Paranormal Studies 313: Who Discovered America?

“Good morning, class,” Professor Grimes said brightly. “I trust you’re enjoying the new heating-and-air unit that our tireless maintenance crew just installed.”

“Yeah, it is kind of nice,” Dan agreed. “Things are back to the way they should be.”

“Indeed they are! Thanks to the wonders of modern science, you can now discuss the weather while being largely immune to it. You can now talk about the oppressive heat and humidity while sitting in 70-degree rooms and sipping cold beverages.”

“Hey now, professor! That’s not fair. I mean, we still have to go outside sometimes. My next class is in the music building. It’s, like, a three minute walk.”

The professor shook his head. “My dear boy, I feel sorry for you. To think that you will have to spend three agonizing minutes outside, on a beautiful sunny day when the temperature is in the low 80s and there is a cool wind blowing! Your suffering clearly knows no bounds. I will have to speak with the Dean and see if we can get underground tunnels built on campus so that you are never forced to see the sun.”

“That would be totally awesome,” Dan said enthusiastically.

Professor Grimes sighed. “Would it? Hmmm. If that’s the case, then I sincerely hope that the robot uprising will happen sooner rather than later. Mankind is rapidly becoming unable to do much more than sit on couches and watch television. If robots don’t take over the world soon I don’t know how civilization will survive.”

“Do you really think that robots are going to take over the country?”

“They’d better,” the professor replied. “Our future depends on it. If they don’t then we’re in a lot of trouble. It’s practically impossible to find someone who knows how to repair broken plumbing. I was hoping that robots would rise up and step into the gap. At any rate, that is a topic for another time. Today we are here to discuss who discovered America.”

“Was it robots?” Lora asked.

“No, young lady, it was not. We can safely rule out robots. Are there any other guesses?”

Ashley spoke up. “It was the Indians. Right?”

The professor nodded. “I think it is safe to say that the ancestors of the Native Americans did discover North America. As far as I know their presence on this continent is undisputed. The question is, who else discovered America?”

“I think it was Christopher Columbus,” Ashley replied. “Columbus said the deep blue sea in fourteen hundred and ninety three.”

“I’m afraid not. Columbus actually discovered America in 1492. According to the historical record, land was first spotted on October 12, 1492, around two in the morning. Technically the first person to spot land was not Columbus himself but Rodrigo de Triana. Now, Columbus did claim that he saw land earlier and just didn’t tell anybody; you can make of that what you will. But the year was definitely 1492, not 1493.”

Ashley frowned. “But that doesn’t rhyme!”

“That is because you are using the wrong rhyme. Columbus said the ocean blue in fourteen hundred and ninety two.”

“Oh,” Ashley replied. “I guess that works too.”

The professor sighed. “As I was saying, it is generally accepted that the Native Americans were the first to discover what is now considered North America. They took up residence at some unknown point in the past and then populated the continent. Much later, in 1492, a Genoan named Columbus–”

“A what?” Ashley asked. “I thought he was from Spain.”

“No, I’m afraid not. Spain financed the voyage, but Columbus was actually from the Republic of Genoa. As I was saying, he is credited for discovering North America but–”

Max spoke up. “Wait a minute! Professor, I think you have your classes mixed up. Isn’t this supposed to be Paranormal Studies? What on earth does this have to do with the paranormal? I mean, everyone agrees that America was discovered, right?”

“Oh yes, they certainly do! That much is not in dispute. The question is, who else discovered America? It’s obvious that the ancestors of the Native Americans made it here, and it’s also well-established that Christopher Columbus made it here. But who else managed to set foot on this continent between those two discoveries?”

“Weren’t there some Vikings?” Ashley asked. “I seem to remember something about Vikings.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with paranormal studies,” Max commented.

The professor looked at him curiously. “So you think it is perfectly normal to state that the Romans discovered America a thousand years before Columbus did?”

“The Romans? No way! They could barely sail across the Mediterranean. There’s no chance they could have survived crossing the Atlantic!”

“I didn’t say they discovered it on purpose. As it turns out, there is actually credible evidence that quite a few different nations and people groups discovered America long before Columbus did. That is what we are going to discuss today.”

“Do we have to?” Dan asked.

