M. Schettl Freight Sales, Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Thanks to roadsideamerica.com, I found out about a piece of Americana that was close to our path as we drove across Wisconsin yesterday.

Along a side road northwest of Oshkosh, in a little town called Butte des Morts (translation: Hill of the Dead... I guess that tells us what was there before the French fur-traders came visiting), is a huge collection of fiberglass animals, rusty steel sculptures, and decorative mini-greenhouses, all mixed together with boat trailers, semis and kitchen components.

Welcome to the eccentric world of M. Schettl Freight Sales, where everything is for sale.


It pays to look up while visiting the M. Schettl yard.


There was a whole family of elephants, but I particularly liked the sickly one.


This helpful guide greeted me as I left the car.


Beautiful weathering and texture on the green barn. Each building is numbered to help shoppers.


The combinations of oddball bits and pieces range from absurd to funny and back again.


This large metal dino has a stairway up its rear end so you can see the inside, which is home to a number of lizards and snakes (not real, of course), as well as a spaceship-like seating area complete with steering wheel. (Note the red Citicar in the background -- an electric car made in the U.S. from 1974-1983, and featured in the movie version of Ursula LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven).


A heavy metal twist on the plastic pink flamingo.


Who would design a fiberglass female centaur? What was its original purpose?


A fallen piggy in the midst of the trailer field.


There were half a dozen large buffalo in a range of artificial colors


Inside one of the buildings, surrounded by kitchen cabinets, is a huge number of fiberglass people, from Michael Jordan to the Crypt Keeper to Jesus... your choice, $798.