I never heard of this before ... googling a bit, I found http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/no/visste-du-at/2011-12-05-det-har-bodd-pingviner-i-lofoten.html - but this was in 1936. The last penguin was observed in 1947 - and yes, the article also tells about one penguin that was killed by a farmer because she suspected it to be something sinister.

In the real arctic - like Svalbard/Spitsbergen, the penguins wouldn't have a chance, they'd be eaten up by polar bears.

While there are no penguins in the far north, we do have the puffins.

(I've been living in puffin land most of my life, yet I didn't get to see one until I bought a sail boat at grown-up age. I was astonished - those creatures, I thought they lived much further north and much further out in the sea, but there were lots and lots of them just some 15-30 nautical miles from home!)