World's Largest Ball of Barbed Wire (Closed)
Denton, Texas
After rolling what Guinness World Records claimed was the World's Largest Ball of Twine -- a claim disputed by the boosters of other big balls -- retired brick mason J.C. Payne set out to roll the World's Largest Ball of Barbed Wire. With the help of his wife, Elsie, he succeeded -- but for some reason Guinness never officially recognized it, leaving their designation with an older, smaller barbed wire ball. J.C. continued to add to his ball, and told a local newspaper that his goal was to make it 12 feet tall (and then possibly sell it to Ripley's Believe it or Not, as he did with his Twine Ball). He died in 2004 just short of his goal. The ball remains where he left it in his back yard, a round, somewhat lumpy sphere of several tons of spiky steel now rusted with age.
The big barbed wire ball, decorated with strings of Christmas lights, is kept company by a pair of smaller balls.