Pyramid Power

Onan's Gold Pyramid House and garages with a moat surrounding

For many years, I've driven on highway I-94 between Gurnee and Milwaukee and have seen this pyramid from the highway.  I always wanted to check it out, and I got lucky yesterday when there was a tour of this fantastic house and grounds.  It's been listed on Atlas Obscura and Roadside America.  If ever you want to see something a little different when traveling, these are a couple of great websites.  If it's weird or amazing, they know about it.

We were met at the front gate by Rocko Onan, a charming man with wit and boyish good looks.  He grew up in this house as the youngest son of Jim and Linda Onan, the couple who built it and live there still.  He had so many tales to tell about the construction of the house, Egyptology, and pyramids in general and then gave a tour through 2 floors of the house, the grounds, and a replica of King Tut's tomb.  I took my husband and son, Omar along and we all enjoyed it.  I learned enough that it made me want to know more- the mark of a really great tour.  I didn't know much about pyramid power, but apparently if food is kept under a pyramid, it lasts longer.  People are reported to be made calm if they are anxious or become energetic when they feel tired.  Razor blades retain their sharpness.  Drinking water becomes charged with negative ions.  Tom reported, at one time people were convinced the water from their spring had healing effects.

Of course with a house like this, you imagine that the people who live there must be serious Egyptologists.  Rocko said the likes of Zahi Hawass had been there when it was first built.  If you are not familiar with him, he's the face of Egyptology.  He's on every TV special made within the last decade. Look for the guy with the Indiana Jones style hat.  The Egyptian government used the house as a staging place to promote tourism to Egypt before it was popular.  The Onan family made trips to Egypt as the guests of the government.  The Egyptian museum was opened for a private tour just for them.  

When you first walk into the house from the side, there's a meeting room that was originally supposed to be the family swimming pool, except they found a spring when they drilled for water...thus the moat that is in place now.  It had been a gravel pit so it's 40 feet deep in places!  The pool idea had to be scrapped and now it looks like this.

The painted walls were done by an artist from Zion IL- Alan Wright

Most of the artifacts you see are replicas

This room is rented for meetings or special events

We went upstairs and the rooms were surprisingly normal.  Of course it is a living space.  There are 5 floors and 17,000 sq. feet.  The pyramid is 6 stories high.  Linda was making a snack for her grandson in the kitchen, as we paraded through.  It must take some patience to constantly be on view this way.  How thoughtful they are to share their house with the rest of the world.  I asked Linda what it was like to go through the building of this house and how it must have sounded like an odd request.  She said it was just life.  She was busy raising kids and he was interested so much in pyramids, that it seemed natural.  Rocko said his dad was inspired to build it after reading a University of Wisconsin study suggesting pyramids create energy.

The chairs here were once Samuel Goldwyn's

This door has real gold leaf on it

This dining room has hosted celebrities from around the world

Notice all the light from the many skylights

The outside has a row of sphinxes lining the drive- very similar to what we saw in Luxor Egypt!  Ok the palm trees are a giveaway for which photo is from Luxor- but you can see the authenticity.  There is also a 200 ton statue of Ramses II.  I included a photo we took at Abu Simbel, Egypt.  This may be the only one you'll see in the USA!  We spent about 15 minutes going through the replica of King Tut's tomb.  When we had been in Egypt it was closed, so this was our first shot at seeing something like it.  Overall it was a great tour.  Loved learning a little more about Egypt and the whole energy of pyramids story.  There is so much out there to be explored.  If you want to know more, you can also like the page on facebook or go to the website.

Sphinxes at Luxor Egypt

one of 50 sphinxes lining the drive at the Onan's home

Ramses statues at Abu Simbel, Egypt

Abdulhamid and Omar in between the legs

Omar loved this mummy!

Examples of the stash buried with King Tut

An update to this article for 2013.  June-August, there will be tours offered every Sunday at 2 pm, with the gates open at 1:30.  Special tours can also be arranged for groups of 6 or more by calling 847-244-7777.  Click on this link for additional information.

View a video made by Home Strange including an interview with Rocko Onan at the same link.