Hell[3] (Urban East Norwegian:[ˈhɛlː], Trøndersk:[ˈheʎ]) is a village in Stjørdal Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the western part of the municipality, about 3 kilometres (2 mi) south of the town of Stjørdalshalsen. The 1.26-square-kilometre (310-acre) village has a population (2023) of 1,921 and a population density of 1,525 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,950/sq mi).[1]
The village of Hell has become a minor tourist attraction because of its name, as visitors often have their photograph taken in front of the station sign. A smaller building on the railway station has been given the sign gods-expedition, which is the archaic spelling of the word for "goods handling" (godsekspedisjon would be the spelling in the contemporary Norwegian language).
The name Hell stems from the Old Norse word hellir, which means "overhang" or "cliff cave". It has a more common homonym in modern Norwegian that means "luck". The Old Norse word Hel is the same as today's English Hell, and as a proper noun, Hel was the ruler of Hel. In modern Norwegian, the word for hell is helvete.[4]
Among English-speaking tourists, popular postcards depict the station with a heavy frost on the ground, making a visual joke about "Hell frozen over".[5] Temperatures in Hell can reach −25 °C (−13 °F)[2] during winter.
Trondheim Airport Værnes is used as the official meteorological office for this region. Temperatures in both the winter and summer are moderate due to the geography of the location: the average January highs are still above freezing despite a high latitude. Hell has a humid continental climate that is close to being subarctic and also close to being oceanic.
Climate data for Trondheim Airport Værnes 1981–2010 (12 m, 63°27′N 10°55′E, extremes 1946–2016)
The Hell Kjøpesentermall is located at Sandfærhus north of the Stjørdalselva river, rather than in Hell, and thus the name is a misnomer.
A blues festival takes place every year at Hell Station in September, "Blues in Hell". The original festival (Hell Blues Festival) started in 1992, then changed its name to Hell Music Festival in 2006 to open their doors for music other than blues. The Hell Music Festival in 2007 failed to attract many concert-goers, however, and the festival declared bankruptcy the same year. In 2008 a new festival was started, entitled "Blues in Hell", going back to the original concept.
Mona Grudt, Miss Norway 1990 and Miss Universe 1990, is from a small village near Hell. During the 1990 Miss Universe competition, she listed herself as "The beauty queen from Hell" as a publicity stunt.
