Icelandic Aluminum Plant Delayed To Search For Elves

When Alcoa Inc. wanted to build a new aluminum smelting plant in Iceland, they were forced to hire an expert to make sure that none of the country's "hidden people" lived underneath the proposed building site. The legendary elves provoke serious apprehension in much of the country's population. An Alcoa spokesman said that the inspection (which delayed construction for six months) was costly but necessary. "We couldn't be in the position of acknowledging the existence of hidden people," he added. The job of an elf finder is not as easy as you might think. With a +2 racial bonus to hide, elves can be quite elusive. Ogre spotter, now that's an easy job.

Comments

Strong belief in superstition

[JWSmythe]

From what I've read, that part of the world has strong beliefs in this type of superstition. Many of these superstitions date back at least thousands of years.

    In Iceland, a decent percentage of the population believes in gnomes, faeries, and elves (among other things)

    I have heard legend that the Shannon airport in Ireland either during construction or expansion, was delayed because a fairy circle existed in the planned construction area. Due to this, the runway was built in a different direction, so it didn't disturb the circle.

    Beliefs in superstition aren't all that bad. There are plenty of things we don't know about the universe yet. Maybe they are simple superstition for unexplained things, or maybe (just maybe) they have a basis in reality somewhere.

    I usually prefer not to bash anyone's superstitions. What if they're right. :)

      A decent percentage of Americans are amazingly superstitious too, and follow those superstitions through their whole lives. Don't believe me? Check out any local church. I'm not saying religion is wrong. It could be right. Who am I to say that it's wrong. Someday I may find out the truth (probably a few seconds after I die, I would expect).

    Before you bash the superstitions of others, look at your own.

Re:Strong belief in superstition

[hannson]

I'm from iceland, most people are not _that_ superstitious although I see no difference between christianity and elves... it's both rediculous

Re:Strong belief in superstition

[JWSmythe]

    Hey, don't knock the elves like that! :) At least they never formed a cult of humans that was the driving force behind multiple crusades.

    In any group, you'll have extremes. Some will be extremely superstitious, and some complete disbelievers, with the majority landing in the middle somewhere.

    I'd prefer to believe in elves, faeries, and other little people. :)

Re:Strong belief in superstition

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll take elves, Jesus or even Allah over the dogma of atheism and evolutionism, which were the driving force behind the murder of 6 million Jews and thousands of "retardeds" in Nazi Germany, led to the murder of millions of Russians by their own government, justifies infanticide the world over, and still gives credibility to various genres of racism and hatred worldwide in the name of "progress".

Re:Strong belief in superstition

[JWSmythe]

    Careful, you're treading very close to the territory of Godwin's Law.

   

Re:Strong belief in superstition

[Anonymous Coward]

I considered putting my precious time and effort into refuting this crap but these lies have been knocked down countless times and they just keep getting spewed by the wilfully ignorant. Arguing with them is like talking to a wall so I can't be bothered. Someone please just mod this fuckwit troll. Thanks.

Re:Strong belief in superstition

[singingjim1]

This is the beauty of having absolutely no superstitions. I get to laugh at everyone else's because they are hilarious, and stupid.

Re:Strong belief in superstition

[JWSmythe]

    Trust me, it wasn't worth the time. Usually people who spew that kind of crap never took the time to research it. They are just blindly repeating what they were told. You'll never have more credibility than their sources, so you'll always be wrong, and thus begins a flame war.

   

Urban legend

[Anonymous Coward]

Urgh. No, that's not TRUE - what was done was the following: the site was checked for artifacts of cultural significance and all that. For example, from an article in New York Magazine:

As for Alcoa, their rep believes Lewis is likely referring to a law regarding environmental-impact assessments. The assessment includes an archaeological survey to ensure no important artifacts or ruins are destroyed, and the site's history is also surveyed to see if it was ever named in any Icelandic folklore. And yes, some of that folklore involves elves.

Alda Sigmundsdóttir has some more background in these two entries in her blog, too, for those interested.

covered on CBC radio last month

[ad0n]

This story was covered by the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corp.) with an interview of the headmaster of the Icelandic Elf School. Here's the link to the CBC broadcast: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2009/200903/20090327.html

Re:covered on CBC radio last month

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

Alcoa denies it
An Icelander responds
The same Icelander talks about what the "hidden folk" mean to Icelanders

Re:covered on CBC radio last month

[Anonymous Coward]

Note that Magnus Skarphedinsson (letters modified to suit /.'s fickle text handling), the founder and director of the so-called elf school is somewhat of a national joke and an embarassment to his politically-minded brother.

He's also known for spewing nonsense about all-loving hyper-dimensional space-alien messiahs, aura reading, spectral photography, as well as a long list of really far out superstitions and otherwise weird beliefs.

In the few cases where he's made semi-testable claims and shown up in any sort of widely disseminated media to debate the matter, he's been rather laughable in his claims. Ectoplasmic shapes on film: ghosts, or hard breathing photographers in chilly environs? You decide.