By GREGG KIRK
November 1990

Every state has its share of larger-than-life sized statues. You know the variety — behemoth bronze or concrete depictions of war heroes, founding fathers, or historical figures placed conspicuously in some park or town square where they blend into the scenery and become nothing more than expensive perches for the birds.

But if you have traversed any of the main thoroughfares in the state of Delaware, you have no doubt noticed some strange figures crafted in either wood or fiberglass that may have made you swerve from your path and go on your way blinking in confusion. There are three of them that we have noticed — one in every county, and they each have a story behind them that is as interesting and peculiar as their appearances. What follows are the inside stories and little-known histories behind New Castle County’s Darth Vader, Kent County’s “Buddha,” and Sussex County’s “Totem Pole.”

A Space In Vader

At the crossroads of Miller Rd. and Baynard Blvd. in north Wilmington, for seemingly no reason at all, stands the imposing likeness of Star Wars anti-hero Darth Vader. The 10 ft. statue first made an appearance last month and has been attracting the attention of curious onlookers and drive-by rubberneckers ever since.

Why Darth Vader? Why north Wilmington? Why wood?

There is answer to each of these questions, and property owner Greg Kramedis knows better than anyone. The Wilmington native lives on the corner of Miller Rd. and Baynard Blvd. on a piece of land that has an abundance of large trees. On the perimeter of his property tower a number of these trees that were planted by the city years ago. Recently one of them died, and Kramedis waited to see if the city would make an attempt to dispose of it. Instead, he got a letter one day telling him that it was up to him to have the tree cut down — at his expense.

“I called Steve Barczak of the Department of Parks and Recreation and tried to negotiate with him,” says Kramedis. “I thought it was only fair that the tree be removed by the city since the city planted it in the first place, but he said that a new law had recently been passed and that if I didn’t remove the tree, the city would take me to court and put a lean on my house.”

Kramedis’ first reaction was to fight the law, but his attorney advised him that such a case would take years to fight and that one never wins when fighting city hall.

“So instead of cutting down the tree and leaving a bare spot, I got an idea and decided to put up a statue,” says Kramedis. “I thought the law wasn’t very fair, and it made me think of Darth Vader. In the movie he represented the dark side of the Force. He was part of the dark side of the government — the evil empire. Here he represents the dark side of the law.”

Has this oversized lawn ornament made him any new friends at city hall?

“I know the city is very upset with me,” Kramedis says. “They feel I’m rubbing it in their face — which I am! There’s no doubt about it. I’m exposing this unjust law. Think of the elderly people on fixed income who won’t be able to afford to pay to have a tree removed. I checked around before the statue was made and most of the estimates were more than $1,000. I paid $900 to have the tree brought down to a 10-ft. level.”

After getting the tree trimmed to this size, the city actually gave him the name of Denny Burton, a local woodcarver who had done several statues similar to what Kramedis wanted. Burton, a Native American who is currently working on the restoration of the Kalmar Nyckel ship in Wilmington, spent the better part of September fashioning Vader’s likeness with a chainsaw and wood chisels — free of charge. Kramedis applied several coats of paint and some finishing touches, and now the Jedi-gone-wrong stands proudly for all to see.

“I won’t keep it there forever,” smiles Kramedis. “I’ll probably donate him to a school, but for now he’s here to make a point.

EDITOR’S UPDATE 6/14/22: In 1997, Kramedis took down the entire Darth Vader sculpture, and artist Denny Burton managed to salvage the head, as seen in this photo taken by Robert Craig that same year.

Burton is now retired and living in an RV in Wilmington’s Babiarz Park where he has been installed as an honorary security guard.

“Buddha” Pest?

If you’ve ever driven to or from the Delaware Beaches, you’ve certainly seen it. And even if you haven’t ventured that way, you may have caught its likeness in a number of movies, television shows, or perhaps on the cover of a recent Live Skull album. It’s the large beast-like figure that is positioned in front of Tranquility Travel on the southbound side of Rt. 13 between Dover and Smyrna, and according to its owner Pat Stombaugh, though its appearance may be frightening, it is not an object of evil or the occult.

“The myth behind him is the opposite of what some people may think,” says Stombaugh who owns and runs the travel agency in Smyrna. “He is supposed to be a spirit or god who protected warriors in medieval times. In those days, warriors were killed on the field by serpents, and this guy picked up a serpent and went around destroying evil.”

This sketchy explanation of the fiberglass statue affectionately known as the “Buddha” by Stombaugh’s family and friends, is just part of the small amount of information that is actually known about the strange figure. The only official history Stombaugh was able to gather was acquired by a former employee of hers who went to California on a vacation a few years ago. Armed only with a picture of the statue, the agent was able to find that “Buddha” was the former property of MGM Studios and first appeared in a movie titled The Prodigy starring Lana Turner in 1955. Since then, the figure was used in several Tarzan movies, Ben Hur, Atlantis, and a movie highlighting the life of Marilyn Monroe.

