The supposed story of the Kensington Runestone in the first panel is basically correct, though it bears noting that most historians regard it as a bunch of nonsense. A hoax. Probably it is. I dunno. I have a certain knee-jerk sympathy for the fringe types in these situations. Also, note that there does exist a translation, which distills to “We are some Vikings in the middle of North America and it’s 1362.” (This is where the date comes from here.)
The Runestone Museum in Alexandria, Minnesota is pretty nutty; mostly it’s a bunch of stuff about how totally real the stone is, whoa man, this is the genuine article, we are not kidding. It’s a sort of museum of defensiveness. Outside it there’s a giant, painted statue of a Viking, whose shield bears the legend, “Alexandria: The Birthplace of America” or something to that effect. The word for this sentiment is “wrong.” Lordy, I could go on and on. I mean, wow.
The what now?
Heeee.
I’m laughing so hard I’m weeping. I think it’s panel 3 that does it.