“Yes, we have to. Now, the first group that may have discovered America is the ancient Phoenicians. They were an ancient seafaring nation that lived in what was once Canaan, but is now modern-day Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. They existed from approximately 1200 BC to around 300 BC. Unfortunately, the Phoenicians were a very secretive society, especially when it came to their trading outposts and their sources of raw material. They went to great lengths to hide their discoveries and routes from their competitors. Because of this we will likely never know how extensive their travels really were.”

Max spoke up. “If that’s the case then how do you know that they discovered America?”

“Because we have found some evidence, scant though it may be. It is not as conclusive as I would like, but history rarely gives us everything that we want. The most compelling evidence is a series of stone ruins in New Hampshire that date back to the time when the Phoenician civilization existed. The ruins were clearly not built by the Native Americans – not only is the architectural style very different, but the tribes that existed in that area did not build cities out of giant, multi-tonne blocks of stone. It appears that some outsiders came to the area, built a city, and then abandoned it. Given that the Phoenicians were the seafaring people of that era, it’s possible that they were responsible. If they did build a city in New Hampshire then that would mean they must have discovered America.”

“But couldn’t someone else have built it?” Max asked. “Maybe an extinct race of Indians?”

Professor Grimes paused a moment before replying. “That is always possible, of course, but it seems unlikely. If the Native Americans had mastered building cities out of stone then we would expect to find two things: a series of more primitive attempts that finally culminated at some technological peak, and a series of other stone cities where that technique was applied. Having just one stone city that popped into existence all by itself is quite suspicious.

“But we have more evidence than that. Carthaginian coins that date back to that same era were found on an island in the mid-Atlantic. This is noteworthy because they show that someone from that time period made it quite close to the North American continent. It is not unreasonable to think that if they managed to get that far then perhaps they made it a little further. And which civilization of that era was famous for their maritime expertise? The Phoenicians. On top of that, some inscriptions have been found on rocks in Pennsylvania that may be Phoenician, and a stone in Massachusetts bears a carving of a ship that resembles the ones used by the Phoenicians. There are other hints, but those are the main ones.”

“Couldn’t there be some other explanation?” Max asked. “What if the inscriptions aren’t Phoenician? What if the ship was just made-up, or a forgery or something? It just seems kind of tenuous at best.”

The professor nodded. “As I said, the evidence is not as strong as I would like. Still, I think one can make a good case for it. Given the Phoenicians’ level of sailing expertise it’s certainly not impossible. At any rate, that brings us to the next group: the Romans. The evidence that the Romans were once here is actually fairly good. Not only have archaeologists found Roman coins on this continent, but in the 1940s a Roman head was found in Calixahuac, Mexico.”

Ashley spoke up. “You mean, like, a skull?”

“Goodness, no! I mean the head of a statue. It was authenticated as genuine, it dated back to the second century AD, and it was quite Roman. This brings up a serious question: just how is it that, two thousand years ago, the head of a Roman statue traveled from the Roman Empire to Mexico? Obviously, someone must have brought it there. Since the Phoenicians were no longer around the most likely culprit is the Romans themselves. Earlier Max made fun of their seafaring technology, but it was actually fairly good. They had large ships that were well-built, and they spent a great deal of time traveling around the Mediterranean. They were competent sailors and, weather permitting, were able to get wherever they wanted to go. It is not impossible to imagine that one or more of their ships might have made it to North American – especially if they were following up on rumors that the Phoenicians had discovered a new continent. But there is more. Here is what researcher Charles Boland said:”

Bronze cups in the Naples Museum are dated at 2000 years old or more. They were found in Pompeii. A nearly identical bronze cup in the Smithsonian carries a question mark. It was found in American.

A nail header found in an old Roman site at Saalfeld Fort in Germany is dated at A.D. 200. It was found in Europe. A nearly identical nail header in the Smithsonian carries a question mark. It was found in America.

Threaded nuts found near Neuwied, Germany, in an ancient Roman site, are dated at A.D. 200. They were found in Europe. Nearly identical threaded nuts in the Smithsonian carry a question mark. They were found in America.

Lora spoke up. “What do you mean, ‘carry a question mark’?”

“It means that people are upset with the artifact,” the professor explained. “No one wants to admit that the Romans discovered America. If these artifacts were found in Europe then there would be no questions at all. However, these artifacts upset archaeologists because they were discovered in America and they are clearly authentic. Logically, this leads one to believe that the Romans knew about this continent and visited it. Sadly, modern science prefers to sweep the evidence under the rug so that they can keep clinging to their tattered theories. They would rather get rid of the evidence than get rid of their theory.”

