--- title: Norwegian Flag Mistaken for Confederate Flag in Seattle description: A Seattle resident mistook a Norwegian flag in the Greenwood neighborhood in Seattle, Washington for a Confederate flag. canonical: https://time.com/5171239/woman-assumes-norwegian-flag-is-confederate/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-22T21:15:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:20.038Z og:title: Woman Mistakes a Norwegian Flag for a Confederate One og:description: The guy was cheering Norway on in the Winter Olympics og:url: https://time.com/5171239/woman-assumes-norwegian-flag-is-confederate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta71500f1351b7b7e/698928a222fb853e3de24d91/norwegian-flag-mistaken-for-confederate-flag-in-seattle.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Norwegian flag og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Woman Mistakes a Norwegian Flag for a Confederate One twitter:description: The guy was cheering Norway on in the Winter Olympics twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta71500f1351b7b7e/698928a222fb853e3de24d91/norwegian-flag-mistaken-for-confederate-flag-in-seattle.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Woman Assumes Olympics Fan Is Flying a Confederate Flag. It Was Norwegian. ## Video: All the Medals the U.S. Has Won in the 2018 Winter Olympics [Watch (HLS stream): All the Medals the U.S. Has Won in the 2018 Winter Olympics](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/H8WAKh0k.m3u8) (3:29)  _Published 2018-02-13. Team USA athletes are in search of more medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, as athletes like snowboarder Chloe Kim hit the ice and slopes with hopes of standing on the coveted Olympic podium._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 22, 2018 9:15 PM UTC  Norwegian flag in the Sogne harbour southern norway in Norway in August 22nd 2017. Norwegian flag in the Sogne harbour southern norway in Norway in August 22nd 2017.James D. Morgan—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Feb 22, 2018 9:15 PM UTC A news tip earlier this week that reported a [Confederate flag](http://time.com/4795124/civil-war-museum-confederate-flag-closes/) flying beneath an American flag in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle, Washington was discovered to be a mistake — because the red and blue-striped flag was actually a Norwegian flag. The [_Seattle Times_ ](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/both-have-crosses-so-norwegian-flag-mistaken-for-confederate-flag/)received the following tip from _New York Times_ best-selling author Rebecca Morris after she believed that she saw a Confederate flag flying in her neighborhood: “Hi. Suddenly there is a Confederate flag flying in front of a house in my Greenwood neighborhood. It is at the north-east corner of 92nd and Palatine, just a block west of 92nd and Greenwood Ave N. I would love to know what this ‘means’ … but of course don’t want to knock on their door. Maybe others in the area are flying the flag? Maybe it’s a story? Thank you.” However, a more thorough examination revealed that it was actually a Norwegian flag was flying at the house of Darold Norman Strangeland, who raised it at the start of this year’s [Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5143796/winter-olympic-medals-by-country-2018/) in PyeongChang, South Korea as an homage to his Norwegian-American background — his parents emigrated to the states in the mid-1950s. When Morris found out that she had mistaken the flags, she pointed to the current political climate as a possible reason for her mix-up. “Maybe that’s the story,” she told the _Seattle Times_. “We’re so stressed by all things political that we see things that aren’t there.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5171239/woman-assumes-norwegian-flag-is-confederate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5171239/woman-assumes-norwegian-flag-is-confederate/"},"headline":"Woman Assumes Olympics Fan Is Flying a Confederate Flag. 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