Austur-Eyjafallahreppur

The story goes that the man Rútur lived in the man-made cave, some say he was an evil troll, others say he was a looter, and other people say he was an evil chieftain. The people in this region attacked him and killed him by making a hole in the cave underneath his bed. They then ran him through with spears, while he was in bed.

Others say that they made a hole in the cave from outside and ran him through that hole with spears and killed him. They were too afraid of him to want to meet him out in the field.
After killing him they were still afraid of him even though he was dead and one of his killers, Björn, ran away up to the mountain, Bjarnarfell, which bears his name ever since, and yet another fled into the wilderness of Iceland.

1936, Nazis from the SS-troops, Ahnenerbe, seem to have investigated Rútshellir thoroughly. Ahnenerbe was a science academic wing in Nordic science under the command of Heinrich Himmler.

They were very much into the idea of the strong, pure Nordic race and were looking for ruins of old temples in Iceland. They thought that there might have been such an old temple in Rútshellir.

The Nazis made a thorough description of the cave, and they liked to believe, true or false, that the cave had indeed been an advanced heathen temple.Læs mere