Case file · Folklore / legend
The Kensington Runestone
In 1898 Swedish immigrant farmer Olof Ohman said he found a stone with a runic inscription in the roots of a tree near Kensington, Minnesota; it tells of Norsemen killed on an expedition in 1362.
1898 CE · 45.81, -95.70 · status: hoax
The account
It is displayed in Alexandria, Minnesota, and still has defenders who argue for a medieval Scandinavian journey into the interior.
The sceptical view
Runologists and historians generally consider it a 19th-century creation: its language and runes match Swedish of the 1800s, not the 1300s.