> I'm puzzling over this description of a wondrous tower in Eireks
> saga víðförla:
>
> Sá þeir þá því líkast sem stöpull væri ok hengi í loptinu ok engir
> stólpar undir. Þeir nálgast þangat. Þar sá þeir, at hekk á turn í
> loptinu á engum stólpum. Sunnan við turninn stóð stigi.

Yes, this is rather puzzling. In particular the 'á'
after 'hekk' seems odd. That almost makes me think
that the 'turn' is hanging on the 'stöpull' but I
don't think that makes much sense. I think I'll buy
your idea that the 'stöpull' is simply a more generic
word indicating the same phenomonenon as 'turn'.
A somewhat free translation:

"Then they see something like a cylinder hanging in the
air with no supports. As they get closer they see that
a tower is indeed hanging in the air with no supports.
South of the tower are stairs."

Kveðja,
Haukur