Hampton, New Hampshire - Thorvald's Rock

This rock, with Viking runes, marks the AD 1004 grave of Thorvald, brother of Viking explorer Leif Eriksson and son of Erik the Red. Or -- maybe it's just a rock with scratches on it, packaged as a Viking relic by Hampton district court judge Charles A. Lamprey, who wanted to increase the value of land that he was developing for beach cottages in 1902. Whatever its origins, Thorvald's Rock quickly became a bona-fide tourist attraction. People began to chip away at it for souvenirs. A Massachusetts man tried to drag the entire boulder away in a truck. In 1989 it was moved to the garden of the Tuck Museum, where it's now safely encased in a concrete well topped with a row of iron bars. [Roadsideamerica.com Team, 12/03/2005]