The Isdal Woman
A mystery in the Norwegian woods
A walk in the woods in 1970 at Isdalen ("Ice Valley") in Bergen, Norway led to the discovery of a charred body of a woman. She was a mystery; her bags in the local train lock up revealed many passports and wigs, and a secret book of her travels. DNA and Isotopes mapping have recently been used to trace her origins back to Nuremberg, and perhaps she was Jewish. “Police were able to decode the notepad entries, and determined that they indicated dates and places the woman had visited. As a result, based on handwritten check-in forms, police determined that the Isdal Woman had travelled around Norway (i.e. Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger) and Europe (Paris) with at least eight fake passports and aliases.” There is a theory that she was spying on the Penguin missile being developed by the Norwegian forces. Other theories propose that she was a Nazi hunter. Both are the work of the Israel Mossad secret services.
Her death was violent; phenobarbital was found in her system and she shows signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. ”Soot was found in her lungs, indicating she was alive as she burned, and her neck was bruised, possibly from a fall or by a blow.” She was last seen in the company of two men of swarthy continence dressed for the city who were following her; she seemed to be afraid and wanted to talk to someone who she met on the path. But she didn’t.
Many amateur detectives have theories. Here is mine.
Yulia, one of her pseudonym, was staying at the hotel, waiting for her contact. She was nervous, a spy has to be nervous, because at anytime her cover could be blown or she might cross an acquaintance she had met in another disguise. Some men had lurking around the hotel, asking questions. They come up to her, and sit next to her boxing her in. No escape. Are they Arabs, or her own Mossad colleagues sent to deal with a double agent? They give her no choice. They put some pills on her plate and shove a glass at her. “It will be easier if you take these” one of them tells her. They remind her of her child, and that they can make her suffer as well.
They get up, casually and take a car to the woods. They follow her, walking behind her, so she has no choice. Can she out run them? No. One carries a petrol tin, and a plastic bag. She know what is coming. They pass a hiker on the way down. She thinks maybe… No, they will just kill him as well. They find a clearing off in the woods, and force her to take more of the barbiturates. She looses consciousness, but is not dead. One of her assassins tries to break her neck but misses the other one puts the bag over her head. They are cold and want to get back to the car. They are dressed in street clothes, they pour gasoline on her supine body, not caring if she is dead for alive, it cashes fire, and she burns bright. They throw the Manuels and documents on the fire .
At last it is done. They leave. Their job is done. They can go home to their families. They are professionals. They didn’t know what she had done, but it was a job.