Aside from these tidbits of information, Stombaugh has found out precious little about the statue since she purchased it from a Newark landscaping company in 1984. Nothing is known about a spiked war club which is mysteriously missing from the “Buddha’s” left hand, but the serpent in his right hand was the victim of a college prank. Apparently a college student stole the head, and then contacted the owner in an effort to return it. The co-ed backed out at the last minute for fear he would be prosecuted, and the head was never seen again. Coincidentally, woodcarver Denny Burton was contacted to fashion a replica of the head, but at present nothing has materialized. Stombaugh’s original intention for the statue was to use it to attract business, but in a way, this has almost backfired. Every week she must deal with curious onlookers and handfuls of photographers who stop by the place to gawk at the statue and then leave.

While a majority of the people who see the behemoth are curious, a few have been unhinged by the sight of the horned creature.

“In the six years I have had the “Buddha,” I’ve gotten only one real complaint,” Stombaugh says. “One day while I was very busy, a very stout lady came in the office and asked to talk to me about the statue. She asked me to get rid of it because she thought it was evil. Most people who know us knew that when we got the statue it was all in fun. If I had my rathers, I would rather have something not as ugly! But truthfully, we’ve had very few people opposed to it. Most people are curious, and once they hear the story, they understand why it’s here.”

EDITOR’S UPDATE 6/14/22: In July of 2004, Pat Stombaugh sold the “Buddha” to Denny Van Istendal of Lumberton, NJ, who bought the 11-foot-tall statue for about $5,000 with the intention of using it as the mascot for his landscaping business. Van Istendal apparently modified the statue to allow its eyes to glow red (see photo), but for some reason, he never installed the behemoth at his place of business. Instead, he placed it in the front yard of his home, where it caused local complaints from the neighbors. He eventually relocated it to his backyard in 2009, but because the statue’s head could be still seen from the street, the complaints continued. It is reported that he sold the statue to a bar in Philadelphia who had plans to use it as a promotions attraction in 2011. No word on the exact location of the statue at this point.

The Whispering Giant

As any resident of Bethany Beach, DE is quick to point out, the 22-ft. high wooden sculpture of a Native American encompassed by a large eagle that looms in front of the library on the intersection of Rt. 1 and Rt. 26 IS NOT A TOTEM POLE. It is a one-of-a-kind sculpture created by a young Hungarian immigrant concerned about the plight of the Native American, thank you.

To the thousands of people who pass by the statue and use it for a landmark every summer, the loosely-based likeness of Nanticoke Chief Little Owl may be taken for granted. But a good number of Bethany locals are fiercely proud of it, and they don’t mind telling you their version of the story of how the deceased Indian chief’s likeness came to be.

Actually, it was in 1976 that a long-haired and scruffy Peter Toth came to Sussex County, looking to erect a Native American sculpture as a part of what would be an 18-year quest to donate one such statue to every state in the union. After quitting his job as a machinist in 1971, Toth carved the first statue in the series out of stone in California in 1972. The year of the country’s bicentennial found Toth looking to make his twenty-third installation in the so-called “Trail of the Whispering Giants.”

“He contacted the late Bayard Coulter, who was the town manager in ’76,” says Bethany Beach Police Chief Herbert Carey, who also dealt with the artist on a regular basis. “But to be perfectly honest, this was offered to Rehoboth Beach first, but they wouldn’t put it where he wanted it. They had planned to place it in a park or something, but he wanted it to be more conspicuous than that.”

After the town fathers agreed to let Toth have free reign, the wheels were set in motion. An enormous poplar tree trunk was donated by a local lumber yard, which was installed by Delmarva Power & Light Co. free of charge. Toth began carving on Nov. 28 and worked straight through until late December.

“He roughed it out with a chainsaw, and as I remember it was awfully cold then,” recalls Carey. “He even worked into the night with floodlights he had hooked up to his van. He lived out of that thing, which he called the ‘Ghost Ship,’ and it had this large metal contraption on it that made it look like a boat.”

Toth finished the mammoth sculpture in time for its dedication on Dec. 22, when current Nanticoke Indian Chief Kenneth Clark, Bethany Mayor Sidney Bennett, Senator Richard Cordrey, and a group of officials honored it with a ceremony. According to Carey, the town hasn’t heard much from Toth since, although in 1989, they received a letter from him informing them that he had finished the final statue that year.

“He took no payment for doing the actual work, but he did sell smaller recreations of the statue,” says Carey. “He left us with the understanding that once a year, the statue would be treated with a wood preservative to keep it in good shape. And we have been faithful to this agreement.”

EDITOR’S UPDATE 6/14/22: The original statue of Chief Little Owl stood from 1976 until 1992 when it was destroyed by high winds from Hurricane Andrew. The remains were donated to the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro, DE.

A second sculpture was created by sculptor Dennis Beach that stood until 2000, when rot forced the town to take it down.

Peter Toth returned to create the latest version of the statue from a red cedar log from the Pacific Northwest, and it was dedicated on July 15, 2002. The above full-color photo is a shot of the most recent version of the statue.

Special thanks to Glenn T. Guyer for the details of the recent editor’s updates.