In the spring of 1992, my roommate Pat and I loaded up my Mazda pickup truck, packed a few sleeping bags, maps, food, and cassette tapes, and hit the road westward. Deciding to see the "real" America, we took single-lane roads by day and made up time on the highways by night. Meandering through the country, we saw a lot of strange things, but none was stranger than this display of signs on the property of a farm outside rural Perry, Oklahoma. I'll let the signs speak for themselves, as I have no idea what they mean or what the circumstances were.

After stopping on the side of the road and snapping half a roll of 35-millimeter film, we saw a local police cruiser heading towards us in the distance, and decided to get back on our way before we had any run-ins with the law. By the way, if you want to find this place again, fly over the countryside until you see a barn with the words "CONFESS" written in nine-foot-tall letters.

Oddly, the signs are out of order, reading right to left. Click on any sign in the panoramic shot for a close-up.


Update 5/31/07: I got an email from a fellow in California, who sends this information along:

"We just had a family reunion with the grandparents in Perry, like we do every few years. We have always wondered about the signs and asked about them this time. This is from memory, but apparently the signs-guy was a Polish landowner and had a fight with Noble County about eminent domain when they were building the highway across his land. Evidently he lost and assumed it was because they were racist against Poles. The signs are still there, although decayed, so I assume he is still around."

For more information, see this article on Roadside America.

Also, my 15 seconds of fame from back in 2004.

all images copyright 1992-2007 Bill Dugan. If you want to use them for something, drop me an email.