Sykes Ranch, Aberdeen, Mississippi, 1956

For an enlarged view of the structure, mouse over the image above.

I didn't quite know what to make of this snapshot when I purchased it. The photo is dated July 1956 and shows a haphazardly constructed structure of some sort, with discarded tires, odd lengths of wood, and unidentifiable pieces of metal. A strangely shaped homemade bench stands on one side of what looks like an entrance, and a couple of steer skulls stand guard on the other side. I thought that it might be the entrance to a junkyard.

A number of handmade signs appear on the structure. One sign warns, "Posted, Keep Out," and right below it is another that says, "Welcome." I spotted yet another sign with a religious message--"Do You Believe in Jesus, Thank You"--and then I noticed a pair of signs that simply say, "Sykes Ranch." Could that be the name of the junkyard?

After numerous Google searches, I found a March 3, 2011, blog posting by Vance Lauderdale that described "Stephen Sykes and His 'In-Curiosity' House." It turns our that the owner of Sykes Ranch was "a remarkable fellow named Stephen Sykes, who constructed an absolutely amazing folk-art house / junk pile / art creation outside Aberdeen, Mississippi, in the 1950s that he called 'In-Curiosity.'"

Despite the Sykes Ranch signs in the photo, the structure was referred to as "In-Curiosity" by Sykes or sometimes just "Curiosity" by others, as Lauderdale recounts in his blog posting and in a Very Curious column that he wrote for Memphis Magazine, February 2011.

Lauderdale also located an earlier article, "Do It Yourself 'Skyscraper'," in Ebony magazine, March 1963, pp. 75-78, that described Stephen Sykes as "a 69-year-old bachelor with a driving amibition to rise above his fellow man." Sykes, an African-American veteran of World War I, began building In-Curiosity, which he used as a residence, in the early 1950s on family-owned land located along U.S. Route 45 near Aberdeen, Mississippi.

Lauderdale heard that Stephen Sykes passed away sometime in the 1960s, and he assumed that all traces of In-Curiosity vanished when Route 45 was later widened. "But Sykes and his amazing creation," Lauderdale fittingly said, "live on in the memories of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of travelers in this area, and in grainy home movies and snapshots tucked away in boxes and scrapbooks."

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For additional views of In-Curiosity, photos of Stephen Sykes, and further information regarding the maker and his house, check out Vance Laureldale's writings and the Ebony article:

Vance Lauderdale. Very Curious column. Memphis Magazine, February 2011.

Vance Lauderdale. "Stephen Sykes and His 'In-Curiosity' House." Ask Vance, March 3, 2011.

"Do It Yourself 'Skyscraper'." Ebony, March 1963, pp. 75-78.