Wyoming is home to a lot of strange landmarks – from petroglyphs to singing sand dunes – but nothing can quite compete with the Smith Mansion. This unique home might be the strangest residence in the entire world.
Way out in Wapiti is a legendary house that is hard to believe in until you see it for yourself!
Flickr / Darren Harper
The Smith Mansion began as a simple homebuliding project, but the maker continued with strange additions for the duration of his life.
Flickr / Travis Francis Lee Smith was an artist in every sense of the world, and though some people call it the “crazy house”, there was nothing crazy about the man. In fact, it wasn’t until after his death that his family discovered there were no blueprints, and each addition to the house was created on a whim.
The home never had electricity, despite the Smith family living there for years in the 1980s, and ran simply by a small generator.
Youtube / RoadTrippersa There aren’t any dedicated bedrooms, either. Mr. Smith slept in a giant swing in the summer months, and by the home’s only fireplace in the winter months.
It took Mr. Smith over a decade to construct the house, which was such an obsession that it cost him his marriage.
Youtube / RoadTrippersa According to this article by the New York Times, Francis Lee Smith spent every waking hour working on his masterpiece of a home, until his wife decided to leave him and move their family into town.
His children, Sunny and Bucky, spent part of their childhood in these very rooms and porches, living in a way that you would only expect from a rural Wyoming family.
Youtube / RoadTrippersa
Sadly, Mr. Smith lost his life to his house when he fell from a balcony during some maintenance in 1992. Since then, the house has sat, vacant and eerie on a Wapiti hillside.
Youtube / RoadTrippersa
In recent years, Sunny Larsen has been working a preservation project, and hopes to one day turn this unique landmark into a museum. After all, there’s nothing like it in the world!
Youtube / RoadTrippersa You can take a virtual tour of the mansion in this fascinating RoadTrippers Youtube video below:
Have you driven by the Smith Mansion? It’s certainly an eye catcher! For more of Wyoming’s oddest landmarks, read 10 Bizarre Roadside Attractions In Wyoming That Will Make You Do A Double Take.
Flickr / Darren Harper
Flickr / Travis
Francis Lee Smith was an artist in every sense of the world, and though some people call it the “crazy house”, there was nothing crazy about the man. In fact, it wasn’t until after his death that his family discovered there were no blueprints, and each addition to the house was created on a whim.
Youtube / RoadTrippersa
There aren’t any dedicated bedrooms, either. Mr. Smith slept in a giant swing in the summer months, and by the home’s only fireplace in the winter months.
According to this article by the New York Times, Francis Lee Smith spent every waking hour working on his masterpiece of a home, until his wife decided to leave him and move their family into town.
You can take a virtual tour of the mansion in this fascinating RoadTrippers Youtube video below:
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