The history of Ohto County is a twisted collection of rumors and legends, knitted together by town gossips.

The Prehistory of the Lost Valley

The Prehistoric Anthropology of the Lost Valley which would eventually come to be know as Ohto County is a weird empty hole, no evidence of normal North American prehistoric humans have been found in Ohto County. Those anthropological artifacts and sites that have been found are bizarre and anomalous in the extreme. The paleontology of Ohto County is, by contrast, marked by a surprising surplus of prehistoric megafauna fossils, many incomplete or otherwise unknown to science. There is little in the way of scientific study within Ohto County, mostly amateur work and much of it done by people who are otherwise obsessive with cryptozoology and conspiracy theories. All of this makes generating a clear picture of prehistoric Ohto County difficult

The Lack of Tribes

One would assume a region as large as Ohto County would be filled with evidence of previous settlement by the local indigenous Native Americans. But the only evidence left today are markers near borders of the region in the Lesser Hirvi and along the Broken Coast, large wooden markers that are clearly not traditional Pacific Northwest Totem poles, but are something similar. Neighboring tribes, when asked about the markers, described them as warnings. The tribes living adjacent to Ohto County refer to the region as both sacred and cursed, but steadfastly refuse to elaborate. They tell conflicting stories about the region.  There are no Native American residents in Ohto County, and those who end up lost on the Coast Roads inevitably end up dead by suicide or simply missing. More than one Native American interviewed simply said that only a white man would be stupid enough to live there, and arrogant enough to think that he could get away with it. 

The Giants of Old

Truly bizarre are the European style Karhu Standing Stones found in the valley, dating to some nine thousand years ago. Native Americans in the neighbouring regions described them as not having been built by people when questioned about the stones. Stories from neighbouring tribes describe the region as previously inhabited by various groups of beings, spirits or giants or monsters, of varying degrees of power and hostility. No human remains dating before the arrival of European settlers have been found in the region, except around edges of what is generally considered the border of the County. At the fringes, surprising amounts of humans remains have been found, some dating back over thirty thousand years, which is much in dispute in the Archaeological community. 

The Ash Layer

Looking at the layers of geological strata shows a uniform layer of wood ash nearly two inches thick across the whole of the Ohto County region dating back to roughly 536 CE. . Wherever geological samples are taken, the layer of ash occurs; all save the Karhu Standing Stones. The Ash Layer does not occur within the circumference of the Karhu Standing Stones. The Ash Layer does occur directly outside the circumference of the circle, even present on the outward facing surface of the perimeter stones themselves, But there is no Ash build up present on the inside of the circle whatsoever. Current consensus is that the circle was cleaned and cleared of debris following the occurrence which generated the ash layer, but by whom is unknown. 

Colonizing the Ohto County

The Arrival of the Tyrfing Caravan

Popular myth in Ohto County is that nobody arrives in Ohto County except by the Coast Road. The reason for this is that path the Coast Road now follows, up to Lokki Point Crossroads is said to mark the trail of the original settlers: The Tyrfing Caravan. The Caravan arrived somewhere around 1855, and consisted of a number of Nordic immigrants from Sweden, Norway and Finland; and was led by a Swedish borne Wilderness Guide named Yngve Gyllensvard who wore a sword which he claimed to be the legendary cursed sword Tyrfing. Yngve was supposedly murdered for the sword at the Lokki Point Crossroads. The Sundberg family claims the Linna family committed the murder. The Linna family claims the Sundberg family did the deed. The sword itself is missing, though local legend claims that it lies buried beneath either the crossroads, the Karhu Standing Stones or that it was thrown into the Weeping Widow Falls. 

