 Vintage postcard view of the S.S. Atlantus, Cape May, NJ.
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Dementia Concretia
There's a bug some old people get. They work hard all of their lives and when retirement finally arrives -- instead of quietly going into that dark night -- a strange earwig burrows into their brain and forces them to build, Build, BUILD! Taking whatever is handy -- usually concrete, bottles and household junk -- they fashion icons and structures until they are exhausted. This is dementia concretia. Whatever its cause, it prolongs the lives of the afflicted. Many of these tortured souls continue building well into their eighties. If you ask them why, most will shrug their shoulders and say, "Well, I had to do something ."
Prime examples of dementia concretia include Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village (Simi Valley, California); Grotto of the Redemption, West Bend, Iowa; and Fred Smith's Concrete Park (Phillips, Wisconsin). There are hundreds more.
And lest you think that this malady strikes only individuals, consider the remains of the SS Atlantus, visible as a lump in the ocean from Cape May Point, New Jersey. A marker on shore reads, "Remains of experimental concrete ship built during World War I. Proven impractical because of weight."
