Polkville NC's giant junkyard crucifixion
• Cheap Laughs
A fifteen foot Crucifixion of Christ built out of scrap testifies to the continuance of craftsmanship here in the Tarheel State.
The trouble is, the three towering, 15-foot-tall crosses, widely visible from Yates Road near Polkville, are bothering some neighbors.
Not the crosses themselves, but what hangs on them — three six-foot-tall, emaciated, near-naked men, created with scrap lumber and an electric saw.
Gibbs spent more than a year constructing the wooden mannequins, which portray Jesus and the two thieves who were crucified alongside him 2,000 years ago.
The men, made from 2 feet by 12 feet blocks of wood, appear to be nailed to the crosses, but actually hang by a hidden rope and pulley.
While carving the men, Gibbs accentuated the jutting ribs, to show that they were starving.
He spared no detail, not even the red blood trickling from each man’s wounds.
“When they put Jesus on the cross, it was cruel,” Gibbs said.
One neighbor, who did not want to be identified, described the crucified men as “the awfullest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Gibbs completed the crosses a while ago, but when the mannequins appeared this month, neighbors began complaining.
Now he stores them in a special cart in his garage, and saves them for “special occasions” such as Easter Sunday. The crosses, which are set in concrete, remain in the yard.
Still, some are in awe of the men on the crosses.
“I’ve seen them and I think they’re beautiful,” said Barbara Truelove of H & H Pest Control. “In my opinion something like that needs to be in a church.”
Neighbors describe Gibbs as a hermit who keeps to himself.
But his yard, a mesmerizing maze of wood pieces, spray paint cans, welding tools, tables and other odds and ends, has gained infamy in the neighborhood.
One neighbor claims his property value has severely depreciated because of Gibbs’ yard.
Another called Environmental Health on Gibbs last year about his yard.
Gibbs said he has cleaned his yard up since then.
The carport on the left side of Gibbs’ house doesn’t contain a car.
Instead, it houses a massive wooden table, around which sit 12 life-sized wooden dummies with glass eyes, sandals, wigs and robes.
The Last Supper was the first Biblical scene Gibbs constructed, about three years ago.
The Jesus seated at the table is 6 feet 5 inches, something Gibbs still doesn’t understand.
“I was copying myself and Jesus turned out to be over six feet,” said Gibbs, who himself stands under 5 feet 6 inches.
Judas, the betrayer, clasps a leather bag filled with real coins in his wooden hand.
“The fingernails want to come off,” Gibbs said, eyeing the strips of white plastic stapled to the wooden fingers. “They don’t glue too good.”
Pitchers and cups made by a local potter rest on the table, next to wooden dishes filled with bread — real bread.
“I bought biscuits,” Gibbs said. “I cooked them and let them sit out, and they were hard as a rock. Then I painted them. The bugs don’t get to them.”
Gibbs said he was saved at the age of 13. Lately he’s been studying a lot about the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
He was inspired to recreate scenes from the gospels.
“I know just anybody can’t do it,” Gibbs said. “Or if they could, they won’t do it.”
The wigs on the disciples’ heads were recovered from the trash years ago, when J.C. Penney’s went out of business and threw them away.
Amy Kenna, The Shelby Star: 15 feet of detail