The Wildman statue

Trinity, Texas, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

The Wildman is a 22-foot steel head studded with railroad spikes, with red eyes that glow at night, at the corner of Emory Street and Pegoda Road in Trinity, Texas. Artist Jim Robertson made it in 2000 for a Houston sculpture contest.

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The Wildman statue

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Site-level location · 30.9430° N, 95.3705° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A 22-foot head bristling with railroad spikes stands, according to The East Texas Weekend (May 2026), at a street corner in Trinity, Texas, with eyes that glow red after dark.

The Wildman statue is at the corner of Emory Street and Pegoda Road; KLTV in 2013 placed it near FM 365. Artist Jim Robertson, who taught painting and drawing at Lonestar College in Houston for over 29 years, told the station he made it in 2000 after being asked to join an international sculpture contest in Houston. He and one welder spent four months building the steel head, neck and bust, which stood on Allen Parkway for about three months before it came to Trinity.

Local rumour tied the face to the Pinhead character from the movies, or to something satanic. Robertson told KLTV that was wrong: he said it is based on a costume studded with wooden spikes in Houston's Menil Collection, supposedly modelled on an 18th-century German Wildman who wrestled bears in a ring.

The spikes are railroad spikes Robertson collected in East Texas. KLTV's 2013 report opens with "more than 1,000" and later says "over 1,400"; The East Texas Weekend repeated "over 1,400" in May 2026. A lockable trap door in the base lets him climb inside to change the eye bulbs, which KLTV said he does every four months.

Robertson said locals were sceptical at first but now treat it as a landmark. The East Texas Weekend advised passing by at night to see the eyes glow.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A 22-foot metal head at a Trinity street corner, seen from outside. The East Texas Weekend suggested in May 2026 going after dark to see the red eyes glow. Park considerately and keep to the public roadside.

ACCESS

Corner of Emory Street and Pegoda Road, Trinity, Texas, as described by The East Texas Weekend in May 2026. View from the roadside and stay off adjoining property.

COMMUNITY

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WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

The Boot House, a 35-foot-tall, 700-square-foot private residence built in the shape of a giant cowboy boot, designed and built by artist/builder Dan Phillips of Phoenix Commotion, completed January 2017 in Huntsville, Texas. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom home features a spiral staircase in the boot's 'neck' leading to an outdoor deck, and top-of-the-line materials including granite and hardwood, built largely with recycled and salvaged materials per Phillips' signature eco-friendly style. A companion Cowboy Hat House was completed afterward on the same street.

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30 km away

TRANSPARENCY

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