Sheathed in scaled, reptilian wood shingles, stylized dragon heads often rear up from the upper gable-points of the churches, adding to the foreboding effect. The external aura of the more elaborate stave churches conveys an impression of part wooden cathedral, part haunted house. Although not entirely exclusive to Norway (two less distinctive examples exist in Sweden and England), the stave church has become synonymous with that country. As many as 1,200 stave churches may have existed in the early Middle Ages; only thirty-two original examples survived in the second half of this century. That total has since been revised to thirty-one.
Before its day of judgement by fire in June, 1992, Fantoft arguably possessed the most ominous visage of any extant stave church. Dating from the twelfth century, it originally stood at Fortun, near the Luster Fjord in Central Norway. Like a number of stave churches, it also contained old runic inscriptions. At the close of the 1800s it was scheduled to be demolished to make room for a new burial ground. Unlike like many other stave churches that were destroyed during this period (before the realization of their great historical and cultural value), the church was saved when it was dismantled and moved to Fantoft, five miles south of Bergen on the west coast of Norway.
The groundplan of the building was slightly altered at the time of its reconstruction in 1883, and the entire exterior renewed. The church sat on a thickly wooded hilltop, where according to David Walsten, author of Stave Churches of the World, “The trees were so dense that from some vantage points the church could not be seen until one was nearly upon it.”2 The wooden construction of the traditional stave churches has always made them vulnerable to destruction by causes natural and unnatural, and the obscured location of Fantoft made the work of an arsonist even easier. Thus, early in the morning on the 6th of June, 1992, it was fatally torched, and while Vikernes is strongly suspected as the culprit, no conviction has ever been made in the crime.
FANTOFT IN 1990
News of the destruction of one of Norway’s cultural landmarks made national headlines. It would not be long before other churches began to ignite in nighttime blazes. On August 1st of the same year the Revheim Church in southern Norway was torched; twenty days later the Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo also erupted in flames. On September 1st the Ormøya Church caught fire, and on the 13th of that month Skjold Church likewise. In October the Hauketo Church burned with the others. After a short pause of a few months’ time, Åsane Church in Bergen was consumed in flames, and the Sarpsborg Church was destroyed only two days later. In battling the blaze at Sarpsborg a member of the fire department was killed in the line of duty. Some would later consider this death the responsibility of the Black Circle.
FANTOFT
Beginning with a small, ineffectual fire at Storetveit Church in the month preceding the Fantoft blaze, there have since been a total of at least forty-five to sixty church fires, near-fires, and attempted arson attacks in Norway. Roughly a third have a documented connection to the Black Metal scene, according to Sjur Helseth, head of the Technical Department of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage. The authorities are reluctant to discuss the details of many of these incidents, fearing that undue attention may literally spark other firebugs or copycats to join the assault which Vikernes and his associates began in 1992.
PHOTO OF FANTOFT ALLEGEDLY TAKEN BY VIKERNES HIMSELF SHORTLY AFTER THE ARSON
Church fires themselves are not a wholly new phenomenon. On average, one or two churches have burned down per year in Norway in the past, most due to natural occurrences such as lightning strikes. Fire security at churches has been notoriously bad, and faulty electrical wiring can therefore also account for many of these fires.
However, there have also been cases of arson in the past. Churches are prime targets for pyromaniacs, and prior to 1992 there have been nine instances in Norway since World War II where churches have been deliberately set alight, for various reasons. Since pyromaniacs generally prefer uninhabited buildings, not really wanting to harm anyone, churches are ideal since they are usually situated away from residences—an added advantage to this being that it is easy to carry out the deed unnoticed. Finally, churches make very attractive fires, as the spire will cause flames to leap dramatically into the sky, creating a rather spectacular sight.
According to the law enforcement manual Fire and Arson Investigation, “Arson as a crime predates the written history of common law,” and they note it “has always been regarded by the law as a heinous and most aggravated offense. It endangers human life and the security of habitations. It evidences a moral recklessness and depravity in the perpetrator.”3 This attitude is certainly present in Northern Europe, and arson is specifically mentioned in the oldest extant Norse codes of law. In eleventh-century England, arson was a crime punishable by death. Later, during the reign of King Henry II, a person convicted of arson would be exiled from the community after they had suffered the amputation of one hand and one foot.
FIRE IN THE MIND’S EYE
Arson often afflicts a community due to the presence of a pyromaniac or pathological firesetter. These individuals have a psychological—rather than monetary—impulse behind the acts of arson they commit, and this often drives them to repeat the crime until caught. It is difficult to generalize about pyromania, and casebooks on the subject categorize different types of pyromaniacs according to their apparent motives: jealousy, paranoia, revenge, suicidal urges, and so forth.
