Easter Island head.

Easter Island Head

Joe Stanke had always been fascinated by the mysterious Moai of Easter Island. So in 1980 he and some friends took wood, metal mesh, and cement plaster, and built one on his front lawn.

Joe told a local National Public Radio affiliate that he was inspired to build the head after he saw a model of one at a museum. He realized that he could use a ruler to take detailed measurements of the head when no one was looking. "I just doubled everything." The resulting head is nine feet wide and 14 feet tall.

According to Joe, many people who pose with the statue like to stick their fingers up its nose. He doesn't mind that, but he does mind if people climb on the head, and he will yell at them from his window if they do. He told NPR that he has a copy of a Roadside America tip from 2010, recalling one encounter in which the trespassers wrote that they "ran off in fear of our lives." Joe laughed about that.

Easter Island Head

Address:: 15400 W. Cleveland Ave., New Berlin, WI
Directions:: On the north side of Hwy D/W. Cleveland Ave., one block east of its intersection with Hwy O/S. Moorland Rd. Park at either the church to the east or the Wendy's to the west. Photo takers welcome, but do not climb on the head!
RA Rates:: Worth a Detour

Nearby Offbeat Places

Organ Piper Pizza, Greenfield, WI - 4 mi.

Tiny Hobbit House, Brookfield, WI - 4 mi.

Nike Missile Base, Waukesha, WI - 5 mi.

In the region:

Da Crusher, South Milwaukee, WI - 14 mi.

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