“So you really expect us to believe that the Romans were here?” Max asked.

“I think that there is quite a bit of evidence to support that theory. Really, though, why would we be surprised? Their ships were certainly capable of reaching this continent. The Romans were not dummies; they were gifted engineers and accomplished numerous impressive feats of construction and logistics. Is it really so hard to believe that, just perhaps, the major world power of the time found a way to cross the Atlantic Ocean?”

“Then why didn’t they set up colonies?”

“We went to the Moon, and we didn’t set up a colony,” the professor pointed out. “Even though we had the technology to do so, there were all sorts of political and economic reasons that have kept us from it. Plus, keep in mind that nearly all of the early known colonies in North America were wiped out by the Native Americans. It took centuries for Europeans to learn how to live in peace with the natives and not get massacred. It may be that the Romans did establish a colony and it was simply wiped out by the locals.”

Ashley spoke up. “But what about the Vikings? I thought they were involved somehow.”

“We will get to that. Let’s take one civilization at a time. The point is that it’s quite possible that the Phoenicians discovered America sometime around 500 BC, and that the Romans discovered America sometime around 200 AD. I have given you some of the evidence for it; there is more, but I am pressed for time. If you are interested in the rest then be sure to read the corresponding chapters in your textbook. The bog iron evidence is particularly fascinating.

“The next civilization that discovered America is the Chinese, who came sometime around 500 AD – approximately three centuries after the Romans. Whereas the Romans went to Mexico, the Chinese visited the West Coast – although it is possible that they traveled all the way down the coast and eventually discovered Mexico as well. Fortunately, we have a written account of their voyage. The person who made the long voyage from China was a Buddhist monk named Hoei-Shin, and according to historical records he made his trip in 499 AD. He apparently went to North America in order to spread Buddhism and enlightenment.”

“Kind of like Quetzalcoatl,” Ashley commented.

“Exactly. Only whereas Quetzalcoatl was a Catholic missionary, this one was a Buddhist. He wrote a fascinating account that describes his voyage and what he found; you can find excerpts from it in your textbook, if you are interested.”

Max spoke up. “Couldn’t the Chinese have just made up the whole thing? I mean, it’s just a document. Anyone can sit down and put words on a piece of paper. How do we know that he actually made the trip?”

“Because we’ve found artifacts,” the professor explained. “Namely, ancient Chinese anchors, found off the West Coast, and Chinese coins as well. The physical evidence agrees with the historical account that the Chinese were here, a whole millennia before Columbus. The details of his voyage are fascinating, but we have a lot more ground to cover so I won’t dwell on it.

“The next person who discovered America, as far as I can tell, was the mysterious man called Quetzalcoatl. However, as we have already spent an entire class period discussing him I see no need to repeat myself. I will move on.

“The next group that discovered America–”

“Was the Vikings!” Ashley exclaimed.

Professor Grimes shook his head. “I’m afraid not. As it turns out, a band of persecuted Irish monks beat them here by at least a couple centuries.”

“Irish monks?” Ashley asked, confused.

“Quite right! They came in the tenth century. Ironically, they were actually fleeing from the Vikings. As the Vikings raided Ireland, the monks fled from one island to the next. They were pushed from Ireland to Iceland, from Iceland to Greenland, and then from Greenland to North America.”

“Why were the Vikings chasing them?” Ashley asked.

“They actually weren’t. You see, these monks belonged to an old sect known as the Celi Dei. They believed in non-violence and lived a strictly monastic life. You might say that they were the Amish of their day – they lived very simple, rudimentary lives, and kept to themselves. When the Vikings came to Ireland they didn’t want to fight them, so as soon as they saw their ships on the horizon they got up and moved to Iceland. When the Vikings went to Iceland they still didn’t want to fight them, so they left for Greenland. The Vikings never even saw them. When the Vikings made it to Greenland the monks once again packed up and moved on to North America.

“Unlike pretty much every other group that tried to inhabit North America, the Celi Dei actually managed to live in peace with the Native Americans. The two groups got along just fine. The Celi Dei didn’t threaten anybody, didn’t cause any problems, kept to themselves, and actually helped the locals. No one saw them as a threat and they were allowed to live in peace. Life was great, until the Vikings came to North America. Then the Celi Dei decided they had had enough and were tired of moving. That’s when they attacked the Vikings and fought back, but that’s another story.”

“So Irish monks lived among the Indians five centuries before Columbus?” Max asked dubiously. “How can you possibly know that?”

