I'm about to try and undertake a discussion of the finding of the stone, the roots of the tree, the age of the tree and so on. As usual, I will be taking as much information as possible from source documents. Lotta stuff here, and this may take a few posts - I will begin with the affidavits taken in 1909. I do note that for the purpose of brevity, I exclude some of the text of the affidavits, concentrating on the portions regarding the finding of the stone.

Olaf Ohman:

"In the month of August, 1898, while accompanied by my son Edward, I was engaged in grubbing upon a timbered elevation, surrounded by marshes, in the southeast corner of my land, about 500 feet west of my neighbor, Nils Flaten's house, and in full sight thereof. Upon removing an asp, measuring about 10 inches in diameter at the base, I discovered a flat stone inscribed with characters, to me unintelligible. The stone laid just beneath the surface of the ground in a slightly slanting position, with one corner almost protruding. The two largest roots of the tree clasped the stone in such a manner that the stone must have been there at least as long as the tree. One of the roots penetrated directly downward and was flat on the side next to the stone. The other root extended almost horizontally across the stone and made at its edge a right angled turn downward. At this turn the root was flattened on the side toward the stone. This root was about three inches in diameter. Upon washing off the surface dirt, the inscription presented a weathered appearance, which to me appeared as old as the untouched parts of the stone. I immediately called my neighbor, Nils Flaten's attention to the discovery, and he came over the same afternoon and inspected the stone and the stump under which it was found."

Nils Flaten:

"One day in August, 1898, my neighbor, Olaf Ohman, who was engaged in grubbing timber about 500 feet west of my house, and in full view of the same, came to me wand told me he had discovered a stone inscribed with ancient characters. I accompanied him to the alleged place of discovery and saw a stone about 30 inches long, 16 inches wide, and 6 inches thick, which was covered with strange characters upon two sides and for more than half their length. The inscription presented a very ancient and weathered appearance. Mr. Ohman showed me an asp tree about 8 inches to 10 inches in diameter at the base, beneath which he alleged the stone was found. The two largest roots of the asp were flattened on their inner surface to conform to the outlines of the stone. I inspected this hole and can testify that the stone had been their prior to the growth of the tree, as the spot was in close proximity to my house. I had visited the spot earlier in the day, before Mr. Ohman had cut down the tree, and also many times previously - but I had never seen anything suspicious there. Besides the asp, the roots of which embraced the stone, the spot was also covered by a very heavy growth of underbrush."

Edward Ohman:

"...in August, 1989, when about ten years of age, I was helping my father, Olof Ohman, in grubbing on the southeast corner of his land, about 500 feet west of Nils Flaten's house, and in full view of the same; in removing an asp, a stone was found imbedded in the ground and embraced by two roots of said asp, one root going downward on the side of the stone and so close to it that its surface was flattened from contact; the other root pursuing a nearly horizontal course across the surface of the stone, where it bend down into the ground forming a right angle. The stump of the asp was about ten inches in diameter at the base, the horizontal root about three inches in diameter. I saw the stone in the ground, and the roots in their undisturbed position on the side and on the surface of the stone. After my father had got the stone out of the ground, and we had rolled it to one side, I noticed that some characters were inscribed on the stone, and called my father's attention to it. "

Roald Bentson and Samuel Olson [neighbors]

"We, the undersigned... hereby testify to the fact that we have seen a stone with an inscription in characters to us unintelligible, of which it was alleged and which we truthfully believe, was discovered and dug out of the ground in August, 1989... by one Olof Ohman and his son, Edward Ohman. We further testify that we saw the hole in the ground in which it was stated that the stone had been imbedded. The inscription as seen by us presented an ancient and weathered appearance, similar to the inscribed parts of the stone. We saw the root of an asp that was from eight inches to ten inches in diameter at the bottom of the trunk, of which it was alleged that it had grown on one side of the stone, and in close contact with same. We saw the stump of this tree, and are convinced that it had been in close contact with the stone because of its peculiar shape. One of the roots that had pursued a perpendicular course downward ws flattened on one side, as we think because of its contact with the stone.

We saw another root of the same stump about three inches in diameter, which had taken an almost horizontal course from he body of the stump. About eighteen inches from its junction with the first mentioned root, this second root made a right angled bend and continued downward. It was flattened and expanded on its interior bend. We are convinced that the two roots above described exactly conformed to the configuration of the stone. "

Two problems arise immediately from these affidavits. The house of Nils Flaten was not 500 feet from the stone site, but over 1000 feet (1241 according to Holvig). This later distance is also attested to by Arthur Ohman, one of Olof's sons, in a letter in the 1960s to Landsverk. This could possibly be due to misjudgment on the part of the participants - trying to estimate a distance while sitting in a room away from the site, for instance. Perhaps there was some misinterpretation - the site lies approx. 500 ft from the edge of Flaten's farm.

The second problem is that the month given in the affidavits for the discovery is August, but other evidence (some of which I will make known later) makes it quite clear that the month was November. I can make no excuse for this error other than a mistyping or miscommunication between the interview and the drawing up of the document.

This, of course, does cast the shadow of a doubt on the rest of the affidavits (at least in the case of the Ohmans and Flaten). The way the documents are written indicates that a single hand was behind their preparation. We might well imagine that these people were interviewed separately - possibly with the inquisitor asking certain leading questions - and the documents being prepared from the answers and then signed. In any event, the documents were witnessed, signed and duly notarized.

While some minor errors due occur, the same general story is told. The stump of the tree was overturned, and the stone was found tightly embraced within the roots. The inscription on the stone was found some short time after the stump was pulled up, and Nils Flaten called to examine the stone as well. There was no evidence of disturbance of the area prior to the finding of the stone. The stump and roots were on display afterwards, and they conform to the shape of the stone. The stone was directly beneath the trunk of the tree, so as the main roots coming from the trunk were deformed. The diameter of the tree at the base was 8-10 inches across.