Thorvald Eriksson, brother of Leif Eriksson, was said in legend to have led an expedition to Vinland, where he was killed by Indians about 1000 years ago after being wounded in a skirmish and asking to be burned at a place resembling the area around Great Boars Head. In Hampton, this story grew into a local tradition that Vikings had landed on the shore, and marks on the surface of a stone were taken by some to be runic writings, though they were more likely glacial striations or more recent man-made marks. Joseph Dow, a noted Hampton historian, did not mention the rock in his comprehensive history published in 1888, and the story developed in the early 1900s as tourism increased at Hampton Beach, nearby land was developed for summer cottages, and a judge whose family owned the land promoted the account, helping lend credence to the romantic idea of Viking presence. Scholars today doubt the claims, but the rock became a tourist destination, took on a life of its own, and was taken into protective custody in 1989 to protect it from souvenir hunters.