Minnesota

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MN Giant Corn Water Tower, Libby Foods, Rochester, NY

MN Giant Corn, Olivia MN

MN Home of the worlds largest Praire Chicken, ( 9000 pounds) Rothsay, MN.

MN Huge Serpent at Serpent Lake, Crosby, MN

MN Huge concrete Mallard, Wheaton, MN

MN The Kensington Runestone, The story goes that it was found under the roots of an aspen tree by Olaf Ohman, an illiterate local farmer, in 1898. Runic inscription describing a Viking expedition in 1362.  Real or Forgery? Alexandria,MN

MN  "Birthplace of America"Alexandria's claim rests on their runestone. Big Ole, a yet another giant Viking statue, lets visitors know that Alexandria takes the claim seriously, as does a 25-foot-tall replica runestone on Hwy 27. Alexandria, MN

MN Madison and sculpture of a Cod

MN Paul Bunyan, Akeley, MN.

MN Paul Bunyan, Bemidji, Minnesota.

MN Paul Bunyan, in Brainer Minnesota.

MN Paul Bunyans Giant Anchor, Ortonville, MN  More Info

MN Rat Root River, MN
MN Weird Roadside Sculptures, Hwy 210, Vining,MN
Mysterious Mug.

MN The culvert man, about 30 feet tall, Nadine MN  More info

MN The Root Beer Lady Cabin, ( great story here) Ely, MN

MN The Giant Tin Man, Duluth , MN

MN The Jolly Green Giant ( 50') Blue Earth, MN.

MN The Spam Museum, Austin, MN

MN Town of Pipestone and their Sioux quartzite building. Check out the Courthouse, Library, Bank, Calumet Hotel and most impressively Moore Block (circa 1896

MN World's Largest Otter ( 40" long) Fergus Falls, MN

MN World's Largest Pelican, Pelican Rapids, MN

MN World's Largest Stucco Snowman,(54') North Saint Paul,MN

MN World's only two story outhouse,Hooper-Bowler-Hillstrom House,Belle Plain,MN

 

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Weird Museums

MN The First Century Museum( Hormel, you won't leave hungry)Austin, MN
MN, The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices Dowtown Minneapolis, MN 612-545-1113

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Haunted Places

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Duluth - Congdon Mansion - Elisabeth Congdon and her nurse haunt the house they were murdered in.

Minneapolis - City Hall - the fifth floor is haunted by a man was hung there.

New London - Old Depot House - Ey Witzke haunts this old railroad depot.

Minneapolis - Minneapolis College of Art and Design - has a ghost loose. Many students have been woken up in the night, frozen and not able to move, and heard screaming inside their heads. Apparently, some one had been raped and killed in one of the basement apartments at one time.

Winona - St. Mary's University - 4th floor, Heffron Hall there is a ghost of  a priest that haunts the dorm.

Hastings - LeDuc Mansion - is rumored to have a ghost of a former resident.

St Paul - College of Visual Arts - many instances happen especially the darkroom.  The spirit playfully moves objects around and changes the time on the timer.  It is said that a wealthy man (carpenter whose studio was in the darkroom) lived there and was cheating on his wife with the maid.   after refusing to leave his wife the maid hung herself on the main stairwell   banister.  The late night janitors experience sounds and lights on/off   nightly and hear children.  One employee saw the man in his flannel.

Minneapolis - Guthrie Theatre - The story is that an usher who committed suicide as a teenager haunts the theater.  He can be seen in the aisles when the lights in the house are down and there is light shining in from the corridor.

Mantorville
The old Opera House is haunted by a Ghost, who roams through the Opera House late at Night. No one is sure of the story behind the ghost, but many of come within close encounters of it. (it is not something to be messed with).

St. Paul- Lillydale Park
Sightings of white figures.  Lots of Paranormal activities such as children screaming.  It's a place where many suicides, murders, and rapes took place. Get's pretty windy around the Caves.

St. Paul Caves (along the Mississippi)
Where used to be a Restaurant/ Clubhouse on the cliffs of the Mississippi River in St. Paul.  It is said that some gangsters used to hang out there, but (must have been some murders, too) after a lot of sightings, the place was closed down.  It is still there today, but not open to the public.  They give tours to small groups on Halloween and such.

Stillwater-Lumber Barons (hotel/restaurant)-
A Confederate military man passed away in a drunken stupor on the second floor S.W. suite. His curious sweat odor is heavy in the air.