The Linna-Sundberg Feud

Both the Linna Family and the Sundberg Family were part of the original settlers. A slightly larger contingent of the families in the Tyrfing were of Finns and when the question of where to settle was introduced, the Swedes gravitated to the coastal regions while the Finns gravitated inland. The initial settlements were known as New Vastmanland and New Vaarashire. In the winter of 1865, a strange fire broke out in New Vastmanland and burnt nearly the whole settlement to the ground. Only the building that would eventually become known as the Green Brothers Marina and Lodge survived the blaze. The Sundberg family blamed the Linna family, claiming it was an attempt to take control of the whole valley. The Linna family said the Grontbarn family, who owned the only surviving building, must be responsible. Nothing was ever proven to any group’s satisfaction. And the rivalry between the two families simmered for decades. 

The Modern Era 

The modern era unofficially begins in the year 1881 with the so-called Bloody Year 1881. The Bloody Year cemented the ownership and layout of Ohto County as it currently stands, and marked the County with the names of the Linna and Sundberg families. The modern era is also marked by the slow withdrawal of both the Linna family and the Sundberg family from public view. The modern era is also marked by the rise of reports of supernatural occurrences and missing persons. And it is in the modern era that the Coast Road was built and the lost visitors began arriving in Ohto County. 

The Bloody Year

In six month period in the 1881, five members of Sundberg Family and twelve members of the Linna family died of various accidents. At the end of the bloody year of 1881, half of Isa Island was declared a public park, and half was claimed by the Linna family and not contested by the Sundberg family. The whole episode is known today as the Bloody Year of 1881, The roots of the Bloody Year is believed to be the death of old man Linna. The death of old man Linna is widely credited to Lady Sundberg, but no records of the death of old man Linna exist in any Ohto County public records.   

The 1901 Fire at Fort Isa

In 1901 an incident occurred that was officially logged as a fire at the Fort and to this day the stones of Fort Isa are indeed blacked by fire. But reports by the doctors and undertakers involved indicated that the employees at the fort, all of whom died, were found to be warped in strange ways. The bodies were found to be deformed by heat, but not burned. Instead the bodies appeared to have been mummified by long term exposure to continuous dry heat and smoke. 

The Year of Ghosts

1951 was the last year that any member of the Linna family was ever seen in public. Known later as the year of Ghosts, there was nothing at the time out of the ordinary. It was only as the decade wore on that people began to realize that the Linna Family, though still ostensibly very active in local politics, had not been seen in person for years. Tracing back, employees working for the Sundberg Family Trust pinpointed 1951 as the year of the last in person sighting of any member of the Linna Family, specifically Elli Linna. Elli Linna was the youngest daughter of then Linna Family Matriarch Aallotar Linna, and was just twenty one years at the time. She had been seen walking the grounds of the Linna Family Estate on the morning of the Spring Equinox by local fishing boats and had waved to them.

The Sundberg Family trust noted also that by the end of the year some fifty-four people had gone missing on Isa Island. A group of twenty one teenagers celebrating their graduation with beer and camping disappeared near the beginning of summer vacation. Thirteen of the townsfolk involved in the subsequent search party also went missing. At Summer Solstice, a fishing boat ran aground on submerged rocks and the eight crew members were not found when the boat was discovered. On the first of September a party of five new arrivals, some of the rare ones that arrived by water, moored their boat at the Linna Family docks. Of the six that appear on photos found in the boat, five were never found and the sixth was catatonic and never recovered. Three members of the Sundberg Family Trust went missing the day before the Fall Equinox while conducting a survey of Isa Island. On the first day of Winter, a tent was found empty at the Conservation Center with two sleeping bags in it, but nothing else. On the day before the Winter Solstice, the Heritage Park Volunteer failed to report in and was never found. The Volunteer sent to check also went missing. Missing persons on Isa Island are common enough that this large rash of disappearances, though distressing, was not considered unusual until it was paired with the last sighting of the Linna family.

The employees of the Sundberg Family Trust who noted the overlap of the two events themselves disappeared in 1973 after reporting their findings to the public. People no longer talk about what happened to the Linna family, neither in public nor in private. To talk about Linna Family secrets is to invite ill fortune into one’s home. 

The Lost Now

Ohto County now sits apart from the rush of the rest of the world. And those who arrive find themselves seemingly locked in an anachronistic present.