Tag Archives: Maine rune stones

by

The Spirit Pond Rune Stones: Deciphering the Amulet and Short Inscription

B. L. Freeborn © November 2022

This an excerpt from: Deciphering the Spirit Pond, Nomans Land and Narragansett Runic Inscriptions –  See list below for PDF version.

Amulet and  Short SP-2

Introduction

In the paper entitled “Validating North American Runic Inscriptions” (see PDF list below) , by this author, the Spirit Pond Rune stones were discussed briefly. It became apparent that there was too much information on the Spirit Pond stones to include there. The previous post discussed the Map Stone, SP-1, and the long Inscription Stone, SP-3 is discussed in the next post. The amulet and short SP-2 are discussed below.  The Leif Erikson (Post) inscription from Nomans Land and the Narragansett (Post) were discussed previously. These six represent the best runic inscriptions found on the east coast of North America.

Apologies are given in advance. This is end to end numbers which makes for poor reading. Do not let the number work deter one from discovering what lays within the inscriptions. The essence can be grasped regardless of the level of interest in the math.

Reading the first paper (PDF listed below) is essential to understanding the importance of the numeric information that is given here and followed by ✓ marks. There are four stones from Spirit Pond, Maine. The Amulet and Short Inscription Stone are studied here.

Back to Top

Spirit Pond Amulet. Image Lenik, 2009.

Amulet

The amulet stone which is designed to be worn is part of the Spirit Pond Stone collection. On the front side is the number 1010 which is presumably the year. The question remains whether it is a commemorative year or the year it was originally devised. Either way the 10’s are composed of a line and a circle which repeats the idea of the Ankh. Above the date are three runic letters, VIN, assumed to represent Vinland. There are then 5 runic figures on this side. The 6th is a hatched symbol for 5 so 56.5 repeats.✓

The runes in the center stand for V I N with numbers 2, 9 and 8. Their sum as 19 is of no interest. But if one sees it as a 2 ̸ 8 then 28 is found.✓ (See Rune chart at end for number equivalents.)

The 10 and 10 sum to 20 so the sum of the 5, 19 and 20 is 44 which interestingly is the latitude of Spirit Pond.

Then by summing 5 and 2, a 7 can be found which provides 7 9 and 20 or 7920.✓

Easy enough, but this leaves no apparent use for the 8 except that 89 x 89 is 7921?!✓ And a square of sides 5.65 has a diagonal of 8.✓

Lastly, here there are 3 letter runes and 2 numbers or 32.✓

The Cross below the circle (string hole) may repeat the idea of the Ankh again. The cross suggests this person had converted to Christianity or wanted to appear Christian despite the Pagan message on the other side.

Back to Top

Photo Scott Wolter ©2009. Used with permission.

The Short SP-2

This is the short inscription stone from Spirit Pond known as SP-2. Its inscription is brief having 8 runes on the top line and 4 on the second line with 3 on the left and 1 on the right. One rune on each line is a bindrune (two or more runes joined together) positioned directly over each other.

There are 3 words on 2 lines for 32.✓ The sum of the top line is 74. The sum of the second line is 51.✓ The total sum is 125. The first number is 8 and the second bindrune is 9. Recall 89 x 89 = 7921.✓ The sum from 15 to the last 6 is 40.✓ The first number is 8 and the last number on either line is 6 suggesting 86.✓ The sum on the left bottom is 45. The sum between the 6’s is 45. Add a 6 from either side and obtain 51 again.✓ The R and K adjoining each other provide 56.✓

The : is directly under 15 and it is followed by 4 and 15. Year 1002 is on line 15 of the Easter Table.  **It has GN 15 and DL 4. This date follows the discovery of Vinland by Leif Erikson by a year, so it is possible. Also, one can see in 6 11 15 4 15 6 series that 19 appears twice and is proceeded by 17 and followed by 6. This refers to 1118 on the Easter Table. The commemoration date on the others was 1010.

This can then be dated to either year. It is the reader’s choice. Once the date is plainly stated then one can see it in the text ‘10 :’ or 10 0 2! The year of Leif’s discovery! The year 1116/1117 is the usual date of Henricus in Vinland.

As far as what it says…it reads like it is straight Baalist – strange but true. The second line is an anagram for KILSA which was seen on the other Spirit Pond stones. Taking it bit by bit find:

N over S. North went south.

(ÆRIL) ⇒RÆL I ⇒ roll eye.

KS over A. ⇒ SAK ⇒ sack or sagged.

The L over two dots. ⇒ two dots suggests a missing letter U so this becomes LU or low.

Then it is ÆL over K ⇒ cull. The last two in reverse KL ⇒ kill.

North went south as the eye rolled and sagged. It is low. It culled and killed.

This sounds like he is describing the apocalypse or perhaps some element of Ragnarök. His devotion to Baal seems complete but what of his name?

