World’s Largest Rubber Band Ball (PHOTO)

Joel Waul has spent the last six years constructing his massive rubber band ball. The Guinness Book of World Records named it the official world's largest rubber band ball last year.

On Thursday, Waul, who is from Florida, bids farewell to his masterpiece. Ripley's Believe it or Not is coming with a crane to take the ball away. It presently stand 6-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs in at 9,032 pounds.

For Waul, it all began about six years ago when he watched a TV special showing the then-largest rubber band ball being dropped into the desert from a plane.

"I just thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen," said Waul, 28, who works nights at a Gap store.

Waul and the ball have several MySpace followers, but no one has been as attracted to the rubber band ball as Edward Meyer, vice president of the Orlando-based Ripley's.

"We already have the largest string and barbed wire balls," Meyer said. "This is now my holy trinity, I guess."

There's now word on how much Ripley's paid for the giant ball, which is about double the size of the previous record holder.

People like Waul "don't do it for money," Meyer said. "They don't really get rich. They decide they want to do something, and they get possessed. It's very much Andy Warhol, 15 minutes of fame. It is the desire to be the best at something."

Check out more Guinness World Records here and read more WTF news here.

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• Florida Man Creates Giant Rubber Band Ball (abcnews.go.com)

Related Items:

Libro Guinness de World Records 2009 (Guinness Book of Records) (Spanish Edition)

Florida (Regional Guide)

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