Poulsbo, WA

The town of Poulbo, known as "Little Norway," already owned a life-size Viking statue, and in 2008 it decided it wanted a troll statue to go under one of its bridges. But the City Council could never agree on a location, and since nearby Seattle already dominated troll-under-bridge tourism, Poulsbo decided instead to build a second, much bigger Viking, to replace its weathered Velkommen til Poulsbo sign.

The statue, unveiled in 2012, is made of concrete and steel and weighs almost 6,000 pounds. Sculpted by Mark Gale, the Viking is depicted with a thick beard, leather belt, a coat of chainmail, a cape, a thick sword, and a helmet with horns, even though Gale acknowledged that Vikings didn't have helmets with horns. Gale, who had previously created the seven-story-tall Beauty and the Beast Mountain for Disneyworld, said that he improvised the statue based on a single rough sketch, and modeled the Viking's face after his own.