Indians Capture 7 Viking Women in AD 1010 Battle in Washington

Norse Mysteries WashingtonShe said the inscription was filled with a thrilling
Fight Between Vikings and Indians 1010 ADdescription of action.
"Found Viking Grave Near City!" headlined the July 5,The Record tells how the men put the seven
1926 issue of the Spokane Daily Chronicle. It showedwomen and baby on top of the boulder. The men
a Whale shaped boulder 50 feet long and 15 feetthen stood about the base fighting the Indians. They
high.were greatly outnumbered.
On it was a Norse Runic Inscription. ProfessorTwelve of the Norsemen were killed. The Indians
Opsjohn translated it and dated it 1010 AD. It told ofcaptured the women and left. The survivors dug a
a fight between a band of Vikings (24 men and 7grave near the rock and buried the dead.
women) and Indians. Half of the men and onePictured rocks with runes are scattered across the
women were killed and buried at the smaller end ofAmerican continent. They prove beyond a doubt,
the boulder.that the Norse established colonies 500 years before
The other Vikings who escaped the battle carvedColumbus.
the runes before swimming the Columbia River toPhilip Howell, sage of the Clallam tribe states that his
get out of the territory.grandmother told him of big blond men who came
There are also carved pictures of the Norse Goddessmany generations ago. They wandered inland and
Freya with gold horns on her helm. The same asthat the rock near Spokane was regarded by the
those found in Gotland Denmark and are now in theIndians as the burial place of the Invaders who were
Northern Royal Museum of Denmark.killed in their battle with the Indians.
Margarette Amundson Reynolds, a runic scholar, saidHowell said that blonds among the Clallams were
the Viking Grave was the most remarkable discoveryproof of the six Norse women were captured by the
ever uncovered on the North American continent.Indians, and integrated into the tribe.