We thought this was going to be much cooler and a lot less imposing when we went, but to be honest, this place in Weston, Mass., seriously gave us the creeps. That’s why we’re posting it on Halloween.

A stone tower erected in 1889 by Eben Norton Horsford, the structure is made of field stones, is almost 40 feet tall and contains a stone spiral staircase. And to our horror, its metal gated doorway was wide open.

We really wanted to be brave. I even sat for a photo because I’m a good boy (and, treats!). We took a few steps up, but it was dark inside and spooky and something just didn’t feel right, so we aborted the exploration mission.

Had we persevered, perhaps there was a lovely reward, as the tower overlooks the Charles River and likely has a cool view from the top. But… we can also go to Boston to see the Charles River without feeling like Samara from The Ring is going to contort herself through one of the barred windows.

So we got the hell out of there and came home to find out its story.

Apparently, back in the day, established Protestant Boston families weren’t too thrilled about the rush of Italian and Irish immigrants. So someone mentioned Leif Erikson and lamented that this country was actually discovered by Vikings, in order to stick it to Christopher Columbus and his fancy story about finding America.

That sparked a big to-do over who was more legit, Columbus or Erikson. We’re guessing it was probably the Biggie vs. Tupac debate of its time.

So Horsford gathered his Vikings-believing bros and they built the Norumbega Tower in the spot that a mythical Norumbega Fort had allegedly existed.

It’s amazing the lengths some people will go to to try and prove something. A good game of Rock, Paper, Scissors could have settled that in a hot minute.

Or, perhaps all parties could have just admitted that indigenous people already lived here, therefore neither of those dudes discovered anything new.

Sources include Wikipedia and a story in the Patriot Ledger.