Amazing toothpick rides made by an American prisoner

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Over the past 16 years in Folsom Prison, California, USA, William Jennings-Brian Burke (better known as Billy Burke) fiddled with tens of thousands of toothpicks. Around 1940, a convicted burglar turned the warden's office basement into art territory. Drawing on his memories and imaginations, he built three vast amusement parks containing scale models of a Ferris wheel, roller coasters, airplane rides, carousels, arcade machines - all made from toothpicks.

“For a while, toothpicks were considered contraband in prison, precisely because I used so many of them, and the guards were not sure what was in my mind,” Burke told reporters. “But soon the warden himself brought me toothpicks in my pockets.” Using only a knife and glue, Burke painstakingly glued toothpicks and thin pieces of wood together by hand, creating a fully working attraction. He even carved miniature carnival participants and placed them throughout the park.

Around 1940, Burke's work began to flourish. He took up teaching a hobby class, which allowed him to carry a small woodcarving knife. To keep himself busy, he began carving boats out of wood, and then roller coasters. He even built an airplane with a 1.5-meter wingspan of wood and canvas. During the work on the plane, Bill Burke used glue that had a toothpick Eiffel Tower sticker on it. And so the idea came up. Burke recalls, "I drew a large circle on a piece of plywood and started working on my first toothpick Ferris wheel."

He added more attractions to the carnival: roller coasters, shops, toilets, fountains, stage. In order for the rides to function, Burke took motors from small devices and incorporated them into wooden structures.

Recognizing his talent, Warden Clyde Plummer instructed the guards to leave Burke alone while he created his creations, and even gave him access to a large basement in the prison. Plummer overhauled Folsom Prison's public attendance policy. Soon, the overseer began to bring large groups of weekly visitors, sometimes up to 300 people, to the prison to see Burke's Igroland. He let Burke get paid for it.

Burke was unique in the prison system, but he was not an anomaly. "There were people of many talents in Folsom prison: artists, actors, mechanics, poets." - Later said Burke. "Of course they had a lot of time to improve their skills."

One of Burke's most impressive pieces of art is the 2.4-meter Ferris wheel, which holds 32 miniature carved visitors. Shiny under the lights, this thin two-wheeled toothpick piece looks like a word made of glass or crystal. It currently houses the Folsom Prison Museum.

After his release from prison, Bill Burke continued to collect models of attractions from toothpicks. In American prisons of those years, it was often possible meet pop celebrities.