Vagabond chases and the towns’ watchmen

The Ståtarkonge was also responsible for the so-called “vagabond chases”. They were organised all over Norway. Usually once or twice a year, each town’s men would gather and chase the Travellers back out onto the road. The first vagabond chase took place in 1643.

The most famous one took place in 1907, when six-year-old Gudrun disappeared in Oslo (then Kristiania). A clairvoyant boy claimed the girl had been kidnapped by Travellers and that they had hidden her in a cave in Flå. A chase was started and a cave that was thought to be the hiding spot was blown up with dynamite. They found nothing. In the summer of 1908, the mystery was solved when Gudrun’s remains were found in a manhole in Kristiania. She had apparently fallen into it and had not been able to climb back up.