Michael Cremo - Human Devolution - A Vedic Alternative To Darwin's Theory

In 1969, a story about the case appeared in a Reykjavik newspaper, and a reader wrote in giving another source of information about Runolfsson’s death. This was a manuscript written in the nineteenth century by Reverend Jon Thoraeson, who had been a clergyman in Utskalar at the time. The manuscript was, however, published in 1953, many years after the sittings in which Runolfsson revealed himself.

As far as the medium was concerned: (1) He said he had never been to Sangerdi or met anyone from there prior to the sittings connected with Runolfsson. (2) He had visited the National Archives, where some records related to the case are kept, in November 1939, but this was six months after Runolfsson had identified himself and told his story. (3) He had never read the Utskalar church records. In any case, in none of these accounts is the missing leg bone mentioned. Residents of Sandgerdi who did know about a leg bone had not connected it with Runolfsson, who was also known by the knickname Runki (Haraldsson and Stevenson

1975a, p. 43). Haraldsson and Stevenson (1975a, p. 57) concluded that the simplest explanation of all the facts was “Runki’s survival after his physical death with retention of many memories and their subsequent communication through the mediumship of Hafsteinn.”

Here is another case. On January 25, 1941, the medium Hafsteinn Bjornsson was holding a séance for Hjalmar Gudjonsson, who was expecting to hear from dead persons known to him. The medium’s control was a spirit called Finna. But Finna, instead of passing on messages from persons known to Gudjonsson, passed on messages from a person unknown to him. This drop-in communicator, who called himself Gudni Magnusson, mentioned a place called Eskifjordur. He said he had died there from an accident involving a motor vehicle. Asmundur Gestsson, who heard about the drop-in communicator after the sitting, had a cousin, Gudrun Gudmundsdottir, who lived in Eskifjordur. Gudmundsdottir was married to a physician, Einar Astrads. On February 26, 1941, Gestsson wrote to his cousin, asking if her husband had ever treated a man named Gudni Magnusson. And if so, had the man died in an automobile accident? (Haraldsson and Stevenson 1975b, pp. 246–247)

On March 14, Gudrun Gudmundsdottir wrote back to Asmundur Gestsson, confirming that her husband had treated a man named Gudni Magnusson who had died, adding more details: “There is a married couple here [in Eskifjordur] by the name of Anna Jorgensen and Magnus Arngrimsson. . . . One of their sons . . . who was about 20–21 years of age, was a truck driver and had been for the past two or three years. He had often worked with his father in road building. Last fall this young man, whose name was Gudni Magnusson, was very busy with his truck driving and he left in the morning to go to Vidifjordur, a rather long and strenuous journey. Then later in the day he went to Reydarfjordur. After reaching there he left for home. His truck was not running well and the trip tooklonger than usual. He was alone. When he was crossing the mountain pass between Reydarfjordur and Eskifjordur, the truck ran out of gasoline. So he left the truck and went down to Eskifjordur to obtain some gasoline in a can. That meant a walk of four miles each way and when he returned home he was exhausted. During the night he experienced extremely severe pain in the stomach. Einar was sent for and went to him, but could not diagnose his condition at first. The next day Einar had to go to Reydarfjordur and stayed there the whole day. In the evening he received a telephone call at Reydarfjordur asking him to come quickly [back to Eskifjordur] because Gudni’s condition had become very critical. Einar was also asked to bring with him the army doctor stationed at Reydarfjordur if that would make it easier to help Gudni. The [two] physicians arrived at nine o’clock in the evening and they saw immediately that the young man was in a very critical condition and probably suffering from some internal rupture or intestinal obstruction. They could do nothing with the patient where he was. They therefore decided to send the young man at once to the hospital at Seydisfjordur. They could not use an airplane because, being October, it was already dark.They therefore took Gudni in a motorboat, but he died on the way between Nordfjordur and Seydisfjordur” (Haraldsson and Stevenson 1975b, p. 249).

Gestsson then obtained a more detailed account of the séance, written by Gudjonsson on March 31, 1941: “The first thing that Finna said to me was that a young man was with me and that he was of average height, blond, and with thin hair at the top of his head. He was between 20 and 30 years of age and was called Gudni Magnusson. She could easily see him. She said that he had known some of my relatives, and also that he and his death were connected with Eskifjordur and Reydarfjordur. He had been a car or truck driver. She saw clearly how he had died. He had been repairing his car, had crawled under it, stretched himself, and then had ruptured something inside his body. Then he had been brought by boat between fjords to medical care, but died on the way. That is all I remember” (Haraldsson and Stevenson 1975b, p. 247). Gudjonsson later said that he wrote this before he had any knowledge of the letter to Gestsson from Gudrun Gudmundsdottir in Eskifjordur (Haraldsson and Stevenson 1975b, p. 260).

Gudrun Jonsdottir, who had also attended the séance, also provided a statement, dated June 6, 1941. Hansina Hansdottir, the only other person at the séance, also signed Jonsdottir’s statement, saying it was correct. Here is Jonsdottir’s statement: “Hjalmar [Gudjonsson] . . . did not recognize in any way at all the man Finna described to him. I had the impression that he did not want to hear anything further from this unknown man, so I asked Finna about him myself. Finna said: ‘This man has living parents. . . .’ I asked: ‘Did he die immediately?’ Finna said: ‘No, he managed to get to his home, and then I see he was carried by boat. He was brought to a doctor. I see the boat between fjords and that he died on the way in the boat.’ I asked: ‘Can you tell me between what fjords he was to be brought?’ Finna said: ‘I cannot get that, but Eskifjordur is what he has most on his mind.’ I asked: ‘How long do you think it is since he died?’ Finna said: ‘I cannot see that clearly. I believe it to be some months, about four or five, but it could be more or less. This man seems to have become well oriented [in the after-life], but he does not feel secure.’ I asked: ‘What do you think he wants from Hjalmar? Something specific?’ Finna said: ‘He just came to him since they are both from the same part of the country and he is also trying to get strength from him. You should think well of him. That gives him strength’” (Haraldsson and Stevenson

1975b, pp. 247–248).

In June 1941, Asmundur Gestsson went to Eskifjordur and confirmed details about Gudni Magnusson, such as the fact he had blond hair, thinning on the top of his head. Later, Erlendur Haraldsson interviewed Gudni’s brother Otto and sister Rosa, who also confirmed the details of the reports from the séance. Haraldsson also, with some difficulty, obtained a copy of Gudni’s death certificate, which listed the cause of death as “intestinal perforation” (Haraldsson and Stevenson 1975b, p. 249).

On November 7, 1940, an Icelandic newspaper published a brief obituary of Gudni, but it did not give many details, and would not in itself have been of much help to the medium Hafsteinn in manufacturing the communications from Gudni. Neither the medium nor any of the sitters had any connection with Gudni or his family. Haraldsson and Stevenson (1975b, pp. 260–261) concluded: “Despite extensive inquiries we have not been able to find any channel for normal communication to the medium of the correct information he had about Gudni Magnusson and expressed at the séance under consideration.”