The 19th-Century Spacecraft Sitting Beside a Highway in Wisconsin
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Nestled in the trees on a remote stretch of Wisconsin's Highway 12 is the Forevertron, a 19th-century spacecraft built by an eccentric man named Dr. Evermor.
Dr. Evermor didn't exist until 1983. That's when former industrial wrecking and salvage expert Tom Every retired and assumed the alter ego of a Victorian professor and inventor. Having amassed a personal collection of beautiful old machinery components during his wreck-and-salvage days, Every set about sculpting a scrap-metal spacecraft with an 1890s aesthetic.
The Forevertron comes with a story: its purpose is to launch Dr. Evermor into the heavens on a magnetic lightning beam. The big glass egg at the top of the sculpture, latticed with copper, is the doctor's personal space capsule. An elevated gazebo beside the main structure allows royalty to watch the launch from a decent vantage point. The Celestial Listening Ears are designed to allow visitors to hear voices from space.
There is no set launch date for the Forevertron, but even if it never blasts into the heavens, it has already earned an impressive distinction: at 50 feet high and 120 feet wide, it's the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world.
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