I began troll hunting in October of 2024.  I had no idea that I was beginning something that has been a happy diversion for the last two years. I got started because I saw friends posting pictures of these wooden giants on social media and, at the time, thought that they were only in the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine. I had planned a New England trip around the fact that I wanted to see the trolls that were there. If you are going to start troll hunting, this is the spot to start because they have a map that they give out with the locations of all five trolls. It was shortly after this initiation into Thomas Dambo’s trolls that I realized there were several hundred trolls around the world. I didn’t realize what I had started but it’s been a blast hunting the trolls that are hidden throughout the United States (about 70).

There is something exciting about walking down a trail in the forest to find a gentle giant either like Gro in a meditative cross-legged pose or Birk with his enormous gangly arms and legs. These are two of the five trolls at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Once I found Thomas Dambo’s website with the troll map, I realized that I had started an exciting hunt as I traveled in my RV, Abeona, across the United States. My next troll was in Seattle. Freddie Feetsplinter is likely one of the easiest trolls to find because he’s standing in front of the National Nordic Museum.  You could actually drive by and not even get out of your car. This is not true for the other trolls in the Seattle area as some are upwards of a two-mile hike (Bruun Idun in Lincoln Park) or ferry ride (Oscar the Bird King on Vashon Island). 

Dambo has two traveling displays in the United States and one of them is a banner find because there are 12 trolls in the collection. TROLLS: A Field Study is a whimsical collection as many of the trolls are equipped with nets or doing handstands. They are only 7-9 feet tall. I was able to see the collection at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, NC and it happened to coincide with the opening of 7 other permanent trolls throughout the state from Big Pete with the Big Feet in Charlotte, Little Sallie (not little) in Highpoint, and the collecting of 5 in Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh which has one of my favorite trolls, Mother Strong Tail which has to be one of the largest trolls because it’s over 645 feet long.  Her tail starts at Dix who is holding the end all the way through the forest, bridging high above the trail until it ends wrapped around Mother Strong Tail.  So, I ended up getting 19 trolls all in one week which was a banner week.

The other traveling show is called TROLLS: Save the Humans with six trolls and at the time I saw them in Filoli Historic House and Garden in Woodside, CA, my school aged cousins were able to climb on top of them.  This is almost always discouraged at most instillations. As I write this, these trolls are located at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, NY.  Thomas Dambo used recycled materials for all his trolls and his message is to “waste no more”. 

I have three favorite trolls at this point, after seeing 62 trolls to date. One is Little Bibbi in Dayton OH at the Aullwood Audubon. He appears to be running to take off with makeshift wings on his arms.  Another favorite is in Mrs. Skipper in East Providence, RI right along the water and she’s holding an actual boat above her head.  Mama Zelda’s Hair is an amazing piece with her hair being a maze to navigate to get to the center. There is also Rose Wonders who was initially at Burning Man in 2025 but now is permanently installed in Filoli Gardens, Woodside, CA and you can enter from her back and climb steps up to her hands. She stands 27 feet tall and appears to be examining you. 

There are two trolls that I have found that are not made from recycled wood. One is Big Rusty who is made out of metal in Hainesport, NJ and I found quite intimidating to find since it has a keep out sign on the way into the parking lot although there is another sign saying it’s fine. The entire installation is in an abandoned pottery factory and it’s covered entirely in graffiti.  The other troll is the Golden Rabbit in Detroit Lakes, MN which is made entirely of yellow rubber from plastic manufacturing crates. That is probably the hardest location to find and get to as it is close to two miles from the parking lot and there are some steep inclines. When in doubt in finding a location, I write the name of the troll in google maps and almost every time it will show up. 

The farthest troll was in Santiago, Chile.  My brother, Rick, and I found the troll by taking a cab to the park and finding Ulla sitting lake side. This one was disconcerting because on the Dambo Troll Map it’s listed as RIP (or no longer in existence) but I can affirm that Ulla is sitting patiently lakeside although the map indicates it was dismantled in 2022. 

Probably the most fun is taking someone else to find a troll. My brother, Rick, has been there for several trolls (Ulla in Santiago and Pia the Peacemaker in Bainbridge Island, WA), my brother, Dave, and his family have been there for the ones in Filoli Gardens, Woodside CA, my daughter, Natalie, helped me find Freddie Feetsplinter in Seattle, my friend, Susannah, went along to discover Jakob Two Trees in Issaquah, WA and my friend, Wendy. was along for the encounter with Big Rusty in New Jersey. 

Some have wild hair made from branches or a 10-foot beard and one in Dayton had his leg across a creek. Dambo is quite the artist and it’s fascinating to see the detail on the bottom of a troll’s foot or the ear lobe. It’s like a giant easter egg hunt looking for the next surprise hiding in the forest or across a field or standing in a park.  If you decide to go on a hunt yourself, check out the troll map and look for birdhouses as that is where Dambo got his start and it’s a sure sign you are on the right path.  Happy hunting.