August 2008

"QUANTUM SHOT" #468
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This article is co-written by RJ Evans and A. Abrams

If you got boring stuff... at least make a groovy fence around it

Well, spiders weave webs, and we humans can't seem to get off our fascination with building fences, hedges, borders and all kinds of restrictive and limiting structures. Some are clearly necessary (like this one guarding peace and quiet of a system administrator) -

...while others can be a nuisance and pretty ugly to look at.

So we decided to dig up a few better examples to start off the "Fence Glorification" Revolution world-wide (or something like it).

You'll see the bursts and splats of human creativity lavished on gates and fences - sometimes even making them more interesting than the actual stuff they enclose. Let's start with -

License Plate Fence

(images credit: Bugsy /Justin Sailor)

If you can't help thinking that some cannibal family (from a place where the hills have eyes) built this - and even start calculating how many victims these guys could have devoured over the years - you can stop scaring yourself. This fence is located in Missouri and probably just reflects the owner's love for traveling.

This Fence Ain’t Going Nowhere

What a weird, haunting sight... Yes, we get the hint: "the locked fence is locked". Or maybe the previous fence got stolen and the owners refuse to take any chances? Seen north of Chinatown in New York. Update: Look closely, and you'll even notice children faces on these locks... the plot thickens.

(image credit: Andrew)

Another fence that's not going anywhere (being completely eaten by a tree, rust and all) -

(image credit: Kevin O'Mara)

Danger of Drowning

Could this little bit of land contain a multi-dimensional wormhole that leads to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean? We certainly hope not.

(image credit: Peter Johnston)

The Insulator Fence

You've heard of electric fences. But what about an insulator fence? Makes sense, if it's a part of an Insulator House.

(image credit: magarell)

A Roller-Coaster Ride

(images credit: Chris & Becca Thompson)

If Doc Brown from "Back to the Future" had a white picket fence, then this is the one you can imagine him having! Constructed in Sonoma, perhaps the owner wished to show to the world their own carefree take on life. The world turns and greets with a smile another harmless eccentric, then turns away and mutters "Irretrievably barking mad" under its breath.

"A tidy fence is a sign of a sick mind"

You know the saying -"A clean desk is a sign of a sick mind". Now extrapolate it toward the whole business of erecting fences. There must be geniuses living behind this one (somewhere in Austin, TX)

(image credit: katken)

The "All the Fun of the Fair" fence

Someone with a dual fetish for fairground horses and unloved mannequins must have been responsible for this fence in New York. A strange combination by anyone’s reckoning, this fence is at once funny and strangely disconcerting:

(image credit: J. Niles Clement)

Obladi Oblada Life Goes On Bra

...and up the fence, like in this case:

(image credit: Rob O'Neill)

(image credit: Dave)

You notice this fence goes on pretty much forever. No shortage of bras in New Zealand... (or at least in Cardrona, Otago Province).

This is more proof, if you needed it, of the bizarre but often sublime human ability to demonstrate daftness on a massive scale. In 1999 four bras were inexplicably left on the fence. By the next year there were two hundred. Now this rural fence in the middle of nowhere is festooned with the things and has become a huge tourist attraction.

If an idea is good then a variation on a theme often works too - witness a Shoe Fence:

(image credit: Rachel Yerbury)

You have to hand it to our friends from New Zealand. They have an idea. It works. They stick with it. What are they going to throw on a fence next? (my vote is for more bras, of course)

The Scottish Sheep Fence Thingy

(images credit: Dick Edie)

You have probably seen the pictures of webs created by spiders after scientists had administered various amounts of illegal substances to them. One shudders to think what the perpetrator, sorry builder, of this fence had ingested before he had the cunning plan of creating this beauty in which to keep his sheep! Located in Crinan in Scotland.

Something about this fence figure... is not quite right

There is a doll inside this thing somewhere (silently screaming).

(image credit: Thomas Giuretis)

More groovy fences around the world:

Russian Cheburashka (their version of a hobbit) makes his appearance, again:

Speaking of Russian fences, what kind of logic is this? At least it's carefully locked -

This gate says "Russia"... It's tightly locked and yet not even a fence in sight. There is a deeper meaning to this picture, which becomes a symbol in itself (especially if the rest of the fence was stolen and turned in for vodka) -

(image credit: A. Lebedev)

Give your dog more personal space. He'll be a happier dog then. (Order this "Pet Peak" fence enhancement here)

Some fences have more gruesome history than their owners care to admit:

These pencils are ready to become a part of a pencil fence:

(image credit: Saima)

This is only a sample of the weird fences around the world. There are many more (check out for example, toothebrush Fence, or the Musical Fence, on which you can actually play like on musical instrument...). Even your own short drives into backcountry might uncover some wonders of local creativity - certainly a welcome change from an endless stream of featureless, utilitarian fence designs.