In 1872, a group of construction workers discovered a mysterious artifact near the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in New England while digging a hole for a fence post.They found a lump of clay with an egg-shaped artifact inside it.The mysterious Stone egg was buried 6 feet deep under the ground when it was discovered.Named as the mystery stone, it is one of New Hampshire’s lesser-known relics which has raised a number of questions.

Archaeologists and researchers have suggested that the mysterious egg stone originated at least over a hundred years ago with no clear answers emerging.

The rock type, which the mystery egg is made up of is not familiar to New Hampshire and no other known artifacts bearing similar markings or designs have been discovered in the United States yet.It is speculated that the stone egg has been a work of someone from a faraway place and time, as such fine workmanship has never been generated by the local Native American tribes.

Lake Winnipesaukee in New HampshireToggle

Symbols on the Lake Winnipesaukee Mysterious stone egg

The size of the mystery stone is approximately 4 inches (10.2cms) in length, the egg is 2.5 inches  (6.4cms) thick, and it weighs eighteen ounces (510.3grams), and has a dark-hue to it.The egg is as hard as granite and is in the shape of a goose egg.

The stone is a type of quartzite, extracted from sandstone, or mylonite, a fine-grained rock composed by the transference of rock layers along faults.There are holes present at both ends of the stone and the holes were drilled through from end to end with different sized tools.

The mysterious egg stone has strange carvings on it ranging from astronomical symbols to a human face.There are, which is believed by many, inverted arrows, a moon with some dots, and a spiral on one side of it, and an ear of corn with 17 kernels in the row on the other side.

Details of carvings on two of the sides of the Mystery Stone.

On the bottom side of the stone egg, there is a circle with three figures; one of which looks like a deer’s leg, along with some kind of animal with large ears.The third side of the egg depicts a tepee with four poles, an oval, and a human face.

The face is sunken with a nose that does not rise above the surface of the egg and lips that seem to give the image some kind of purposeful expression.

History of the Lake Winnipesaukee mystery Egg

Seneca A. Ladd, a local businessman, hired the construction workers to dig the fence post who discovered the mysterious artifact.He had the possession of the egg, and the artifact became a notable one by 1885.He died in 1892, and in 1927, Ladd’s daughter, Frances Ladd Coe of Center Harbor, donated the stone to the New Hampshire Historical Society in the state capital of Concord.

Interesting Theories about the Strange Stone Egg

There have been several theories proposed by researchers and archaeologists over the period of time.In 1872, The American Naturalist suggested that the alleged stone “commemorates a treaty between two tribes.”However, this idea did not last for long and it was hypothesized that the stone was some sort of ancient tool.It was also suggested that the egg could be Celtic or Inuit in origin.In 1931, a letter was written to the New Hampshire Historical Society proposing that it was a thunderstone, a stone object, often wedge-shaped like a blade, having certain kind of work on it that is alleged to have fallen from the sky.A thunderstone is also known as thunderbolts or thunder axes.Tales of thunderstones are found in cultures all over the world and are often associated with thunder Gods.

Such objects always present the appearance of having been machine or hand-worked: frequently they come from deep in the earth, embedded in lumps of clay, or even surrounded by solid rock or coral.

In 2018, Joe Graveline, member of the Northfield historical commission, suggested an interesting purpose for the Mystery Stone that he believes it was a Native American birth stone.

“It is a stone that was heated and internally placed inside the pregnant woman by midwives to relax muscles during difficult births.”

Greenfield Recorder

This particular stone would have been extra special and used by a Native American midwife to help a mother “deliver a person who became a venerated spiritual or governmental leader of either sex.

Joe Graveline

It is also believed by Joe Graveline that it was a grave offering and had the construction workers dug a little deeper they would have found bones too.

I’ve seen a number of holes bored in stone with technology that you would associate with prehistoric North America. There’s a certain amount of unevenness and this hole was extremely regular throughout. What we did not see were variations that would be consistent with something that was several hundred years old.”

Richard Boisvert

Richard Boisvert criticized the lack of details on the context in which the stone was found.He also suggested that holes could have been drilled using power tools rather than traditional techniques used by Native Americans.The suggested theory of richard has led some people to believe the Winnipesaukee’s stone mystery is simply some kind of elaborate hoax.

Wesley Balla, director of collections and exhibitions for the New Hampshire Historical Society, holding the mystery stone

One thing we know for sure is that it was created using some type of machine.However, the fact remains that no one knows who made the object, when, or why.