Book: Drug-induced psychosis triggered Ior Bock’s Lemminkäinen temple saga

A new book reveals that Finnish storyteller and mythologist Ior Bock’s elaborate saga about the Lemminkäinen temple began with a drug-induced psychosis, according to Finnish public broadcaster Yle. The book “Ior Bockin suuri saaga” (Like, 2026), written by Petri Räisänen and Ari Väntänen, describes how Bock’s fantastical narrative started in January 1984 after he consumed strong cannabis from the Himalayas while living in Goa, India, and stopped sleeping.

Bock, born Bror Holger Bertil Svedlin in 1942, was a charismatic performer who built a cult around his self-invented mythology, which included claims of a hidden temple in Sipoo, southern Finland. He died in 2010 after being stabbed. The book portrays him as a combination of pathological liar Baron von Münchhausen, dancer Gene Kelly, and the Pied Piper of Hamelin, reflecting his training as a ballet dancer and actor at the Swedish Theatre’s school in the 1960s, as well as his work as a model and TV commercial actor.

According to the book, Bock had long lived a hippie lifestyle in Goa, often going naked and smoking cannabis. His former girlfriend, referred to as Tove, told the authors that “the story began from a psychosis that gained enormous proportions.” Räisänen, who met Bock in 1992, noted that the inner circle frequently smoked hashish from morning to night and that there were more psychosis-like incidents and suicides beyond the one described.

The site of the Lemminkäinen temple in Gumbostrand, Sipoo, continues to be investigated this summer, though no significant finds have been made. Yoga teacher Juha Javanainen, a former insider, said his scientific side considers the claims impossible but that the story still fascinates. The book also notes that Bock’s legacy lives on, with his self-invented saga still attracting followers.

Tags: Ior Bock, mythology, Lemminkäinen temple