THE SHAME OF BIG OLE!

I would like to explain that I have no doubt that Big Ole is a well-liked character for most Alexandrians and that for many people who make a trip to Alex to have family pictures taken standing next to the statue, the experience is enjoyable. However, the statues of other fictional characters such as those seen in Bemidji, Brainerd and Akeley, are not positioned in conflict with other historically authentic subjects, as the Kensington Runestone and Big Ole are. I appreciate that people enjoy seeing Big Ole standing tall, but this only serves to highlight the problem I see created by having the KRS and Big Ole positioned so closely together.

This important question naturally pops up: How many visitors seeing both the KRS and Big Ole so closely joined together at the hip end up leaving the area confused? So, if Big Ole cannot be removed away from the Runestone Museum a "historically respectful" distance, then perhaps a disclaimer sign of sorts should be placed near the statue clearly spelling out the fact that the KRS is dated 1362, while Big Ole is from the Viking Age that ended roughly around AD 1100. Otherwise — again — a considerable amount of confusion is sure to arise in the minds of many visitors...and I perceive this to be a disservice not only to the KRS, but also to the community and to history itself.

I'm well aware of the thrill to visiting children when they see the huge, colorful statue, and it's easy to understand that quite a bit of income comes to the museum in the way of trinkets honoring Big Ole, but the concern I have is over whether or not the extra money generated is worth the harm being done. I think not, which is why I respectfully think that some kind of corrective action needs to be taken by Alex's leadership and the museum to mitigate the ongoing harm being done to the KRS and the community every single day that Big Ole is "standing tall." The bottom line is that the KRS deserves a better approach to the significance entrusted to this historical icon by the local community.

What's more, in my view it is improper for Big Ole to be announcing to the world-at-large--via the message on his shield, that Alexandria is the "Birthplace of America," since Vikings had nothing to do with the placing of the 1362 KRS 130 years before the time of Columbus (1492). I also think it is a real shame that there is no signage along the freeway--494--by Alexandria, announcing to passersby that this is where the historically important KRS can be seen and appreciated.

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THE SAUK LAKE ALTAR ROCK (Formerly Called The Viking Altar Rock)

The actor Peter Stormare (think "Fargo"), left, and myself visiting the Altar Rock in 2018 to film an episode for the new TV series "Secrets of the Viking Stone." It was shown in 2020 and this year, 2021. Photo taken by Elroy Balgaard. To begin what is known about the Sauk Lake Altar Rock, I would like to point out that this icon of medieval-era Minnesota history seems to be one of a trifecta of icons that all share at least two features; the Sauk Lake Altar Rock, the Kensington Runestone and the Newport Tower all appear to be connected in a medieval setting to Scandinavians and to the Catholic Church. In this sense, then, all three icons tend to lend support to one another's authenticity. Beyond this, I would like to point out that an earlier regional take on the Sauk Lake Altar Rock is now seen by most historians as ill advised...that being the notion that the Altar Rock was visited and it's four stoneholes made by the Sir Paul Knutson party of me...

NORWAY LAKE, MINNESOTA: A Medieval "Bardiche" and a Submerged Runestone?

Norway Lake in Minnesota is approximately 50 miles from the small town of Kensington, where the Kensington Runestone (self-dated to 1362) was discovered by an immigrant farmer named Olof Ohman in 1898. I was already aware of a medieval Scandinavian axe that was found in 1908 by a Norway Lake area fisherman named Ole Skaalerub (the axe is presently in a collection of iron weapons at Alexandria's Runestone Museum), but I didn't learn about a possible submerged runestone in the middle of Norway Lake until a few years later, when I came across a September/October 2012 article in the Atlantis Rising Magazine, entitled "Norsemen in Minnesota," with the subtitle " The Kensington Rune Stone Is Not The Only Evidence For A Prehistoric Viking Presence ." The magazine is now defunct, but I have included pertinent portions of the timeless and fascinating article in this presentation about a possible submerged runestone in Norway Lake: Excerpts from the ...

THE NORSE CODE-STONES

This blog post is about a puzzling occurrence involving stoneholes chiseled into rocks, I believe in both the pioneering days of the late 1800s and in medieval times, perhaps as early as the 12th century. This multiple stonehole-making happened near the border of Minnesota and South Dakota, near the town of Appleton, in Minnesota. It is my firm belief that the stoneholes were chiseled out to mark a spot of earth along a ridgeline directly south of the Pomme de Terre River, a river that empties into the Minnesota River, not far from where the Minnesota river begins near the bottom of Big Stone Lake. Significantly, the Pomme de Terre River reaches the farthest north of any river discharging into the Minnesota River. This is important because I think the Norse Code-stone may possibly have been created to indicate an attempted medieval Scandinavian land-claim, and placing the seemingly encoded stonehole rocks by the Pomme de Terre River might have been inte...

THE KENSINGTON RUNESTONE: Commentary and Speculation by Bob Voyles

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