16 Unusual World Records in the USA

The USA is a fascinating place, filled with endless things to see and do. You can take your RV to the usual places like campgrounds, rallies and our wonderful park system. But why not try some sites off the beaten path? We have gathered some of the most unusual, most interesting and coolest world records we could find throughout the country and put them in one place. Stop by your friendly world record holder and say hello!

1. World’s Largest Ball of Paint

_{Alexandria, Indiana | roadsideamerica.com}

Weight: 4,500 lbs. (1,814 kg.)
Circumference: 121”
Creator: Michael Carmichael

This ball of paint is a solid mass of thousands of hardened, microscopically-thin layers, methodically applied atop each other month after month, year after year.

The idea was born by a simple accident – while Michael Carmichael was playing with a baseball, it accidentally fell into some paint.

In 1977, Carmichael began to add layer after layer of paint to the baseball that is at the center of this behemoth. In the beginning, Mike wanted to put a thousand coats of paint on the ball and cut it in half to see a cross section of all the different colors of paint. But the bigger the ball got, the more Mike and his family wanted to keep adding more layers. Today, the ball has 24,000+ coats of paint. In May 2004, the ball earned a Guinness Book of World Records certification.

2. World’s Largest Knitting Needles

_{Casey, Illinois | roadsideamerica.com}

Weight: 25 lbs. Each (11.3 kg.)
Height: 13 feet and 0.75 inches + (3.98 meters)
Diameter: 3.25 inches (8.5 centimeters)
Creator: Jim Bolin

Casey, Illinois, home to the largest knitting needles, which reside at Monroe Elementary School, were presented on May 20th, 2013 to the school.

Wanting to gain a Guinness Book of World Records certificate, the knitting needles were used by Jeanette Huisinga who knit a square of ten stiches by ten rows, successfully making it in the book. Bolin said he made the knitting needles for Huisinga, his wife’s cousin, in an attempt to attract more people to her store and to Casey.

Fun Fact:

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the most needles threaded blindfolded in one minute. The record is held by Wan Fuguan with 44.

3. World’s Largest Rocking Chair

_{Fanning, Missouri | www.fanning66outpost.com}

Weight: 27,500 lbs. (12,474 kg.)
Height: 42 feet and 1 inch (12.8 meters)
Length: 20 feet and 3 inches (6.18 meters)
Creator: Dan Sanazaro

Outside the US 66 Outpost and General Store, stands the world’s largest rocking chair which debuted on April 1st, 2008. This black steel pipe chair stands at over 42 feet tall, nine feet taller than the former World’s Largest Chair, with rockers that are each 31.5 feet long and weigh a ton a piece!

Creator and owner of Outpost, Dan Sanazaro, wanted a way to attract customers to his store and that is exactly what happened! Once a year, the Outpost offers everyone a chance to be lifted up by a hoist truck onto the chair. This annual event, “Picture on Rocker Day,” takes place the first Saturday of August and attracts many tourists.

4. World’s Largest Ball of Stamps

_{Boy’s Town, Nebraska | worldslargestthings.com}

Weight: 600 lbs. (272 kg.)
Height: N/A
Diameter: 32 inches (3.35 meters)
Creator: Stamp Collecting Club

In 1953, the Stamp Collecting Club at Boy’s Town started this massive sphere which holds about 4,655,000 cancelled stamps making it the World’s Largest Ball of Stamps. With this record, this amazing globe was featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not as well as by the United States Postal Service in 1986 on the four cent Father Flanagan stamp!

Today, the Ball of stamps resides in the The Leon Myers Stamp Center – a stamp collector’s heaven. The Center offers an exhibit on the history of postage stamps, a collector’s corner, and the one and only 600-pound ball of stamps.

5. World’s Largest Working Rifle

_{Ishpeming, Michigan | dayoopers.com}

Weight: 600 lbs. (272 kg.)
Height: N/A
Diameter: 32 inches (3.35 meters)
Creator: Stamp Collecting Club

6. World’s Largest Yo-Yo

_{Chico, California | nationalyoyo.org}

Weight: 256 lbs. (116 kg.)
Height: 50 inches (1.27 meters)
Width: 31.5 inches (0.8001 meters)
Creators: Dr. Tom Kuhn and Haas Wood & Ivory Works

Crafted out of California Sugar pine, Baltic birch, and Hardrock Maple, the 250 pound toy is not only impressive because of its construction and size, but by the fact that it actually works! Attached to a 75 foot string, No Jive 3 in 1 Yo-Yo was added to the Guinness Book of World Records after it was successfully tested in 1996 using an 80 foot crane.

