HVÍTSERKUR Petrified Creature, Iceland

Hvítserkur in North Iceland is truly a natural wonder. It's shaped like a creature that looks like a petrified troll, sea monster, a dragon, a mammoth, or a rhino.

The folk tale: Hvítserkur was a troll who lived in Strandir, on the west coast of Húnaflói Bay. He had lived there since before humans came to Iceland but was getting increasingly annoyed by their presence. Most of all, he despised the sound of the church bells that he could hear across the bay from the monastery in Þingeyrar on the southeast coast of Húnaflói. One night he‘d had enough and decided to hurry across the bay towards the monastery where he was going to break the bells into pieces. But unfortunately, the trip was slow-going and he ran out of time. As the sun came up he was turned into stone, and he has been stuck there ever since, spending his eternity with birds and seals.

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