“Well, fortunately, much of their story is part of recorded history. There are numerous accounts of the Celi Dei. We know that they originated in Ireland. We know that they fled to Iceland. We know that they fled to Greenland. We also know that they fled from Greenland. Once they left Greenland they dropped out of the historical narrative, but they did leave behind evidence. First of all, the Vikings actually saw them in North America. The Vikings wrote about them in their accounts, and some of them were actually captured by these white monks. Second, there are tales of entire tribes of ‘white Indians’. But most importantly, archaeologists have found the ruins of where they once lived.

“The story of Celi Dei is really a fascinating one. Unfortunately I am running out of time and still have much to discuss, so I won’t dwell on it. The whole saga is explored in detail in your textbook; you may want to consider reading it. But time forces me to move on. The final group that discovered America before Columbus is the Vikings.”

“I knew it!” Ashley exclaimed. “I just knew they were mixed up in this somehow.”

“The Vikings are indeed mixed up in it. In fact, there are numerous accounts of their expeditions to North America, which they called ‘Vinland’. There is the odd story of Ari Marson, who in 982 AD arrived in North America by mistake and was captured by Celi Dei. There is the story of Bjarni Herjulfsson, who in 986 AD traveled to North America in search of his father, and then returned home and kept it a secret for sixteen years. There is the famous account of Leif Ericsson, who in 1003 AD visited North America, called it Vinland, and built a home here. There is also Thorvald Ericsson, who visited in 1007 AD; Thorfinn Karlsefni, who came in 1010 AD and settled in what is now New York for three years; and Freydis, who in 1014 AD went to ‘Vinland’ and embarked on a killing spree.”

“A killing spree?” Ashley asked.

The professor nodded. “There was something deeply wrong with that woman. It is quite possible that she was clinically insane; at any rate, she certainly acted the part. She was the illegitimate daughter of Eric the Red, and apparently inherited his fiery temper. It appears that the whole reason she went to ‘Vinland’ was so she could lure the two brothers Helgi and Finnbogi there and, far away from the prying eyes of society, kill them. The brothers had nothing against her and had done her no harm, but she slaughtered them all the same, along with quite a few other people as well. I think she ended up killing around twenty people.”

“She killed her own brothers?” Ashley asked, horrified.

Professor Grimes shook her head. “I don’t think so. Helgi and Finnbogi were brothers, but they weren’t her brothers. She lured them to ‘Vinland’, murdered them, and went back home. Her actual half-brother Leif was not at all amused.”

“What did he do?” Ashley asked. “Did he, like, kill her or something?”

“Oh no. No, he couldn’t bring himself to do that. He just ostracized her. The whole community considered her to be a bad egg, so everyone refused to deal with her. She was avoided and left alone.”

Lora spoke up. “That doesn’t seem so bad.”

“Not to us, perhaps, but back then it was a serious matter. She couldn’t just go to the grocery store to buy food, or collect welfare checks from the government. You see, no one would deal with her. She had no money, no one would sell or give her food, and she was left alone in her house while it rotted around her. For her, being ostracized meant a slow death of starvation. It would have been a terrible way to die. It was absolutely a death sentence.”

“Let’s back up a little bit,” Max said. “How do you know that all these Vikings actually visited North America? Do you have any evidence beside their historical accounts?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact we do. But let’s not overlook the importance of those written accounts. Not only did the Vikings keep historical records, but those records have survived. They provide a terrific amount of detail regarding who went to ‘Vinland’ and when those trips were made. Specifically, we have The Flateyjarbok, which was written about 1390; Hauk’s Book, which was written in the early 1300s, and The Saga of Eric the Red, which was completed about a century later. All of these are ancient Viking manuscripts that recount stories of Viking expeditions to North America. It would be foolish of us to dismiss them. Since we are very nearly out of time I will not read the accounts to you, but they can be found in your textbook if you are interested in learning more.

“But we do have some physical evidence. When Leif Ericsson came to North America he built a house and stayed for a while. His house is long gone but its foundation still exists, and a Viking weapon was found there. In Massachusetts Viking rune stones have also been found – seven of them, actually, which have been translated. Archaeologists have also discovered–”

Ashley interrupted. “Wait a minute! What did the stones say?”

