Encounter a headless dinosaur in Florida with a dark history on the road

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. – Drivers heading along the backroads in Hernando County might spot this strange figure on the side of the road.

It’s a large, headless sculpture of a brontosaurus, with its interior exposed to the elements.

A large decoration can be found along Lake Lindsey Road near U.S. Highway 41, but there are no signs or markers in the vicinity explaining why it is there in the open.

However, Nature Coaster explains that the sculpture stems back to 1966, which is when artist August Herwede began its construction.

Herwede’s inspiration to build the dinosaur reportedly came from the Dinoland exhibit at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. He embarked on a project to create a statue that matched the scale of the prehistoric brontosaurus, measuring about 60 feet in length and over 30 feet in height.

According to Nature Coaster, Herwede crafted the beast with a wooden frame and wire-reinforced concrete shell.

According to the website, the statue was designed to be hollow with access to the inside through a hole in the belly of the beast. Herwede dug a pit at the curve on State Road 476 to create a swamp-like setting for the dinosaur and began the construction process.

But disaster struck in 1967 while Herwede was building the statue. He fell from the creature’s shoulders, ultimately breaking his neck and dying.

Herwede was buried in the nearby Lake Lindsay Cemetery, and many of the other small sculptures on his property were sold off. However, his family left the brontosaurus as-is to commemorate Herwede.

That’s not where the story ends, though.

Nowadays, the dinosaur is owned by Steve Eaton, who lives just up the hill on his 5-acre property.

Per Nature Coaster, Eaton’s brother — Kevin Eaton — regularly decks out the statue for the holidays, putting up garlands, lights, and other festive decorations.

“For fifty years, this dinosaur sat untouched,” he told Nature Coaster. “I thought something should be done with it. It would be nice if someone would finish the front half — if they know how to do that — but I decided to decorate it.”

The statue is reportedly equipped with a security camera, too, helping to safeguard the strange attraction from vandals and looters.

But this dinosaur statue isn’t the only roadside oddity in Central Florida. Far from it.

There are plenty of fascinating highway attractions in this stretch of the Sunshine State, from a giant “Moonman,” to an abandoned ark, and even one of the most haunted roadways in the country.

To read up on those places and much more, head to News 6′s “Florida Fables” page by clicking here.