Maker

Secret of Evermor

Flight of fancy on a monumental scale. By Buzz Moran

Five miles south of Baraboo, Wis., across the highway from an abandoned ammunition plant, lie the larger-than-life sculptures of Dr. Evermor, a visionary Machine Age inventor who is the alter ego of retired salvage dealer Tom Every. I spoke with Every, who, despite being 70 and in a wheelchair, is still adding to the collection.

Buzz Moran: How did this work begin?

Dr. Evermor: It came out of a time of duress in my life, when I was unhappy. I built the Forevertron [the central sculpture] to get me the hell away from this planet. I’ll climb inside that glass ball at the top, shoot it at the heavens, and make it back to the Lord on a magnetic lightning force beam.

I looked around at what I had to work with, and zam-zam, that’s how it evolved. I started with a

giant autoclave from the Apollo missions that weighed 32,000 pounds. Later I got ahold of some actual bipolar dynamos that Mr. Edison made, from the Ford museum, and stuck those in there.

Then I had to put a big 40-foot telescope nearby, so any doubting Thomases could see if the damn fool made it or not. Using the 1890s as a time frame, I added an elevated teahouse where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert would have sat and witnessed the launch. My family is all from England.

Another machine is the Graviton. When you’re getting ready to go up and you’re burly like me, you stand in that and bzzzt, it dewaters you to get you down to the right weight. That piece was an old X-ray machine. I also added an overlord master control tower, which I got up about 42 feet. I’d like to finish that up before I check out, you know?

Photography by Buzz and Cheryl Moran, and by Lauren Rauk (bottom right)

44 Make: Volume 15