After traveling the world for a period of time, the World’s Largest Wood Yo-Yo now permanently rests at the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California where National Yo-Yo Championships are held each year.

7. World’s Largest High Heeled Shoe

_{New York, New York | www.kennethcole.com}

Weight: 1,000 lbs. (453 kg.)
Height: 6 feet and 1 inch (1.85 meters)
Length: 6 feet and 5 inches (1.95 meters)
Creator: Jill Martin, Kenneth Cole

Kenneth Cole’s shoe empire just got a whole lot bigger. The “Otto” walks all over the former record for largest high heeled shoe which was set in 1996 by Edmund Kryza of Poland, whose pump measured a mere 44 inches high and 72 inches long; 2/3 the size of this power shoe.

Jill Martin and Kenneth Cole teamed up together to support the Garden of Dreams Foundation – a non-profit charity that makes dreams come true for children facing obstacles – by donating $5 from the sale of every shoe on kennethcole.com during the celebration of the record-breaking “Otto” shoe.

8. World’s Largest Collection of Star Wars Memorabilia

_{Rancho Obi-Wan, California | www.RanchoObiWan.org}

Weight: 1,000 lbs. (453 kg.)
Height: 6 feet and 1 inch (1.85 meters)
Length: 6 feet and 5 inches (1.95 meters)
Creator: Jill Martin, Kenneth Cole

9. World’s Largest Motorcycle

_{City of Stockton, California | www.visitstockton.org}

Weight: 6,500 lbs. (2948 kg.)
Height: 11 feet (3.4 meters)
Length: 20 feet (6.1 meters)
Creator: Gregory Dunham

This monster of a motorcycle has been officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest motorcycle. Powered by a 8.2 liter V8 engine, this steamroller lives up to its name – it’s not only built big, it runs big. Every part of this motorcycle means business; especially the tires, measuring at a height of 6 feet! This totally ride-able motorcycle is big in price as well, selling for $300,000!

10. World’s Largest Shoe

_{Bakersfield, California | www.worldslargestthings.com/california/shoe}

Height: 25 feet (7.62 meters)
Length: 32 feet (9.75 meters)
Creators: Chester Deschwanden

Having a shoe size of about 678, the World’s Largest Shoe is made of concrete and tied together by three-inch-thick, oil-field rope shoelaces.

Constructed in 1947, the 380-square-foot shoe was built by Chester Deschwanden, a shoe repair man who spent three years working to complete the World’s Largest Shoe.

After Deschwanden died, the World’s Largest Shoe was sold to its current owner, Salomon Olvera, with the legal stipulation that the property must continue to be used as a facility for a shoe related business. After all, what else would a shoe shaped building be used for?

11. World’s Largest TV

_{Denton County, Texas | www.texasmotorspeedway.com}

Weight: 960,000 lbs. (435,448 kg.)
Width: 95 feet (29 meters)
Length: 218 feet (66 meters)
Creators: Panasonic

On the 6th of April 2013, Guinness World Records recognized Panasonic and their “Big Hoss Tv” as being the largest high-definition television LED screen in the world. Boasting at 20,633 square feet, this gargantuan video board resides at the Texas Motor Speedway. In addition to it’s size, the screen has a resolution of 1080p and 4.8 million pixels. That’s 281 trillion different colors that can be displayed!

The official ceremony to induct the monster TV into the world records, kicked off the Duck Commander 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup series race.

12. World’s Largest Russian Egg

_{Topeka, Kansas | mulvaneartmuseum.org}

Height: 6.5 feet (1.98 meters)
Creators: The Mulvane Art Center

Established in 2001, this beautiful Russian Egg made of concrete, paint, and mosaic was constructed in conjunction with “Czars: 400 Years of Imperial Grandeur,” an exhibition hosted by the Mulvane Art Center.

Depicting four warmly clothed figures, the World’s Largest Russian Egg remains in excellent condition, except for the broken decorative band which now lays propped against the base stabilizing the large jeweled nesting egg.

