Trolls and gnomes. They make for fantastic legends and bedtime stories, but were they based upon something encountered in the past? Perhaps still here upon the earth?
Troll: A Scandinavian mythical creature that lives among the rocks and caves in the dark places, avoiding humans, not a pleasant and when sunlight hits them, they turn to stone.
Gnome: A humanoid creature that lives underground. Sometimes guarding caves and mines. Supposedly able to move through solid earth like humans move through air.
Perhaps we are a perverse and imaginative culture that we wish gnomes and trolls to be real beings and actually sharing our space on the Earth at this very moment. Urban legends, legendary and cryptid creatures are attractive concepts. We like not knowing everything that's out there and get a delicious titillation from the cautionary tales.
There are, however, tales of them existing and people offering some proof - let's look at these modern-day cases -
People supposedly attacked by gnomes in Argentina. The creature was described as wearing dark clothing, walking sideways on its feet and barking like a dog, as well as attacking folks.
Latin America has had a rise in reports of gnome encounters. This is intriguing, as Latin America has long had a tradition of reporting strange goblin-looking little creatures of various names. These are now being called "gnomes" as the popularized name fits these things that have long been sighted.
LINK - In 2008, reports surfaced that a small town in Argentina was being terrorized by a gnome, or duende, wearing the aforementioned tall pointy hat. This had gone on for quite a while in Guemes, but it wasn’t until someone captured the following footage that their struggle gained international attention.
A troll was reportedly captured in Namibia Africa - but what was this really? The story goes that a hunting party came across this strange mutant as it was foraging for food. They wounded it and chased it into his lair where they found more of these creatures. The injured one attacked them and they killed it. Supposedly, the police picked up the body for testing, but no results were reported. Hmmmm....
Sadly, this has the appearance of an anencephalic baby. That makes this video footage even more disturbing! With online hoaxes possible and probable, it can be exceedingly hard to capture any good honest images of what people are calling trolls and gnomes. The one thing in our favor is that with cell phones these days, things are being captured that used to only be described by witnesses.
Locations that report gnomes and trolls past and present have exceedingly remote locations and caves, making them ideal for cryptids to remain. You don't hear many stories of gnomes wandering London's avenues or New York's alleyways.
A wonderful site for the awareness and acceptance of real trolls.
And, then, there are those who love the mythology of trolls and delight in playacting for our thrills and chills -
Legends of Trolls in Scandinavia were always felt to be mythical in origin, stories being told from long ago. But, as we all know, much of religious texts and Native legends involves some telling of true events that are put into a cautionary form of extraordinary proportions to keep the stories going. Who is going to pass on a boring story with no terror?
The Scandinavians spoke of a people called the Jotun who were giants. It's interesting how these giants end up in every culture around the world as something that existed in the past....
These trolls were said to be giant in size, but over time they have been whittled down to mischievous little beings.
If you haven't seen the movie "Trollhunter," it is absolutely a must-see. They did a wonderful job of taking a legend and making it seem feasible in the most picturesque landscape imaginable.
Do trolls and gnomes exist?
Well, you can't prove something that hasn't been caught, but you can't disprove it either.
I have heard reports from the Upper Midwest of "trolls" in that they are some 30+ foot tall beings in the forests, tearing down trees with their colossal size and strength. There are also reports of wee people in the woods being seen in areas where Bigfoot are also seen.
Are we talking about legends, spirit beings, shapeshifters, skinwalkers, or real actual cryptids? I guess we won't know unless we come across one. For now, I enjoy the tales a great deal.