While Wisconsin's most widely served beer might be Miller Lite, and its favorite restaurant "American Casual," let us never forget that the state is brimming with character and oddity. Furthermore, some of the state's most curious oddities are oversized versions of normal things, as if someone started making it and just got a little carried away. We all know about La Crosse's "world's largest six pack," the giant muskie, and the mustard temple. Boring. Let's get weird.

1. Talking Cow – Neillsville

Steer on over to Neillsville to chat with Belle.

Located in Neillsville, Chatty Belle is one of Wisconsin's most famous cows. If you put a quarter into the machine at her feet, a voice tells you facts about things like Wisconsin's dairy production. We've heard it through the bovine that while she's the biggest "talking cow," bigger cattle exist. Salem Sue of North Dakota is the biggest cow statue in the world. But Chatty still stands. A monument to milk.

The clock is having a grand ol' time in its new home.

2. Grandfather Clock – Kewaunee

Located in downtown Kewaunee at the Ahnapee Trailhead, the world's tallest grandfather clock stands at 36 feet tall. It was originally built in 1976 to celebrate the bicentennial, but was turned off in the mid 1980s. In 2013, the city disassembled and rebuilt the clock in its current location, and in July of 2015 the clock resumed timekeeping after almost twenty years.  Talk about making it to the big time.

3. Penny – Woodruff

In 1953, the world's largest penny was built to commemorate the dedication of Woodruff's Dr. Kate Newcomb.

It must be worth at least 17,000 thoughts.

Dr. Newcomb was known to Woodruff as the "angel on snowshoes" because she would trudge through harsh Wisconsin winters on her trusty snowshoes to make house calls. Woodruff desperately needed a hospital, and she started a fundraising campaign with the slogan "save your pennies" to get one. The campaign succeeded, collecting over $17,000 in pennies (1.7 million pennies).  

4. Badger – Birnamwood

The end is nigh. The demon badger has risen.

Not to badger the good folks of Birnamwood, but this look like an old, once-chained evil that burrowed its way from the center of the Earth into a parking lot. He was once part of Badger County, a gas station and gift shop where you would drive inside of a massive hollowed log to fill up your tank. In the 1990s, Badger County closed and was replaced with perhaps the strangest possible establishment for an enormous demon badger to be the mascot of: a gentleman's club.

5. Soup Kettle – Laona

This kettle is really souped up.

The community soup event in Laona started with this soup-er sized kettle nearly a century ago. In the 1920s, the Russel Family started serving over 300 people out of this massive, cast-iron kettle. Now the event has grown, and is operated by the local Lions club, serving out of several much smaller cooking containers, but still serves the entire community.

6. The Letter M – UW-Platteville

I wonder if it's actually been a giant W the whole time.

 And finally, this list was brought to you by the letter M. In 1936, a pair of mining students at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville got the idea to make a giant letter M on the Platte Mound after having seen one on a mine in Colorado. At first they just dug into the snow, but eventually the head of the engineering department called a field day to complete the project with borrowed tools from a local CCC camp. The final version of the M was finished in 1937 after considerable investigation to make sure that it was, in fact, bigger the Colorado's. Take that, Colorado M!

Now the area M-anates civic pride.