13. World’s Largest Pez Dispensing Machine

_{Burlingame, California | www.burlingamepezmuseum.com/big}

Weight: 85 lbs. (38.55 kg.)
Height: 7’ 10” (2.4 meters)
Creator: Gary Doss, with assistance from David Jacobs Plastic, Crane Souder, and Jim Lund

Over twenty times the size of a regular Pez dispenser, The World’s Largest Pez Dispensing Machine resides at the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia since its completion in 2006. On March 7, 2007, this large candy container was awarded the Guiness World Record.

Modeled after a retired “Snowman B” Pez dispenser that was used from 1986-2001, the 85 pound candy machine is actually capable of dispensing a clear plastic capsule that can hold 6,480 Pez candies or a standard size Pez dispenser. Visitors may purchase one of these capsules which contains a signed certificate as well as a Pez candy or a Pez dispenser.

14. World’s Largest Van Gogh Painting and Easel

_{Goodland, Kansas | www.worldslargestthings.com/kansas/vangogh.htm}

Weight: 45,000 lbs. (20,411 kg.)
Height: 32 feet (9.75 meters)
Length: 24 feet (7.32 meters)
Creators: Cameron Cross

Resting upon a 80 foot steel easel sits a 24’x32’ painting of bright yellow sunflowers which towers above the citizens of Gooland, Kansas.

Established in 2001, the World’s Largest Van Gogh Painting and Easel is part of Cameron Cross’s The Big Easel project. Cross’s goal is to build a large Van Gogh painting and easel on every continent.

Prior to the Goodland Easel, Cross had already established easels in Canada and Australia, all of which are based upon or contain elements found in Van Gogh’s Sunflower paintings.

15. World’s Largest Animated Man

_{Brainerd, Minnesota | paulbunyanland.com}

Height: 27 feet (8.23 meters)
Weight: 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kg)
Waist Size: 150 inches (4 meters)
Neck Size: 80 inches (2 meters)
Creators: Paul Bunyan Amusement Park

Purchased from the Chicago North Western Railroad in 1949, the Paul Bunyan Amusement Park has been displaying Paul’s 26-foot stature and sleepy eyes for the last 50 years.

While the massive Paul Bunyan’s construction is an amazing sight to see, it is more incredible to experience his ability to move and speak to those admiring him. Stealthily working with the ticket-takers, the mechanical operator controls the limbs, head, mouth, and eyes of the giant Paul Bunyan as he greets visitors by name and tells tall tales of Minnesota’s lumbering days.

This unique combination of large scale construction and brilliant mechanics has earned Paul Bunyan the title of World’s Largest Animated Man.

16. “Saul” – The World’s Largest Sticker Ball

_{Longmont, Colorado | www.stickergiant.com}

Weight: 231.6 lbs. (105.052 kg)
Creators: John Fischer

Saul the Largest Sticker Ball was born from the idea of the first ever National Sticker Day, which was first officially celebrated on January 13th, 2016. In celebrating a day of stickers, we decided to attempt the Guinness World Records of the Largest Ball of Stickers. Not only did we achieve that goal by the date in my mind, but the sticker ball became part of Team StickerGiant and took on a personality of his own.

Starting with a small batch of balled up stickers, Saul the Sticker Ball grew to a record holding size in a matter of months. He went home with employees for weekend field trips with the goal of growing even larger, and we all learned tricks along the way in the secrets of building a giant Sticker Ball. This included learning how to make sticker patches, perfecting the rounding roll of Saul around the shop to keep his shape, and even working in small teams to competitively build Saul’s size.

Through all of this, Saul also became a celebrity in his own way with public appearances and starring at events encouraging people from all around to come and slap some stickers on him, and help him grow. In fact, Saul became an even bigger celebrity than any of us could have imagined, with national media attention on USA Today and Late Night with Seth Myers.

Intrigued and entertained by all these BIG records being set across America? Interested in setting-out yourself to see these and more fun locales across our beautiful country? Custom Glass Solutions wants to be there for you if you experience an RV glass malfunction out on the road. With our network of glass shops for windshield repairs and replacements, situated all across the United States, we can get your damaged RV windshield or side window repaired or replaced – fast! Learn about our services for RVs and motorhome here, then start the process with CGS by visiting this page.

Written by Matt Eder