World’s Largest Jack-in-the-Box, world record set in Middletown, Connecticut

March 23, 2025

Middletown, Connecticut, United States--The (former) Wild Bill’s Nostalgia Store, which was home to many things, including a giant Jack-in-the-Box, a 600-pound behemoth of a head mounted on a log housed inside a giant brick silo which use to floats more than 30 feet off the ground, setting the world record for being the World’s Largest Jack-in-the-Box, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

"The Damned Story: In Middletown sits what is purported to be the world’s largest jack-in-the-box: a 50-foot high contraption that has a giant clown head pop out of it once a minute," the Damned Connecticut reports.

"In 2008, the owner of Wild Bill’s Nostalgia center, Bill Ziegler, already owning a 600-pound clown head that once belonged to Bob Keeshan (aka Captain Kangaroo and Claribel the Clown) and an empty brick silo, was approached by artist Chris Hausback who suggested putting the two together. That they did, and a few months later they had an eye-catching roadside attraction that has been drawing curious visitors ever since.

"In addition to a huge and eclectic collection of vintage pop culture items, random objects, rare toys and games, magazines, books and all sorts of collectibles, Wild Bill’s also is home to the world’s “largest bobbing head,” a huge reproduction of Bill himself that graces the front of the building."

"In the near-middle of that trapezium-like state of Connecticut is the city of Middletown and near that near-middle city is a world unto its own. I’m talking about Wild Bill’s Nostalgia Store, which is home to many many things – as in piles of piles of things and boxes of things stacked on stacks of stuff, leaning against walls made from containers full of objects. I mean this place has it all – one of everything," the nicknormal.com says.

"And some things which are the only one of their kind, in this case the World’s Largest Jack-in-the-Box, a 600-pound behemoth of a head mounted on a log housed inside a giant brick silo. When this thing emerges it floats more than 30 feet off the ground, yet manages less to terrorize and more to strike awe and inspiration into all who see it!

"Perhaps because the only reason you would be at Wild Bill’s is because you know how freaky and strange this world already is, and a giant floating head is simply a punctuation mark on something already understood."

"Directions: I-91 exit 22-S onto Hwy 9. Drive south one mile to exit 19. Turn east onto Hwy 372, then make an immediate left onto Hwy 3/Shunpike Rd. Drive south one mile, bearing left at the stoplight. Wild Bill's will be on the right, just past the gas station<" the Roadside America says.

"A farm silo turned into the World's Largest Jack-in-the-Box was just another freaky project for love child Wild Bill Ziegler. Then he died, and the place sold off its treasures and closed in Sep. 2018.

"The World's Largest Jack-In-The-Box has made its debut in Middletown, Connecticut. It's impressive in scale, and owner William "Wild Bill" Ziegler is proud that nothing about it is normal."

"The 33-foot silo with a 600-pound clown head on top might be the largest jack-in-the-box in the world. The head moves up and down at a slow pace that takes on an especially creepy air around twilight," the Only In Your State says.

"The fiberglass clown head is repurposed from an enormous figure of Clarabelle the clown, sidekick to 1950s pop culture icon Howdy Doody. Adjacent to the jack-in-the-box, there's a whimsical haunted house that's sure to give you the chills."

"But this is apparently a big deal to a certain segment of our society. I’ll admit I find the World’s Largest Jack-in-the-Box really, really cool – and that’s also here, at Wild Bill’s wacky store along Route 3 in Middletown," the CTMQ says.

"But there appears to be a vibrant subculture of people who collect things called Wacky Wobblers from some company called Funko. They are very similar to Bobble Heads and I don’t know the history of the two toys or which came first. And, believe it or not, I don’t really care. This stuff is just not my thing.

" For, on the front of the crazy Wild Bill store wobbles the world’s largest Wacky Wobbler! A giant wobbly Wild Bill head! I can’t find any real authentication that this is indeed the world’s largest, but Bill says it is and really, who’s going to argue?"

"Jack in the Box, Inc. is an American fast food restaurant chain founded on February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast of the United States.

"Restaurants are also found in large urban areas outside the West Coast, as well as two in Guam. The company also formerly operated the Qdoba Mexican Grill chain until Apollo Global Management bought the chain in December 2017.

"Food items include a variety of chicken tenders and french fries along with hamburger and cheeseburger sandwiches and selections of internationally themed foods such as tacos and egg rolls." (Wikipedia)