Wichita’s Troll

Walking in downtown Wichita, I couldn’t help but take pictures of the beautiful Arkansas River.  A local couple passed me and noting my camera they asked me a peculiar question.

“Are you hear to take a picture of the troll?” they asked.

Say what?!?!

Wichita has a hidden troll!  Just uphill from the river, the sidewalk passes a sizeable storm grate:

Ordinary Storm Grate?

Well, shackled and tortured beneath the sidewalk is the troll.

The troll is trapped below

He is HUGE and the details are exquisite.  The artist (Constance Ernatt) should be commended for her work.  As I snapped pictures, children walked by and timidly asked, “Is it dead???”  I think the fact that the artist gave the troll unkempt toenails says a lot about the thoroughness of the project.

Eww, troll toenails!

The Walking Tour of the River Corridor Project says, “Some legends believe that trolls come alive at night, turning to stone in the daytime.”  I don’t know about night, but when I was first previewing my pictures, I was unnerved to find the troll’s mouth appearing to move.  It turns out, it had to do with my camera angle.  On one side, his mouth is open and on the other it is closed.  Phew!

Mouth open

Mouth closed

If I had thought much about it, I could have found myself self-conscious that I was carrying a camera about, looking like a tourist.  But in this case, it really paid off.  I doubt I would have ever known about the troll otherwise!