Giant squirrels? Houses covered in beer cans? Mysterious lights? Texas has long had a reputation for housing some of the wildest, wackiest things around. Here are 10 of the weirdest sights in the Lone Star State.
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1. The Cadillac Ranch
Where: I-40, just west of Amarillo
Website: None
About: Just as you’re putting the pedal down to pick up speed on I-40 outside of Amarillo, you see something that’ll stop you in your tracks. Ten Cadillacs planted nose-first in the ground, covered in wild spray-painted colors (which you can stop and add to). The Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation created in 1974 and has been inspiration for songs and videos ever since. (Photo: Louis Vest / Flickr)
2. Devil’s Rope Barbed Wire Museum
Where: 100 Kingsley St., McLean
Website: barbwiremuseum.com
About: Texas got its start as cattle country, and to this day, every country road has a line of fence posts next to it strung with barbed wire. It might look standard from the road, but there are more than 2,000 types of barbed wire that have been identified by collectors. This museum is cataloging them all, along with memorabilia and tools. (Photo: Jim Hickcox / Flickr)
3. Stonehenge II
Where: 120 Point Theatre Road, Ingram
Website: hcaf.com/index.php/stonehenge-ii
About: Stonehenge II was created as an art project by a couple of Hill Country art patrons more than 20 years ago in Hunt, Texas. It took nine months to build and is 90 percent as tall and 60 percent as wide as the original. As an added bonus, the two men, Al Shepperd and Doug Hill, added two 13-foot Easter Island head replicas for good measure. After Shepperd’s death, the installation was moved to the campus of the Hill Country Arts Foundation in Ingram. (Photo: Andrew Nourse / Flickr)
4. World’s largest squirrel statue
Where: 2626 Highway 71, Cedar Creek
Website: berdollpecanfarm.com
About: Ms. Pearl sits up politely, calmly holding her meal and looking straight ahead. She’s a well-known and respected member of this community, acting as a landmark for generations. Did we mention Ms. Pearl is a 10 foot squirrel statue? She resides at Berdoll Pecan Candy & Gift Co. and even has her own email address, to which fans can submit their pictures taken with her. If you enjoyed this, there is also what is billed as the world’s largest jackrabbit statue in Odessa. (Photo: Blue Genie / Flickr)
5. Beer Can House
Where: 222 Malone St., Houston
Website: beercanhouse.org
About: In 1968, John Milkovisch crushed and threw away his last empty. He took the next 50,000 empties and covered his house and garage with them, including cutting the tops off to make wind chimes and rebuilding the fences. Milkovisch died in 1988, but the house has been maintained by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. When asked if he had a favorite beer, Milkovisch said, “Whatever’s on special.” (Photo: elaine / Flickr)
6. Marfa Lights
Where: Nine miles east of Marfa’s town center on Highway 90.
Website: visitmarfa.com/lights
About: For decades, passers-by have seen mysterious lights flashing on the southeast horizon outside Marfa. People have tried to explain them for just as long, citing possible reasons ranging from ghosts, swamp gas, St. Elmo’s Fire, or more prosaically, automobile headlights. In the meantime, the lights appear randomly, not depending on any time of day or season. (Photo: Jon Hanson / Flickr)
7. Ozymandias Legs
Where: Intersection of I-27 and Sundown Lane, Amarillo
Website: None
About: Rising from the flat North Texas plains outside of Amarillo are two giant concrete legs — one three stories tall, and one two stories tall. Supported by the same patron behind the nearby Cadillac Ranch, the giant legs were allegedly inspired by the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, who wrote of Ozymandias putting up a giant statue of himself, which was later destroyed. Locals seem to think the king’s feet would get cold, often painting on huge athletic socks. (Photo: Bradley Gordon / Flickr)
8. Eiffel Tower
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Where: 2025 Jefferson Road, Paris
Website: None
About: It may be the only the fourth highest version of the Eiffel Tower in existence, but it is the only one featuring a bright red cowboy hat. The tower in Texas was built in 1995 by a local boilermakers union, and at the time was the second largest, behind only the original. However, since then Paris, Tenn., has increased the size of their tower to edge back into third. Both of them are under 75 feet — midgets next to the one on the strip in Las Vegas and the original.
9. The Cathedral of Junk
Where: 4422 Lareina Dr., Austin
Website: None
About: The Cathedral is a 20-foot-plus building put together by artist Vince Hannemann, and it includes more than 60 tons of junk — everything from beer signs to bicycle parts. Hannemann started building in 1988, and it continues to shift size and dimensions. The cathedral is open by appointment only. (Photo: .imelda / Flickr)
10. Giant Dime in a Box
Where: Highway 141, in downtown Dime Box
Website: None
About: The town’s name is Dime Box, and sure enough, there is a giant dime in a clear plastic box standing in the town center. This is actually “new” Dime Box — which formed when the Southern Pacific railroad passed three miles south of “old” Dime Box. The name came from the practice of leaving a dime in a box at Brown’s Mill (the original name of the town) to get a letter. When postal officials complained that Brown’s Mill was too similar to Brownsville, the town decided to change the name to Dime Box. The dime came when Dime Box was featured in Life Magazine and opened the March of Dimes 1944 campaign. (Photo: Jimmy Emerson, DVM / Flickr)