DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A lot of people have been slowing down when they pass Jim Russell’s home near Welcome. 

“Everybody else is normal, and I’m weird,” Russell said. “I accept that.” 

Russell has always admired obelisks like the ones found in Egypt and Washington, D.C.  

“I always wanted one,” he said.  “Now, I have one here in my front yard.”

He decided to build one in his front yard and use another obelisk he admired as the blueprint. 

“I grew up on ‘Star Trek,'” he said. “I saw an obelisk on one episode, and I said, ‘Whoa! He just had to have that one.'”

The episode “The Paradise Syndrome” aired in Oct. 1968 and became the inspiration for his front yard obelisk.

“You need something to challenge your brain, and that’s what ‘Star Trek’ does,” he said as he drew the large dimensions of the monument that’s grabbed a lot of attention on Welcome-Arcadia Road. “I won’t be moving it anywhere.” 

Russell says he decided to put the obelisk in his front yard because art and creativity should be shared with everyone. 

“My wife has been talking about having Christmas lights on it, and I said, ‘No,'” Russell said. “I didn’t do it for anybody else. I did it for me.”