It might be helpful to see the Æ as O. Now notice there are two anagrams for ‘look’ spelled LÆK or LOK. So we should do as directed and look. Mongé points out this implies a shift cipher. A shift cipher implies instead of ‘a’ use ‘b,’ instead of ‘b’ use ‘c,’ etc. or in reverse. If a shift cipher is applied (shift each letter to the preceding) find:

N (Æ+R)KS L Æ L K ⇒ H (Th Æ) R A B Th B R

S (I+L) A : K ⇒             A ( N B) I : R

which is not productive. But if you make a mistake and substitute M for B (the following rune instead of preceding) then…

H (Th Æ) R A M Th M R

A ( N M) I : R

then one can read: hath name thar (there) I am thr (there)? This suggests it is a forward/reverse cipher. After some struggle one finds that only the bindrunes are used.

Lothær inscribed this stone in honor of Lief, 1102, and Henricus,1118.

Back to Top

This series continues with the long Inscription Stone.

**(Easter Table dating and explanations can be found in any of Landsverk’s books referenced below.)

Previous Post          Next Post

Younger Futhark Runic Alphabet

From Wikipedia

Similar Articles by the Same Author in PDF and Post:

*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.

References

Gordon, Cyrus, Riddles in History, Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, 1974.

Landsverk, O.G., Runic Records of the Norsemen in America, Erik J. Friis, Publisher, Rushford, MN, 1974.

Landsverk, O.G., Ancient Norse Messages, Norseman Press, Glendale, California, 1969.

Lenik, Edward J., Making Pictures in Stone: American Indian Rock Art of the Northeast, 2009.

Mongé, Alf & O.G. Landsverk, Norse Medieval Cryptography in Runic Carvings, Norseman Press, Glendale, California, 1967.

Syversen, Earl, Norse Runic Inscriptions: with their Long-forgotten Cryptography, The Vine Hill Press, Sebastopol, California, 1979.

Derogatory article by Aslak Liestol of Alf Mongé’s work: http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/41/v41i01p034-042.pdf  and….

…Landsverk responded to these comments in Ancient Norse Messages pg. 126-129; and often in Runic Records of the Norsemen in America.

Back to Top

by

Deciphering the Spirit Pond Rune Stones: Map Stone, SP-1

B. L. Freeborn © November 2022, Updated Dec. 2025

Map Stone – Front. Photo Scott Wolter ©2009. Used with permission.

Map stone – obverse. Photo Scott Wolter ©2009. Used with permission.

The SP-1, Map stone

This an excerpt from: Deciphering the Spirit Pond, Nomans Land and Narragansett Runic Inscriptions –  See PDF list below.

In the paper entitled “Validating North American Runic Inscriptions” (PDF below) , by this author, the Spirit Pond Rune stones were discussed briefly. Reading this first is essential to understanding the importance of the numeric information that is given here and followed by ✓ marks. SP-1, the Map Stone, is discussed first. Its front has a map of Hoop, Maine and the reverse has ten pictograms.

Back to Top

Map Stone Obverse. Runes and pictograms traced in black.

SP-1, Map Stone, Back

The stone has a significant shape which can be seen from this side. It is shaped like an axe. The left upper corner is shaped like a crater. Both of these ideas are important to the story of Baal.

The back of the stone has eight✓ runes centered at the top between two pictures which immediately suggests 28.✓ There are two pictures on the top line and eight below in the group or 28.✓ The symbol Wolter suggested (X with hook) meant 40 degrees latitude is present next to a hatch mark symbol. The 40 implies 56 because a square of sides 40 has a diagonal of 56.56.✓ To its right the hatches can be counted two ways evidently. As he did and find 44 which is the latitude of Spirit Pond; and as others do, find 48 which is the latitude of Newfoundland Island.

The runes at the top center are transcribed as M I L T I A K I and correspondingly the numbers in Futhark are: 14 9 15 12 9 10 6 9.

The sum is a sad and useless 84. However, the sum from 14 to 10 is 69 which is repeated by the last two numbers 6 and 9. This is essentially the longitude of Spirit Pond. The correct modern coordinates are 43.75 ̊ N, 69.81 ̊ W with respect to the Greenwich Meridian which they were apparently using. The location of Newfoundland is 48 ̊ N, 56.5 ̊ W.✓ Imagine that.

The translation of the runes on SP-1 reverse has certainly not satisfied anyone. It appears it can be broken up as follows: MIL TI (A) KI. This is in simple Old English…mill tie (56) key. From this Mongé derived the message: LIT A MIK or ‘seen by me’. Or perhaps it is actually stating who wrote and inscribed (let) this stone. Read in both directions: ⇒ Me let…I Aki…… I tell ⇐. Altogether it says:

Mill tie A key seen by me. I Aki designed and carved.

Back to Top

Spirit Pond Map Stone, SP-1, front, with runes and images traced in black.

