Atlanta, Illinois: Big Viking

I have some more tales to share from my latest muffler man journey. Chincoteague does not seem to be home to a Uniroyal Gal. I asked many people who had lived in the town for many years and no one had ever seen anything like her, even when shown a photo. BUT! The viking that disappeared from Marion is in Chincoteague now! His right foot seemed to be missing but a pole was inserted in the hole which seems to help hold him up.

On Ridge Road , there is a Viking Man about 20-ft. tall, that stands on the west side of the road. What are vikings doing here? It is in very good shape and is most colorful. The viking man is just down the road from Misty, beloved stuffed horse.

The Viking is no longer in Marion. I looked. I'm told by a Marion resident that the Viking has been moved to Chincoteague, VA. He is being converted into a Pirate to be displayed in front of a restaurant. I have not verified that.

According to what I have been told, the Viking originally stood atop a carpet shop in Delmar, MD in the 1950s and '60s. Sometime in the 1960s or '70s, a man named Addison Nelson bought the Viking and relocated it next to his country store in Crisfield's Down Neck area. The statue stood as the store's mascot until the business's closure in the 1980s. In 1997, the Viking was bought and moved to its current location, lying beside the J. Stanley Adams Hardware store in Marion. The statue no longer stands erect, and this could be because the Viking may be higher than county building codes in that area. It is believed that this will be the Viking's final resting place, as the statue is rapidly crumbling. It can, however, still be seen across the street from the Marion Station Railroad Museum.