The storyteller known as Sotar Blixt

Sotar-Blixt, born as Johannes Persson Blixt in Bastvålen, Östmarks socken, Värmlands län, lived an eventful life, much of which is shrouded in mystery. His parents were Soldat Bast and Karin Persdotter, and he had four siblings. Blixt was listed as absent from Östmarks kyrkböcker in 1877, and it is possible he traveled elsewhere to learn the trade of a sotare.

In 1882, he was convicted of pickpocketing and sentenced to two years and six months in Malmö prison. After his release and banishment to Värmland, Blixt became known as a sokken-sotare and rödmålare, but he was most famous in the region for his storytelling. He lived in the forest near Slorudsborg and Fångnäs and later in the Arvikatrakten, where he lived with various women and had several children, including Agnes Blixt, born in 1897.

Blixt's life and character were captured in Gustaf Fröding's poem Blixten, which describes him as a man black with soot and road dust. While there are no specific church records for his final years, he is likely buried in Brunskogs kyrkogård. Today, his memory is preserved in the Sotar Blixt-leden, an eleven-kilometer trail northeast of Arvika, and the Sotar Blixt-sten, a large stone inscribed with the text "Blixt, Sotare. 1863."

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons