Entry No. 10 — the Anchorage file — filed under: haunted
The Last Blue Whale (a.k.a. the "Whale Drowns Men" statue)
“the whale eyeballs you at sidewalk level while flailing whalers tangle in its tail”
A roughly three-story bronze by Joseph Priniciotti, installed 1973, depicting a whale flipping two whaling boats and drowning the men in them — the whale eyeballs you at sidewalk level while flailing whalers tangle in its tail three floors up. It's tucked at the Carr-Gottstein "Whale Building" courtyard and easy to walk past.
The move: Stand directly under the whale's eye at street level, then circle the building to find the doomed whalers up top — a 10-minute weird-art detour before dinner downtown.
📍 Before you go It stands on K Street downtown, across from the Boney Courthouse — the easiest landmark to steer by, since the sculpture sits low in the building's entry plaza and blends into the streetscape. Downtown Anchorage is a compact, flat grid, so park once (a nearby garage or metered street spot) and explore on foot. Visibility is round-the-clock, but timing matters at this latitude: summer gives you near-endless daylight to study it, while deep winter means short, cold, dark afternoons. Pair it with the 4th and 5th Avenue strip a few blocks north, where most of downtown's dining and the historic district cluster.
- 📍 Downtown
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 301 K Street, Anchorage, AK 99501
Hours: Outdoor courtyard, visible anytime
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Roadside America · waymarking.com
last checked: 2026-06-06