Ever wondered if Vikings could have made their way up the Mississippi River into Oklahoma? Join me on this week's Natural Medic Adventures as I explore the mysterious Heavner Rune Stone Park, where fascinating Viking runestones have been discovered. I'll take you on a tour of the park, including a visit to the seasonal waterfall and the intriguing runestone itself, protected in a glass enclosure.
Listen in as I discuss the captivating history of these Viking artifacts, and insights from Gloria Stuart Farley, who studied the runestones for over 40 years. You'll also hear about the translation of the runes by Dr. Richard Nielsen from the University of Denmark, and the recent conversion of the park from a state park to a city park, complete with overnight camping options through Hipcamp. Don't miss this unique and enthralling episode as we uncover the mysteries of Heavner Rune Stone Park!
Hey, welcome to the Natural Manic Adventures. This is Craig, your host, and this week I am at Heavner Rune Stone Park outside of Heavner, oklahoma. You look right here on the boards behind me, gloria, who actually did the extensive study over 40 years on the runestones that were found here, and you have also Mr Herbert Ward, whose land was donated to the state for a park, and now the city and Mr Senator Clem Hamilton, who made legislation to support this as a state park. The thought is that Vikings came up the Mississippi River from their colonies in Northern Canada into the Arkansas River and into the Toto, and whether that happened or not, i don't know Gloam Valley or Gloam, i think it's in a shelter house down here. We'll see in a little bit. And there are other runestones that have been found in the area as well. So it's a very mysterious stone. It's been protected in this little shelter for a number of years, but you can hear here and go check it out. Let's go check it out now. As opposed to, this particular part of the park is where an old Viking cave was reported here in the area. Some of the old timers that came out here. They said that there was an opening in this particular area. You see, this is a big, tall bluff And it's made out of shale sandstone, not normally materials that caves form in very well, at least stable caves. So if there was a cave over here, it's not here now. You see the bluff line here And over there is where the runestone is. Let's go check it out. There is a seasonal waterfall that is running pretty nice right now It's about a day weekend 2023. And you see it's got some good flow all the way down here to the bottom, hotter parts of the summer probably not running like this.
Speaker 1:
Interestingly enough, in this area along the eastern border with Arkansas, there's been other runestones that have been discovered. These are replicas of the original right here, the Shawnee runestone Actually it's closer to Oklahoma City, towards central Oklahoma And then the Poto runestone right there. What they think they say is the Poto one says magic or protection to, and then the other one may have been a gravestone There bears the name Meadoc. Not really sure what they mean, but they are translated and that's what they translate as The one that found the stones her name is Gloria Stuart Farley. She has seen it as a child and, as far as oral history goes, this stone had been around in the area known to the Native Americans, the Choctaw, that lived in this area since, like the 1830s, which is pretty much when they were moved here from other parts of the US, south Eastern US, over here to Oklahoma, and because they weren't able to understand what it said, there's a picture of her and her sons. They thought it was an Indian writing. It was known as Indian Rock for a long time. We've probably seen Viking ships when popular media the show Vikings on History Channel, they ran these basically fast moving low draft vehicles or vehicles, ships that were able to go across the ocean but also go through very shallow waters. So it's possible they could have come around the tip of Florida and up into the Mississippi and then follow the Arkansas and up into the Potoe River, which is a branch of the Arkansas River. I'm not saying that's really that likely, but it certainly is possible.
Speaker 1:
The runes actually were translated by Dr Richard Nielsen, who was from the University of Denmark. It says Valley Owned by Glom, which could be a land claim or a marker of property. There is the examples of the writing, all very similar from the different ones, evidence what the researchers from this particular site thinks is that people came here much sooner than Christopher Columbus did. The runestone itself is behind me. Here it is. It's in glass so it cannot be touched or messed with. That's hard to see the writing there, but there's the writing at about the level that a man will be working. The runes themselves are pretty uniform, standing about 6 to 8 inches tall, and it says Valley according to Glom.
Speaker 1:
Pretty fascinating place Over here. Definitely come check it out. The waterfall on the side above you can see the little pool it's draining into. Pretty cool The waterfall from above. The rune stone house is over there. If you look over here you can see the water flowing further uphill. Really nice, probably later in the season not flowing like this or at all because it's going to get too dry.
Speaker 1:
Used to be a state park, they used only so. They've converted a lot of these since it became city property. They converted a lot of this through hip camp to be campsites So they moved the picnic table off of this pad over to here. Got a fire ring. Somebody built a fire ring right there. Lantern pole. There's no water up here. There is no electricity up here, so you can bring a jackery, bring your own water. It'll be good to go, very comfortable last night, good tent with a big, thick air mattress. The only problem with this site not really a problem. The only issue is you got to go up this long walk to come up here. It's pretty much uphill about 50 yards or so from the road. There's only parking for one vehicle but you can squeeze in two. We did that and not really big issue. But nice night here It's more of a weekend. Weather was great, got cool last night and that was rather enjoyable. But anyway, that's available. I'll put a link in the description about hip camp If you want to check that out.
Speaker 1:
Hip camp, site 10. It's located at the top of the hill that mom and dad told us about when we were growing up. They walked uphill both ways to go to school. Here it is. That's the only probably shortcoming with this particular site is you do have to walk up and down to get back and forth to the site, but it's not that far. It's only about 50 meters, 50 yards up and I'll do that.
Speaker 1:
What are my final thoughts for this place? It was a nice little park. It's a city park now, not a state park. When it was a state park there was no overnight use, it was a day use only. We've converted a lot of these sites here into campsites, some of them better than others. The one I got to stay at, as you saw, was up a hill, but it's very secluded, remote, very neat place. I'm definitely impressed overall with this little park. It's a little park but it's definitely got some interesting things you don't see every day. Certainly, if you're in this area, come check it out. Make sure to like subscribe to all those other things. I'll see you out there on the trail.