On top of this, fire—especially in its destructive aspect—is a source of instinctual fascination for human beings in general. The 1951 study Pathological Firesetting by Lewis and Yarnell remarks:
Religion is only one outlet in which man indulges his hereditary fascination for fire carried in the racial unconscious, according to Jung. There are more practical methods of utilization. Everyone vicariously enjoys witnessing a devastating fire, and its appeal is sufficiently elemental to surmount intellectual and cultural differences. Adolescent boys out looking for excitement like a good fire. Angry mobs derive pleasure from burning the victims’ property; revolutionaries burn their oppressors’ estates; and warring men find in fire their greatest outlet for these destructive tendencies. In fact, some aviators describe with ecstatic fervor the joy and satisfaction they derive from watching the countryside burst into flames from their bombings; of course here is a reaction of justified revenge, but it still satisfies an instinctive urge.4
FROGN CHURCH BURNED
In reviewing the case literature, basic parallels can be found between the recent Scandinavian church-burners and certain classes of pyromaniacs, although the actions of the former are to a large degree unprecedented. In general they appear to fit into the classification of pyromaniacs motivated by “revenge.” The common viewpoint shared by Vikernes and others convicted of burning Norwegian churches is that their crimes were a form of justified retaliation against Christianity.
Lewis and Yarnell’s study of American arsonists found that among 457 cases of “revenge-spite firesetters,” churches were only the objects of attack in ten instances. In their overview of this classification of cases they write:
The conflagration is the most spectacular feature of revenge-motivated incendiarism. The firesetters are usually colorless figures who remain in the background. A woman is rarely directly involved ... Theirs is a deep-seated grievance, and literal revenge is desired. Hence their firesetting is not confined to gestures or playful attempts, but is intended to become destructive. Inflammable agents may be used.
Revenge is the strongest and most durable of all possible motives for firesetting, and revenge fires are set by offenders of any age, though the greatest incidence occurs in the 16–20 year old group. Adolescents will work as a group in setting this type of fire ... but the usual fire is made by a solitary individual.5
In the discussion of “Boys Over 16 Who Make Fires in Groups,” similarities are evident with the dynamics of the Black Circle and its loosely-knit coterie with common interests, inspired and incited by a few of the mor
e charismatic individuals within it. In forty cases of group arson activity studied:
The majority of these were 17–18 year old boys, most of whom worked in pairs, and where more were included, we find that the extra members were chiefly “hangers-on” and were usually not indicted or given a suspended sentence. In some cases, a large group of inadequate boys were completely under the influence of a leader.6
One should bear in mind, however, that the same scenario is probably true of any juvenile group engaging in anti-social behavior or crime.
None but a few of the offenders in Lewis and Yarnell’s book mention burning down a church for ideological reasons. One of them states, “I can’t tell you why I [set fires], I just do. I didn’t pick on Catholic churches because I hated the Catholics. They were just easy places to get into.”7 However, in a later state hospital examination it was determined this 17-year-old had possibly chosen the specific churches as a symbolic gesture against his estranged, Catholic father.
“Pyromaniac” is a classification which technically denotes someone who set fires for no other ostensible reason than some kind of sensual satisfaction. One intriguing case in Pathological Firesetting describes the actions and sentiments of a 20-year-old pyromaniac who set fire to a church where he had served as an usher during his youth:
After the morning service he unlocked a basement window, through which he entered the church that evening. The first match he struck went out—“It gave me a sensation when it went out. Something told me to continue and light the second match and I did. I couldn’t think of anything that would happen. As I entered the dark room it gave me a great thrill. It was so magnificently beautiful there and I thought it would be great to be more beautiful and magnificent still and I thought if the fire was set, no harm would be done and the building would probably be more magnificent than ever. As I continued on, it seems as though in every move I made there was more pleasure out of it. I felt a different person after I set the fire.”8
The man later added: “I felt a double personality when I went into the choir room. I was filled with great enjoyment. I thought such a beautiful edifice should be destroyed. It should be destroyed to be created into a thing even more beautiful.”9
While there are slight similarities between some of these comments and the sentiments of Norwegian Black Metal church burners who viewed church fires as aesthetically beautiful, it would be inaccurate to lump them in the same category. True pyromaniacs tend to have a sexual impulse behind their action, according to psychologist Wilhelm Stekel, whose Peculiarities of Behavior covers the affliction in detail. He believes “awakening and ungratified sexuality impels the individual to seek a symbolic solution of his conflict between instinct and reality,” resulting in pyromania in extreme cases.10 Stekel further writes:
But in the case of the pyromaniac a second determinant [beyond sexual impulse] is also involved—revenge. Arson is an act of hatred. It is the expression of a destructive tendency. Love is creative, hatred destroys. But the question remains: against who is the hatred directed? Is it directed against the employers, or against the owners of the property set on fire? This should be accurately ascertained in every instance. Certain arsons have the immediate persons for objective, they are expressions of revenge for unrequited love, other deeds of this character aim at the pyromaniac’s own family, the parents, etc. They shall see to what their lack of heart has led. They are responsible for everything!11
