January 2, 2026 by Gilgemesh

The Vinland Map: Hidden Secrets – Part II

B.L. Freeborn © December 2025

This is a continuation of the previous post. If you have not read it, you may want to at this link.

Vinland Map. Photo by Yale Univversity.

The secrets hidden in the Vinland Map (image) are many. Hopefully you have had time to discover Oystein’s signature. Just in case you have not, it is shown at the end of this post.

Now you should be able to surmise two things. Some things on this map are shown with incredible accuracy and other things are laughable. Having found OM you know why.

What is superbly depicted on this strange map? Obviously, the depiction of Greenland is near perfect. How about the entire eastern seaboard from New Foundland to Cuba? How about the depiction of the Mississippi River? Then there is the depiction of the St. Lawrence Seaway. There is even a lovely picture of Niagara Falls in the 12th century before Goat Island was separated from the shore. OM or more properly, King Oystein Magnusson, included his beloved lake in Scotland where he was born. He also hinted at the location of his son’s grave and the monument he placed on it. This is the Rök rune stone in Sweden. There is also a rudimentary and awful depiction of Hudson Bay in a tiny Vinland in the upper left corner.

East coast shown on Vinland Map.

Mississippi River shown on Vinland Map

St. Lawrence Seaway noted in Vinland Map

Loch of Skene, Scotland shown on Vinland Map

Niagara Falls shown on Vinland Map before Goat Island

Hudson Bay in a tiny Vinland.

Rok rune stone. Son’s grave in Sweden.

It is almost as if it was designed so that when King Sigurd’s spies got their hands on it, Sigurd would be gravely disappointed. The only thing to be plundered was a large island of ice. He would not be able to see an entire continent was up for grabs and all the murdering he could do. That would wait until Columbus.

The nay sayers will not be deterred though. To them this map is still a fake. There must be more here or they will have their way and what a tragic loss that would be. There is more. As said before, it is a virtual treasure map.

Here is the next task. Find the extra fold line. Now one must ask why would someone make a beautiful and perfect copy of a map to pass off as an antiquity and make oodles of money but ruin it by folding it where there was no obvious reason or need?!?

Stranger still they had the foresight to fold it in the right place to see… Yes. What else is there to see? Where is this line?

Find the line first. It is just to the left of the fold/damage line running through the first letters of ‘Apusia’ and ‘Maori.’ The first is supposed to refer to Prussia and the second was never fixed to a location. One should be able to see immediately that an anagram begins: ‘A map …usia ori.’ If one looks at this long enough, with the hundreds of other anagrams to be found, one realizes it says ‘A map (of) O. Use IA (for) RI.’ The IA refers to the last letters of the words Apusia and Maori and RI to the place to be depicted.

Fold line on map through Apusia and Maori.

There are other anagrams to be found in these few letters but they do not produce like some of the other legends. In the letters of Greenland, spelled as Gronelada, there are more than thirty in basic Anglo-Saxon words. That is another point to note. We may hazard to guess that Oystein used basic English because he was sure Sigurd and friends would not be able to read it.

So, the fold line that appears through the two words is misplaced by a quarter inch. When the actual map is assembled this does not seem to make that big of a difference.

To be continued! Next post in about a week.

Last Post – Next Post

The Vinland Map maker’s signature. The map and it’s mirror image form the letters O and M.

Similar articles by same author:

*Easter Tables

** For numeric background see:

**Freeborn, B.L., Validating North American Runic Inscriptions, noahsage.com, November 2022. PDF only.

Freeborn, B.L., The Vinland Map Ciphers, noahsage.com, December 2025. Book only see post.

Freeborn, B.L., The Vinland Map Ciphers Addendum, noahsage.com, December 2025. PDF only.

Freeborn, B.L., Ancient Riddles to Test Our Wits: The Secret Chamber, noahsage.com, January 2016. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., Another Riddle in Stone from Canada, noahsage.com, August 2025. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., Deciphering the Spirit Pond, Nomans Land and Narragansett Runic Inscriptions, noahsage.com, November 2022. Amulet post. Map stone post. PDF only.

Freeborn, B.L., Et in Arcadia Ego – OUOSVAVV DM – Deciphered, noahsage.com, December 2022. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., Kensington Rune Stone: A New Translation, noahsage.com, February 2023. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., Rök runestone of Sweden, noahsage.com, April 2023. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., Runic Riddles: Time Capsules, noahsage.com, December 2022. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L. The Long Debated Bourne Stone, noahsage.com, January 2023. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., The Nomans Land – Leif Eriksson Inscription, noahsage.com, December 2022. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., The Narragansett Inscription: A Translation with its Date of Dedication, Author and Inscriber, noahsage.com, October 2022. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., The Newport Tower: Finding the Date of Dedication, its Designer and Builder, noahsage.com, October 2022. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., The Wawa Stone and Its Viking Ship, noahsage.com, August 2025. Post here.

