Giant Trolls of Thomas Dambo (Gone)

Lisle, Illinois

Hunkered down and occasionally hidden in the 1,700 wooded acres of the Morton Arboretum are six giant trolls. They are formidable protectors of the forest: Joe the Guardian is 30 feet tall; Little Arturs is 60 feet long and apparently eats people; Rocky Bardur crushes cars.

The trolls were built -- although the trendy term used here is "upcycled" -- out of junk lumber and sticks by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, who had previously populated Copenhagen's suburbs with a similar set of mythical wooden giants.

The Arboretum provides a hand-out map at its Visitor Center to help locate the Trolls. If you want to walk to see them all you'd have to hike about seven miles, but fortunately there are also roads that wind throughout the Arboretum and all of the Trolls are near parking areas -- although you may not want to park too close to Rocky.

Dambo built the Trolls in the Spring of 2018, and they're expected to last at least through the summer of 2019.