# Who really was the Isdal Woman? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669 "2014-12-08T16:38:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/21 "2014-12-09T21:19:19Z")
She was Amelia Earhart. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/22 "2014-12-09T21:25:47Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > She was Amelia Earhart. No; there **would** be a name on the luggage then. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Archeonomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Archeonomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archeonomist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/23 "2014-12-09T21:28:40Z")
The Norwegian word for challenging can also mean provocative. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/24 "2014-12-09T22:12:31Z")
> [@Archeonomist](#): > > The Norwegian word for challenging can also mean provocative. Which makes far more sense, in context. Maybe she was just a top-end call girl who honked off her handlers. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/25 "2014-12-10T08:48:44Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Anyone here know Norwegian so we can have a more useful English translation for “challenging” (how is one’s wardrobe style “challenging”? :dubious:) and any nuances (if they exist) to what the policeman said with “dispatched”? Yes, “utfordrende” = challenging, provocative. As for “dispatched,” I think the Norwegian word (“ekspedert”) means gotten rid off, dismissed or eliminated. Certainly sounds very spy-ish to me, like intelligence agency jargon or the like. The Norwegian Wikipedia-page also mentions a few details not found on the English-language one, including: [ul] [li]A theory presented by a retired Norwegian policeman about the Isdal Woman being part of a group of swindlers dealing with counterfeit checks.[/li] [li]The spy angle being commonly tied to [Haakonsvern](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakonsvern), “the main base of the Royal Norwegian Navy and the largest naval base in the Nordic area,” just 15 km from Bergen.[/li] [li]A KGB official landing in Norway the same day as the Isdal Woman arrived, only to fly back to the Soviet Union merely a few hours later.[/li][/ul] Curiouser and curiouser! ---
**Author:** ![Archeonomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Archeonomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archeonomist)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/26 "2016-12-01T20:42:16Z")
Update on the case of the Isdal woman. Norwegian television is doing a web-documentary on the case - in collaboration with police experts. Here they try to examine evidence again using modern methods. Follow the series in English [here](https://www.nrk.no/dokumentar/xl/the-isdalen-mystery-1.13249066) ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/27 "2016-12-01T21:05:58Z")
It took months and months of painstaking library drudgery, but genealogical research led me to a shocking secret – the Isdal Woman was my biological mother. My father kept my existence secret from her, since he knew that anything she knew would eventually be found out by her employers. But I’m done with secrets. Someone killed my mother, and I’m gonna find out who. And they better be ready. [_cha-chunk_ of a gun cocking] ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/28 "2016-12-01T21:41:19Z")
> [@Archeonomist](#): > > Update on the case of the Isdal woman. Norwegian television is doing a web-documentary on the case - in collaboration with police experts. Here they try to examine evidence again using modern methods. Follow the series in English [here](https://www.nrk.no/dokumentar/xl/the-isdalen-mystery-1.13249066) Just saw all the episodes published so far, i.e. 1 through 6. They check out her teeth and her DNA, but no major revelations so far. I’m not expecting much tbh. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/29 "2016-12-01T22:54:26Z")
When I saw this thread title, I really hoped it would be about an Iron Age burial, preferably a bog body. Disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/30 "2016-12-02T19:07:13Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > When I saw this thread title, I really hoped it would be about an Iron Age burial, preferably a bog body. Same here! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/31 "2016-12-02T19:39:25Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Maybe it was Lisbeth Salander. [Corrine Dufour…?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PasdxEYHhMo&feature=youtu.be&t=5) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/32 "2016-12-02T19:55:49Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > [_cha-chunk_ of a gun cocking] You’ve never held a gun, have you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/33 "2016-12-02T20:08:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > You’ve never held a gun, have you? > > 😉 Navy lieutenant Andy has, and Navy guns don’t sound like that, but the Andy in that post lives on the silver screen, where guns go cha chunk, cars explode, and revenge fantasies can be fulfilled. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/34 "2016-12-02T20:53:32Z")
When you’re headed out on your revenge mission, don’t forget your silencer to make your gun go “peeyoop”. And your knife that goes “schwing” when you wave it around. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/35 "2016-12-02T22:01:45Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > When you’re headed out on your revenge mission, don’t forget your silencer to make your gun go “peeyoop”. And your knife that goes “schwing” when you wave it around. My shotgun blasts will send bad guys flying through windows. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/36 "2016-12-02T23:32:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Maybe she was just a top-end call girl who honked off her handlers. How much do you suppose that costs? Asking for a friend. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/37 "2016-12-03T02:24:09Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > But a lot of weird shit happened in the child war era. Yeah, that was definitely a [weird time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIRPaKgPwEs). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/38 "2016-12-03T11:52:42Z")
Sounds like the Piltdown Man’s girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/39 "2016-12-03T12:08:44Z")
Two years and we still haven’t solved the real mystery of this thread - why **Gatopescado** thinks you can’t put milk in porridge. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669/40 "2016-12-04T00:13:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > You’ve never held a gun, have you? > > 😉 It was a shotgun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-really-was-the-isdal-woman/706669.md?page=3)