In the case of Varg Vikernes, he has often stated that he holds the Christian church responsible for destroying everything that was once beautiful in what he considers Norway’s true culture—that of the heathen age. He refers to the wave of arsons as an organic, instinctual uprising or revolution against the alien shackles of Christianity, and feels his music project Burzum to be a weapon in encouraging such outbursts. Curiously, he has also declared that Burzum is “a dream without holds in reality. It’s to stimulate the fantasy of mortals—to make them dream.”12 In light of such beliefs proclaimed by Vikernes, one of Stekel’s remarks becomes intriguing:
We must also bear in mind that the pyromaniacs, as a rule ... attach considerable significance to their dreams and such individuals easily transpose into the impulse to set fire any impulsion to an asocial deed which may oppress them. What they hear is the voice of their own blood, transposed into a voice calling from within.13
Stekel allocates some of his study to pyromania with overtones of sadism or cruelty. While Vikernes and the others apprehended for setting church fires have given reasons other than mere cruelty as a motive, none of them have expressed any degree of remorse for the suffering they caused in the lives of priests and churchgoers, or the painful impact on the surrounding communities. At the time of his first arrest in relation to any of the fires, Vikernes did make a number of extremely sadistic comments to newspapers and magazines which reflected the initial Norwegian Black Metal preoccupations with spreading “evil” and pain. When discussing the findings of fellow psychologist Iwan Bloch, Stekel summarizes:
Bloch in his endeavor to explain the pyromaniac tendency, has recourse to the assumption of a sadistic impulse and of a sexually toned destructive tendency. He points out that red is a color which plays a tremendous role in our vita sexualis. The thought or sight of dark red flames exerts a sexually exhilarating influence, similar to the sight of the reddened body parts during flagellation, or of the flowing blood in sadistic indulgences.14
PRO-GRISHNACKH FLYER
Even while acknowledging that violent or criminal sexual drives may be an important factor in pyromania, as a psychologist Stekel approaches the issue of the crime quite differently than would a police officer or fire-man. His attitude toward the arsonist is a far cry from the days of the courts severing hands or feet, and ordering excommunication. Speaking of a pyromaniac, Stekel asks:
Is he a criminal? Is his arson a crime deserving punishment? My reply to both questions is a decided negative. Anyone who has read through the whole account must understand that the act was symbolic, there was no criminal motive behind it. It is desirable that similar cases be subjected to careful analytic investigation. Then it will be seen that many of these crimes are but the offshoots of faulty training and morbid environment.15
The youths involved in the Norwegian Black Metal scene had certainly immersed themselves in a morbid environment. There is no evidence that Vikernes or the others felt any “sexually exhilarating” influences when burning churches, or desecrating graves for that matter, but one could assume that a certain degree of sadism was inherent to these provocative acts. Their primary motivation was indeed symbolic, and they voice no regret for what they see as righteous revenge against Christianity, which they believe glorifies and caters to the “weak.”
The value of the burned churches in Norway is difficult to estimate. The loss of cultural and historical significance in a specific community (whose members were baptized, married, and buried there) can never be replaced. Even when the church burnings occurred in their own cities, where the repercussions would be impossible to ignore, the perpetrators have expressed no pity for the results of their handiwork.
Some of the most famous recent examples of church burning in Norway were at Fantoft and Holmenkollen, although neither had any congregation as such. They were more like museum pieces. In contrast, Hauketo Church outside Oslo had an active congregation. The night before October 3, 1992, the parish church was burnt to the ground. Per Anders Nordengen was parishioner of the Hauketo and Prinsdal congregations.
PER ANDERS NORDENGEN
WHAT HAPPENED AT HAUKETO?
I was awakened by my daughter who said there was a phone call for me, at 4:30 in the morning. I was told that the church was burning. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten into my clothes so fast. I drove down to the church, just a kilometer away, hoping that it was just a small fire. But seeing the flames rise into the air was quite a shock.
The day after was an incredible experience. It was a state of mourning in Hauketo
and Prinsdal, and it wasn’t just us, the active churchgoers. I suddenly realized what a church means to a community. The church is a symbol of security. Everyone had been baptized or confirmed or married there. Lots of people who didn’t really go to church were crying and speaking of “our church.” Later, lots of people helped out and contributed money. So we kept going in makeshift localities; we didn’t cancel one service, one choir practice, or one activity. But it was hard work, and wore me out. That is one of the reasons why I have quit being a minister now.
PRO-GRISHNACKH FLYER
WHEN WAS ARSON SUSPECTED?
At the beginning of the investigation, the police didn’t believe in theories about Satanism. They wouldn’t have any talk about Satanism, and talk about arson was hushed up. This was shocking, since it was right after Holmenkollen was burnt. The policeman who led the investigation worked from a theory that young members of the congregation had left a waffle iron or coffee machine on the night before. He even repeated this on the TV news the day after. This was a hard blow for many.
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