Freeborn, B.L., Rok Rune Stone and its ciphers, noahsage.com, November 2024. Post here.

December 26, 2025 by Gilgemesh

The Vinland Map: A Cipher – Part I

B.L. Freeborn © December 2025

Vinland Map. Photo by Yale University.

The Vinland Map is probably one of the most important documents from the 12th century ever to have been written. Since the nay-sayers have once again had their way, the only remaining copy has been stowed away to be forgotten.

Raymond Clemens, a curator at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library has declared it a fake based on ink studies. You can read all the negativity elsewhere.

But perhaps Mr. Clemens can explain why it is so very boldly signed?

Perhaps he noticed it is a lengthy and vastly complicated narrative written in anagrams?

After having studied the anagrams for over a year, this author saw something, something very important, something deliciously important. Care to find out? Of course you do. You are not going to want to miss this one. It is so full of gems, one could say it is a treasure map!

Fortunately, there are copies to be had. Here is a link to an enhanced photo of the one and only perfect copy still in existence. Got that clue. The Vinland Map, the one Clemens would toss is a perfect copy. So, when you view said map remember you are going to need three perfect copies. And you will need three perfect copies in – mirror image – to see what is actually there. (Print with the thinnest paper you have.) OK. Perhaps you don’t need all six copies to start but you certainly need one of each unless you want to go blind looking at it against a mirror.

First task – find the author’s signature. Here is a clue:

There are one hundred random capitals in the legends. There are only two repeated legends: Legend #59: mare Indicum and Legend #60: Mare Occeanum.
These have capitals: I OM.

You are correct to ask who is OM. If one studies the largest legend, in the upper left corner which is written in Latin, one will find it talks about Vinland, hence the map’s name. This English translation is from ‘The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation’ (VMTR); Yale University Press, 1965, pg. 140.

1 ‘By God’s will, after a long voyage from the island of Greenland to the south toward
2 the farthest remaining parts of the western ocean sea, sailing
3 to the south amid ice, the companions Bjarni and Leif Eiriksson discovered a new land, extremely fertile
4 and even having vines, which island they named Vinland. Henricus,
5 legate of the Apostolic See and bishop of Greenland and the neighboring regions,
6 arrived in this truly vast and very rich land, in the last year of our most blessed father Pascal in the name of God the
7 Almighty. He remained a long time summer and winter and later returned toward Greenland
8 northeastward and then in the most humble obedience to the will of his superiors
9 proceeded…’

R.A. Skelton, Thomas E. Marston and George O. Painter were the first to study the map in 1957. When they published VMTR in 1965, they believed in its authenticity. They thought Bishop Henricus was during the time of King Sigurd the Crusader of Norway (circa 1118). Skelton and co-authors made a small error. This Sigurd co-ruled with his older brother King Oystein Magnusson. This King died coincidently the same year as Henricus in 1123. The throng in attendance at his funeral was unbelievably large. He was an exceptional man and very well loved. But read that closing line of the legend again. “ …then in the most humble obedience to the will of his superiors proceeded…” Who was his superior? Is he referring to the Pope, God or Sigurd?

Here’s the thing about these two brothers. There was no love. Sigurd’s weapon of choice was the sword and Oystein’s was the pen. As a boy Sigurd traveled with his father, King Magnus Barefoot and was made King of the Isles at age nine. He became King of Norway with his two brothers in 1103. The youngest brother died in 1115 leaving the two elder to co-rule. As an adult, Sigurd traveled as a crusader. We know today what that entailed.

Oystein also wanted to travel. But because of the Bans against the Old Gods he could not freely travel to his desired destination. In order to travel there he fabricated a persona named Henricus. Then he used his kingly pen and powers to declare Henricus a Bishop and sent him as the legend above says to Vinland.

Where then did Sigurd think the King was during this period of time? Evidently, if the anagrams say what they seem to say, he was touring the British Isles. He just needed a few friends to lie about his whereabouts while he was gone. He was so beloved by everyone, he was welcome everywhere, except perhaps by King Henry of England. Hence, the moniker: Henri – cus. Yeah, Henry started out loving Oystein but then maybe not so much.

So, before this story continues, find the map makers signature.