Walrus Bones, Greenland Travel, and the Obligatory Parody Viking Metal Song
Episode notes, travel links, a reading list and the transcript for the episode Erik the Red & Leif Erikson: The outlaw who founded Greenland and the son who reached North America
In this edition
Research notes, or why Jeremiah’s nerd fascination with Amon Amarth and Vikings Valhalla is responsible for this episode
Sarah’s modern travel notes and links for following in the footsteps of Erik the Red and Leif Erikson to Greenland
Looking for more Leif in your life? We have a reading and viewing guide to all things Erikson.
Obligatory musical parody: “Westward,” a 7+ minute Viking/power metal epic with lyrics written by your podcast hosts. Seriously.
Full Episode Transcript
Research Notes
Episode Origins
Erik & Son was one of those episodes where Jeremiah dialed in to the planning meeting with the kind of enthusiasm usually associated with a golden retriever who has found a particularly interesting dead thing in the garden and must show it to you RIGHT NOW. “We need do an episode on Leif Erikson!” he said while vibrating from way too many cans of sugar-free Red Bull.
Sarah’s response was, approximately, “Who?”
Which is understandable. Leif Erikson means different things depending on which side of the Atlantic you grew up on.
In America, Leif is the guy trotted out every October as the anti-Columbus, proof that Scandinavians got there first, five hundred years before that Italian showed up and ruined everything. In Britain, the Vikings are better known for sacking Lindisfarne, installing a few kings, and making the English pay Danegeld for the privilege of not being sacked again. Leif Erikson doesn’t really enter the chat.
And yet, like that over-eager retriever, Jeremiah persisted. After all, he argued, Leif Erikson is exactly the kind of traveler we want to cover on our show; his father was an OG Norse Bad Ass (capitalize both words, thank you very much), and Vikings. Are. Cool. A statement of historical fact which should not be discounted just because Jeremiah had, by his own admission, recently binge-watched all three seasons of the Netflix series Vikings: Valhalla, and/or is a huge fan of the band Amon Amarth.
