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OTHEE BUPEBSTITIONS. 305
grave. The only power -whicli it was thouglit to be
possessed of then, was that of making itself so heavy
that if any one tried to remove it, levers were neces-
sary to raise it up ' and strong oxen strained them-
selves in attempting to drag it away. In mid-win-
ter, at Yule-tide, the ravages of all specters were the
worst, but in the height of summer-time people saw
no traces of them. It was believed that they would
kill the people whom they could lay hold of in their
ghostly wanderings, or at least frighten them out of
their senses, and but few of the Living were bold
enough to dare, or strong enough to bear, an encounter
with them. Even if the living should come
off victorious, the bare remembrance of the horrid
vision would make him ever afterwards afraid in the
dark, however great a hero and warrior he might
otherwise be. The best way to get rid of such hard
customers was, to dig up the body, burn it to ashes,
and scatter the ashes in the sea, or else to cut the
head off the corpse and lay it between its legs.*
Doubtless it was believed that the body was neces-
sary to this class of the Dead, in order to make their
appearance among the living ; when their souls were
deprived of this means of carrying on operations,
they could no longer do any harm to men, but had
to stay in their dwelling in Helheim.
We find mention of another way to get rid of
troublesome apparitions, namely, to prosecute them
with all legal formalities for the disturbance they
occasioned, and to banish them by a regular sen-
* Laxd. S. : Eyrb. S.: Grettis S. et al.