The professor glanced down at his notes. “Hmm. Let’s see. Well, some of them were grave markers. Some of them were marking stones. One of them said ‘Jesus amply provides for us here and in heaven’. Another one told the tale of a shipwreck. Interestingly, the account on the last one corresponds to a rune stone that was found in Norway; both of them tell the tale of a terrible shipwreck that happened in ‘Vinland’.”

“Do you have anything else?” Max asked.

“What more do you want? We have historical accounts, written by the Vikings themselves and dating centuries before Columbus’ expedition. We have been able to reconstruct their routes to North America, based on the information contained within the accounts, and we can pinpoint the exact places on the continent where they landed. The descriptions of the land, and what they saw, matches with reality, and Viking artifacts – including weapons and rune stones – have been found where the Vikings claim to have landed. Comparatively speaking, the Viking expeditions are remarkably well-documented.”

“Were they the last ones?” Ashley asked. “Before Columbus, I mean.”

Professor Grimes shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not. There is also Prince Madoc of Wales, who made a trip to North America in 1171. There is Paul Knutson, who came in 1355. There is Prince Henry Sinclair, who came in 1395. And there is Joao Vaz Cortereal, who came in 1472.”

“And Columbus,” Ashley added.

“Yes, and Columbus. He successfully discovered America – after the Phoenicians, after the Romans, after the Vikings, and after a long assortment of other explorers. The truth is that before Columbus came there had been a pretty constant stream of visitors to North America. Columbus simply made public what other groups already knew – that there was a land mass on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.”

“So why does he get all the credit?” Max asked.

The professor shrugged. “Why not? It’s a lot easier to say that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, rather than go into all the detail of who actually got here first. Make no mistake, there is a lot of detail. Entire books have been written on this subject. Normally I prefer to delve into all of the minutiae, but this time there was so much material that I was forced to simply skim the surface. I could have taught an entire class on each one of these early explorers.

“Think of it this way. It is far easier to say that the Wright brothers were the first to build a heavier-than-air vehicle, rather than go into the long history of people who got there before they did. It is easier to say that the Manhattan Project resulted in the first atomic bomb, rather than discuss all the ancient civilizations that also possessed that technology. Real history is untidy – full of loose ends, unanswered questions, and educated guesses. It is rarely as definitive as historians like to make it out to be.”

“Oh, come on,” Max said. “It’s not that bad.”

“Really?” Professor Grimes asked. “Consider this. Have you ever seen the illustration that’s used in scientific textbooks to show children what an atom looks like? Kids are told that the atom looks a lot like a solar system, with electrons orbiting the nucleus in neat little orbits, just like planets orbit the sun. The reality is not even remotely like that; what schools are teaching is a gross distortion of the truth. But schools still teach it because it’s nice and easy and simple. The fact that it is wrong is brushed neatly under the rug. Textbooks are full of things that are factually demonstrability wrong, but that doesn’t stop publishers from publishing them and teachers from teaching them. That goes double for history books.”

The professor sighed. “In your life you will often hear claims that somebody was the first person to climb a mountain, or achieve some feat, or make some discovery. Whenever you hear that, take a step back and be very, very skeptical. Are you absolutely sure that Bob was the first person to climb that mountain, ever, in all of history? Can you actually say that you know the entire life story of every single human being who has ever lived, and can say definitely that none of them ever climbed that mountain before him? Do you really have complete knowledge of all past civilizations and of everything that has ever been achieved by anyone? I very seriously doubt it. It may be – and I say maybe – that Bob is the first person in modern times to climb that mountain or make that discovery. But even there it’s impossible to be sure. How do you know that some unknown person didn’t get there first? Are we to assume that Bob was first simply because he’s getting all the press?”

Max shrugged. “Does it really matter? I mean, seriously. Who cares?”

“I think it matters a great deal. When we tell ourselves that we are the first, we are setting ourselves up on a pedestal. We proudly make the claim that we have gone farther than anyone else, that we are better than everyone else, and that we have succeeded where all others have failed. I think those claims are very dangerous to make, because they are almost certainly a lie. We are not better than those who have gone before us; in fact, I think it’s quite likely that we are not half as intelligent as those who lived in the distant past. It is entirely possible that what we are rushing toward at full speed is not the pinnacle of existence, but our own doom.”

The professor glanced up at the clock. “At any rate, we are out of time for today. Be sure to read chapters 24 through 45; they cover a great deal of material that I had to omit today. I was only able to give you the highlights, but the detail does exist. Also, there will be no class next week; you are on spring break. Class dismissed!”