Spirit Pond runestones

The stones, currently housed at the Maine State Museum, are widely dismissed as a hoax or a fraud.

Paul H. Chapman proposes that the map depicts the landscape visible from the 1,075 feet (328 m) high White Mountain, the highest point in the vicinity of Spirit Pond,[3] or the northern tip of Newfoundland.

The first to study the stones scientifically was Harvard University professor Einar Haugen.

Suzanne Carlson of NEARA, a group of enthusiasts who believe there was a widespread Viking presence in North America, suggests a mid 14th century date for the inscriptions, although it is unclear how Carlson arrived at this date.

[5][6] Similarly, amateur rune-enthusiast Richard Nielsen claims a precise date of 1401.