AN EERIE tourist attraction displaying cracked & decaying heads of the 42 US presidents includes Abraham Lincoln complete with a hold in his skull.
The 42 statues weigh between 17,000 and 22,000 lbs and are sitting in a field in Croaker, Virginia near Colonial Williamsburg, slowly rotting away.
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Sitting in three oddly neat rows, some of the statues can be seen to have uncanny tear stains and broken noses.
As well as Abe’s ironic ‘bullet-hole’ to the back of his head, and the miniature Obama, the Ronald Raegan statue has a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on its face.
The Presidential pillars belong to Howard Hankins and sit on his family farm in Virginia President’s Park which closed in 2010.
It meant that the Obama statue never had time to be manufactured to full size.
Heartbroken at the thought of throwing them away, Howard offered to take the heads and move them 11 miles away to his 400-acre farm, a process which is estimated to have cost Howard £37,971 ($50,000).
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This move caused significant material damage to all of the statues, particularly damage to the neck areas as they were lifted by crane onto Howard’s flatbed truck.
Howard was involved in the creation of Virginia President’s Park, which opened in 2004 and cost £7.5million ($10 million) but had to close due to a lack of visitors and a poor location behind a motel.
The Hankins farm has now become a tourist attraction of its own, even though Howard does not hold a tourist attraction licence and turns away visitors.
Howard is particularly attached to these busts, commenting on a picture a photographer drew of the crumbling creations: “It just tugs at your heart to look at it.”
John Plashal, a photographer and friend of Howard, convinced him to open up his private property to tourists a few times a year.
John says that it’s the imagery of the statues that attracts visitors: “They are becoming iconic because of their dereliction.
“No disrespect to D.C., but anybody can go see clean presidents anytime they want.
“The juxtaposition of these 42 men of significant power deteriorating at a rapid pace and stuck in a field in Croaker, Virginia, is the main driver—it’s the imagery.”
John further commented on how post-pandemic life has helped draw attention to the bizarre attraction: “We get people from all over the world. Post-pandemic, people seem to be much more experiential in travelling.
“They’re spending their money on super cool events and unique locales.”
John and his tour partner Roy Schneider offer several themed activities at the park, including scavenger hunts and Presidential trivia.
The farm has also attracted significant social media attention, with many people seen standing in front of the Presidents on Instagram.
Abraham Lincoln, who served as the 16th President from 1861, was shot in the back of the head in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth whilst watching theatre.
Booth snuck into Lincoln’s theatre box to assassinate him.
Lincoln is most known for leading the US through the American Civil War and playing a major part in the abolition of slavery.
Ronald Ragen, the 40th President, is considered one of the most prominent Conservative figures in American history.
As President, Ragen oversaw both a fall in inflation and unemployment, but a tripling of the National Debt and was slow to respond to America’s AIDS epidemic.
Like Lincoln, Raegan also survived an assassination attempt in 1981.
Barack Obama, as the 44th President became the first African-American to be elected in the role.
Serving as a Democrat, Obama oversaw support for the 2008 Financial Crisis, saw an end to major US Military presence in Iraq, and ordered the successful assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Obama has continued to be a prominent Democratic figure, along with his wife Michelle Obama, and is currently endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris to become the 47th President.
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