Top Back Home Weird Museums The St. Urho Story Haunted Places
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![]()
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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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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| 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 St. Paul- Lillydale Park St. Paul Caves (along the
Mississippi) Stillwater-Lumber Barons
(hotel/restaurant)- Faribault-Shattuck-StMary's School-
Moorhead -Weld Hall, Moorhead State
University Campus- Miller Hill Mall- Duluth-Glensheen Mansion- Minneapolis-First Avenue Night
Club- Winona-Lourdes Hall-4th floor- St.Paul City Hall- Grey Cloud Island- |
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| 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." |
Top US RAT Sites RAT Sites Home 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.
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. |