Faribault-Shattuck-StMary's School-
A dog has been haunting Wipple boys dorm.  It has been told to rub it's wet cold nose against the back of people's legs when in the hall getting a drink of water or when you look to the end of the hall there is a dog floating about three feet above the floors.   This is because when Whipple burnt down, they rebuilt it about three feet lower than it used to be so the dog is walking on the level it was when it was alive.  In the same dorm there has been told that people have seen men in uniform standing in the corner of their rooms.  These are the old crack-squad members watching over the new ones.

Moorhead -Weld Hall, Moorhead State University Campus-
Weld Hall is the theater building on the collage.  Many years back a worker at the theater fell down the winding metal staircase, in the back of the stage, he broke both of his legs and neck.  His ghost has been seen dancing on the stage, without his legs.

Miller Hill Mall-
There once was a woman that gave birth in the bathroom in the Miller Hill Mall. She flushed it down the toilet, and people have been saying they been hearing sound's of a baby crying in the bathroom.

Duluth-Glensheen Mansion-
Haunted by maid who was murdered there and by the woman who was murdered there too by her own children

Minneapolis-First Avenue Night Club-
Staff and customers have seen apparitions and photos revealing orbs have been taken.

Winona-Lourdes Hall-4th floor-
The fourth floor used to be an infirmary for the nuns that lived there.  Many people died up here and you can still hear many of them walking, crying, or just trying to talk to you.  It is rather chilling, especially if you have lived there!!!!

St.Paul City Hall-
Every fall the local media does stories on the sightings and hauntings. Reports that they seen people in 1920's dress walking into the walls. Sounds and voices at night and once when St. Paul Canines were called to investigate the dogs refused to enter the building past the lobby.

Grey Cloud Island-
Many strange occurrences have been rumored and reported on this Island. It is a place that is walked by Chief Grey Cloud...and something(s) else.

More Info

Ortonville, Minnesota -- the Story Behind Paul Bunyan's Anchor: Up on the hill overlooking Big Stone Lake and the mouth of the Minnesota River is Paul Bunyan's Anchor. This GIANT chunk of granite is apparently the largest piece cut from the surrounding granite quarries. Thousands of years ago Ortonville and the land north all the way to Hudson Bay was covered by a gigantic glacier lake named Lake Agasis. While Paul was out fishing one day, he threw his anchor up on the hill, and voila! The lake is true, however I don't know how much to believe about the anchor. But anyone traveling through should check it, the view is spectacular along with some great history and information posted near the anchor. Paul Bunyan's anchor is located near the intersection of Hwy 12 and Hwy 75 at Ortonville in an area locally known as "hilltop."

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The St. Urho Story

Menahga, honors St. Urho (Pronounced "oorlho"), the patron saint of Finland, with a bizarre statue recreating his mythical battle with giant grasshoppers. He is reputed to have used his "splendid and loud voice" to chase the grasshoppers out of pre-Ice Age Finland (when the climate was much milder) and save the grape harvest. The Finns love him.

At least, the ones in America do. St. Urho was reportedly invented in the 1950s by a couple of Minnesota Finns as a joke. Today it's taken seriously enough that St. Urho Day (the day before St. Patrick's Day) is officially recognized in all 50 states.


St. Urho was originally supposed to be carved out of a one-ton block of laminated oak in 1975, but a Minneapolis woodcarver took Menahga's money and never delivered. In 1982 Menahga gave the block to Jerry Ward, a travelling chainsaw sculptor, and he finally produced their 12-ft tall St. Urho. Oddly, the statue now standing along Hwy 71 is a fiberglass replica; the original is stored in a mausoleum in the Menahga cemetery.

One St. Urho statue is not enough. There's another in Finland, MN, along Highway 1. It's an "interpretive" Urho, very much like an arty Peter Toth Indian head, carved by the late Don Osborn in 1982. It was originally planned to be 30 feet tall, but the wood was rotten, so its 18 feet will have to do. Urho has a grasshopper on his hat, no body, and he's poorly positioned facing north, assuring mediocre photos in all seasons. Check out the statue across the street — a 10 foot long chainsaw sculpture of a fish holding a beer keg.

Finland hosts a St. Urho's Day Celebration in mid-March.

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Culvert Man is about 30 feet tall, a barrel chested humanoid made out of various sizes and shapes of culvert (corrigated, zinc-coated metal used for under road drainage). Wearing a cowboy hat. He's the mascot of Nodine Culvert Sales. Nodine is in SE MN a mile or so south of I-90 Take the Nodine exit, go south about a mile (to the stop sign), turn left (east) and go to the edge of town (.25 mile?). He stands alongside the highway on the north (not I-90) facing east.

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