THE KENSINGTON RUNESTONE: Commentary and Speculation by Bob Voyles

"Havero" runes on a wooden stave (measuring stick) in a museum in Medelpad, Sweden.  How widespread were the runes practiced, and how long did they exist going back in time?  For that matter, how long did the Larsson Papers runes--similar to the "Kensington Runes"--exist before the late 1800s, and how widespread were they used?  No one today seems to know for sure...probably because of the runes' apparently secretive history.  But Magnus Kallstrom, a runologist and associate professor of Scandinavian languages at the Swedish National Heritage Board, seems to be quite certain about the issue at hand, believing the Kensington Runestone is a hoax.  In an article from the Swedish National Heritage Board, updated about a year ago, he boldly claims, "There was no runic system like this in the Middle Ages." (The Kensington Runes are self-dated to 1362.)  He went on to say, "It was probably a secret written language that was created and handed down by a c...

To begin, here's some strange signage on Highway 27 leading west out of Alexandria, showing where to turn south for those heading to Runestone Park.  Don't let the "Viking Trail" sign fool you, as this only references Hjalmar Holand's mistaken belief that the Sir Paul Knutson search party came down across Minnesota with boats, making stoneholes in rocks along the way.  Every medieval Norse stonehole found, and every fresh discovery of  a medieval Scandinavian iron weapon found was additional proof of Knutson's heroic expedition to the Kensington area.  So, Holand fostered the notion that many stoneholes were made here in Minnesota to serve as mooring stones...something that did not happen because small boats and canoes could easily be pulled onto shores and river banks.  Only in the last several years did the old wooden brown "Holand stonehole sign" come down from Runestone Park's Skraeling Hill, as folks began to understand that the "moorin...