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Devil´s story

The devil´s churns at Sukulanrakka have been known to local people for centuries. Many folk-tales have told about these mysterious churns and a devil who lived in these parts long ago.

When the devil heard that a Swedish bishop and his entourage were coming to convert the local people living along the River Kemi from their pagan ways, he resolved to get rid of these unwelcome visitor once and for all. He collected a huge pile of rocks, stones and arrows, and waited in ambush in a deep hole he bug himself in the bare rock. In the bottom of this devil´s churn the devil also brewed up a noxious potion to use against the invaders. 

There was bitter struggle, as can still be seen from the massive boulders known locally as devil´s boulders which lay strew around the area to this days. But in spite of all his weapons and his evil spells, the devil was defeated, and fled westwards over the River Kemi. He dropped the rest of his boulders at Rajakirakka, where a stone cairn today marks where fours parishes meet.





The churns are named according folk-tales. The biggest one is Devil´s Soup Bowl and the other big ones are The Big Demon´s Hide and The Bishop Hemming´s Churn.