Creepy Henry Ford Statue

Richmond Hill, Georgia

Model-T millionaire Henry Ford turned Ways Station, Georgia -- one of the poorest towns in the entire state -- into his winter home in 1925. He then bought up 85,000 acres of local land, drained the swamps, built schools, hospitals, and a saw mill, and put the people to work. He took over an old plantation and had his mansion built from its bricks. He became the ultimate Benevolent Big Fish in a very small pond. Civic leaders asked Mr. Ford if he would please grant them the honor of renaming the town after him. Ford said no, name it after my house. And so it became Richmond Hill.

Richmond Hill still calls itself "A Henry Ford City" on its entrance signs, and in 1999 unveiled a life-size full-color statue of Henry Ford that stands on the lobby floor of city hall. Sculpted by a local university professor, it's an unexpected and disquieting presence in an otherwise typical public building. Ford wears a three-piece grey pinstriped suit, and looks like a cross between Mr. Burns from The Simpsons and a corpse.