood for the fire. Now it was dark, and I could hear that the weather was going to be wild…It was just in that moment I heard a piercing cry. it immediately struck me that that cry sounded so strange, that I would never, as a mountain man as I am, hear anything like that. At the first the cry sounded like the sami Lomp-Lara used to use to gather his rein deer herd. But this was impossible due to he was down land with his rein deer’s…Now I could hear the cry again. it began shrill, much like notes from a buck’s horn, and ended with raucous laughter. It sounded like it came from a creature in distress. For a moment I was thinking that it could be a human who has been out in the mountain and was in distress due to the storm. I went out and shouting, but got no answer. I couldn’t even make out the mighty Lasterfjäll cliff that rose steeply and neatly now in the dark. Sleep was scarce that night, I heard the cry couple of times that night. And it was really cold, in the shelter. The bonfire roared and smoked, for the wood was frozen and wet. In the dawn I ran out and started to gill grouse snares. I slowly went to the Lasterfjälls cliff to see if there were any tracks after any creature. But there was no other track than the ones from the grouses. After I was done with snares I went back to my shelter, even during that evening I heard the cry. But now I started to get used of it. At the fourth day I felt sick and miserable. The whole body now ached. I realized that Is was high time to get back to Ransam. When I reached Ransam I was complete exhausted. One of the first I met there was Gamm-Klemet, one of the old and blind Sami. I told him about the cry I have heard. He told me a story of an old Sami women  who have diapered trackless at Lasterfjället. Despite a diligent search, she was nowhere to be found. And he also told that many have heard her cry, Her spirit was crying for showing where her bones were laying. What I heard a couple of weeks later was that even a Norwegian company at the same time have been sleeping at Tjokola 10Km from Lasterfjället also have heard likewise cry during the night. Jon Persson an mountain man was mimicked the cry, and it was like the one I have heard…

See ya in the noon…