SALT LAKE CITY — As visitors first enter the exhibit and are greeted by the sight of Viking artifacts and the welcome of period re-enactors, there is something about Utah's history that adds an allure to the Viking legend.
Since opening on Memorial Day weekend, the Natural History Museum estimates that about 80 percent of its visitors have come to see the Vikings special exhibit. The popularity of the new exhibit was underscored by the surprising turnout to see the exhibit during a recent family history opportunity where patrons could work with Nordic ancestry experts from Family Search to find out if they are related to a Viking.
"There are people who love their Nordic ancestry and how they are Vikings at heart," said Geoff Morris, a Nordic ancestry expert who has researched Scandinavian ancestry for almost 17 years.
Morris said the key to establishing ancestry was to trace a connection to a Scandinavian noble line, as noble lines were well-documented and could allow searches to look back as far as the ninth century.
Morris said Icelandic ancestry was even easier to trace, as the island has kept more extensive records of its people; though people of Icelandic descent are often rare to find.
"We have a group of people from Iceland who came over as pioneers and ended up in Spanish Fork," Morris said.
Though greater numbers of Scandinavian immigrants settled in areas of the Midwest and Utah's pioneer settlers were predominantly English, Morris said Scandinavians were still a sizeable part of the settling population. Groups like the Swedish Heritage Society of Utah and the Sons of Norway, as well as events like the Ephraim Scandinavian Festival, have been able to draw enthusiastic participation from people who are interested in Scandinavian heritage and have a fascination with Viking history.
"People are very excited because so many of them do have ancestry from the Viking era," said Jessica Surprenant, who plays the role of Eymani the weaver throughout the exhibit.
Since it opened, actors and actresses like Surprenant have helped to demonstrate life during the height of Viking exploration, between the years 700 and 1100, and showcase more than 500 artifacts and displays of weapons, tools and decorations in the exhibit.
While the museum had originally planned for about a dozen visitors to take part in the guided genealogy study, between 200 and 300 visitors came to the event and almost 60 visitors participated in the family history search.
"This one really shines in terms of cross-generational discussions," said Patti Carpenter, the museum's communications director. "Kids are interested in knowing 'grandma and grandpa came from this part of the country.'"
Carpenter said she saw a pair of elderly women at the family history event who not only found out that they had Viking ancestry, but that they were related through a common Scandinavian ancestor. They had arrived as strangers and came to greet each other as "cousins."
Carpenter said the success of the event has led the museum to request for triple the support in computers and materials when the Family Search experts return again for the museum's Norse Fest on Sept. 23.
The Viking exhibit will run until Jan. 1.