Do runic-like symbols carved in this mystery rock point to lost Spanish gold?

Cryptic symbols carved in rock located across Red River from Spanish Fort, Texas

Just across Red River from Spanish Fort, Texas, a large, solid slab of sandstone at the edge of an almost perpetually dry, sandy creek bed, is pocked with strange carvings resembling runic symbols. Downstream, a bleached horse skeleton lies half buried in the sand.

Given the area’s colorful history of outlaw hideouts, Spanish exploration and legends of lost gold, it is not too far fetched to wonder whether these markings could be the work of some ancient someone, perhaps trying to tell us something.

Or, then again, there is the more mundane explanation that the mystery rock’s etchings are simply the work of pranksters or a bored doodler with nothing better to do (or doodle) than to chisel obscure symbols into an isolated rock (out-of-the-way doesn’t begin to describe the location).

Over the past four or five centuries, this rock, if it had ears, would have heard the rumble of wagon wheels, the blast of cannons, the click-boom of flintlock rifles, the whisper of buckskin leggings against oak leaves and the thundering hooves of buffalo. Nearby, a towering log fort, about 100 yards in diameter, belonging to the Taovayas (Wichita) Indians, once stood to defend two villages, one on each side of the river, populated by as many as 6,000 Wichitas and Comanches.

In 1759, Colonel Diego Ortiz Parilla cobbled together a group of about 500 soldiers and made the 250-mile journey northeast to Red River to retaliate for a Comanche raid and massacre at a Spanish mission on the San Saba River. The Spaniards camped near present-day Spanish Fort before launching a futile attack on the Taovayas’ twin villages—San Bernardo north of the river and San Teodoro on the south.

To Colonel Parilla’s surprise, his army was outnumbered, out-soldiered and outmaneuvered by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of flintlock-wielding braves, many mounted on horseback, who overwhelmed the Spaniards, forcing retreat and abandonment of two brass cannons that had proven laughably ineffective. It was a mismatch of Texas-sized proportions. In the centuries that have passed since the battle, locals have occasionally discovered cannon balls along the banks of the river.

The details of this battle and the discovery and excavation of the fort and the Taovayas’ twin villages are well documented in Steve Wilson’s book Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales.

Tales of outlaw hideouts and hidden Spanish treasures have been told and retold throughout the area, from Mud Creek to Ketchum’s Bluff and beyond. Legends of lost treasure (there are many) include fourteen jack loads of Spanish gold buried near Mud Creek, in Oklahoma, fifteen jack loads hidden near Stanfield, Texas, and seven mule loads of gold buried near Terral, Texas.

Still another treasure story, reported in contemporary newspaper articles, recounts that in 1884 five hunters on the trail of a panther discovered a cave about two miles upstream from Spanish Fort that contained an estimated $25,000 in Spanish coins and gold bars, in addition to a brass howitzer, flintlocks and other artifacts.

So, it is within this rich historical tapestry that the mystery rock is woven, sitting in silence, adorned with its mysterious message that nobody understands.

What do the symbols mean? Do they point to a nearby Spanish treasure? Or are they much older, perhaps Viking in origin, as is reputed to be the case with the much disputed and debated Heavener Runestone? Are they a magical runic incantation inscribed by occult fanatics or just nonsense carved in a rock?

Heavener Runestone discovered near Heavener, Oklahoma

Check back soon for new and better photos. Meanwhile, if you have any ideas about the origin or meaning of the San Bernardo mystery rock’s strange symbols, send an email here.

For more info: Check out Steve Wilson's Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales. Also, for a true story of treasure symbols leading to the discovery of Confederate gold, read Shadow of the Sentinel, by Warren Getler and Bob Brewer.

Sources: 

Historical information for this article was derived from the following: Wilson, Steve. Oklahoma Treasures and Treasure Tales. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1976.

Photos and other details provided by the author's personal experience.