SP-1, Map Stone, Front

SP-1 or the map stone, front is a sheer pleasure to study. It transliterates easily and the typical translation is shown below.

The Numbers and Dates:

The sum of HOOB(P) is 28.✓ The sum of TKA is 28.✓ The sum of TUA is 24.

Very similar to the Kensington and the Kingigtorssuaq Inscription, the first letter, H, has value 7 and there is a 2 and 9 on the following line or 792.✓ The next numbers (8,15,10, 8,2) sum to 43.✓ The last two are 8 and 2 or 28 in reverse.✓ On the left there are 3 word groups on 2 lines or 32.✓ On the right there are 4 word groups on 3 lines or 43.✓

(This is an excerpt so there is information on dating missing. Briefly, inscriptions can be dated using the Easter Tables which provides a Rati/Line #, Golden Number (GN) and Day Letter (DL) for each year. This is explained in any of Landsverk / Mongé’s books.)

Mongé dates this to 6 October 1123 using the phrase (I+L) A K . (He used L= 14.) He presumes it is an anagram for SIKLA (sailed). Anagrams of SIKLA are also used on SP-2 and SP-3. He dated all the inscriptions then to that date. The associated numbers are (23)10 6. Note the S or 11 is missing. There is a hint in the two lines above it which use 11 runes. If Mongé is correct and L= 14 then the sum is 39 but the 11 (S) is missing. Take the hint and subtract an 11 from 39 and find 28.✓ He uses the rune count of 3 and 7 on line one to prove the GN and DL. Furthermore, the riddle master no doubt assumed the solver would find the date 6 October in the remaining numbers of (I+L)AK. The DN table (See Easter Tables) indicates this is 79 days to the end of the year. 79 and 23 from the joined runes creates 7923 and this is a very clever 792✓ which makes it an unlikely date.

If L = 15 then the sum of (I+L)AK is 40.✓ By similar reasoning the year becomes 1124. The GN for year 1124 is 4. The DL is 6. Both 4 and 6 repeat in the text. This makes 1124 a plausible year as well. As a date, it is likely the year when Henricus sailed to ‘Kilsa’; left the settlement for other duties elsewhere; or, as implied by the Vinland map, he passed away.

The GN for the stated year 1011 is 5 and the DL is 7. The Rati is #15. Although there are two 7’s there are no 5’s making it unlikely this is the date of the inscription.

*All of the words in the right word group are either misspelled or anagrams which suggests there is something hidden here. This group is usually taken to mean two days travel by sea since there is an arrow. Two days to the north is Nova Scotia. Two days to the south is Narragansett Bay where lies another rune stone (once at the shoreline). It is as if there were other settlements along the coast.

A closer look at these runes is warranted. Note the riddle master gives a hint. They refer to time (day). It is likely then that this group is where the date is embedded.

The right side numbers:

Note the repeating 12’s and that 10,6 and 6,10 are in a group and sum to 16. The 10,6 repeats in the last word. The 2 and 10 sum to 12. The 19th line of the Easter Table begins with year 1112 and year 1117 has GN 16 and DL 1,2 because of Leap Year. Checking year 1006, the GN is 19, DL is 6 which is unsatisfactory. The likely year then is 1117 which is confirmed again below.

The first two runes of HOOP sum to 11 and the last two to 17 which seems to confirm the date as 1117. In the Long Inscription stone 1117 was the implied date of Henricus’ arrival. So then, this stone implies the Hoop settlement began in 1011 and the author wrote this one hundred years later in 1117 or so. Archeological dating suggests it was active in the 1400’s. (Wolter, pg. 80) The area is still known as Hoop.

Mill tie A key seen by me 1117.

I Aki designed and carved.

 

Back to Top

Previous Post          Next Post

Younger Futhark Runic Alphabet

From Wikipedia

Similar Articles by the Same Author in PDF and Post:

*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.

References

Gordon, Cyrus, Riddles in History, Crown Publishers, Inc. New York, 1974.

Landsverk, O.G., Runic Records of the Norsemen in America, Erik J. Friis, Publisher, Rushford, MN, 1974.

Landsverk, O.G., Ancient Norse Messages, Norseman Press, Glendale, California, 1969.

Mongé, Alf & O.G. Landsverk, Norse Medieval Cryptography in Runic Carvings, Norseman Press, Glendale, California, 1967.

Syversen, Earl, Norse Runic Inscriptions: with their Long-forgotten Cryptography, The Vine Hill Press, Sebastopol, California, 1979.

Wolter, Scott F, The Hooked X: Key to the Secret History of North America, North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc., St. Cloud, Minnesota 2009.

Derogatory article by Aslak Liestol of Alf Mongé’s work: http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/41/v41i01p034-042.pdf  and…. Landsverk responded to these comments in Ancient Norse Messages pg. 126-129; and often in Runic Records of the Norsemen in America.

Back to Top