The Miami Herald
December 17, 1988 Saturday
FINAL EDITION
LEWIS VANDERCAR, OFF-THE-WALL ARTIST, WARLOCK DIES AT 75
BYLINE: LOURDES FERNANDEZ Herald Staff Writer
SECTION: LOCAL; D; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 721 words
The man who persuaded 150 people to show up at midnight to view a primitive
bird, who left a skull encased in concrete on the beach and who had a constantly
changing display of statues outside his Miami home died Thursday morning.
Lewis VanDercar, 75, called himself “creator.” Some people called the former
artist crazy; others said he was a genius.
“I’m both,” he once said. “I think us geniuses should be modest.”
Mr. VanDercar died of heart failure in his home in Quail Hollow, a small town
north of Tampa. He moved there in 1973, bought eight acres and built a
dome-shaped, ivy-covered home resembling a cave.
He called himself, in turn, a warlock; Magus Supreme, pro tem of the Supreme
Order of Magi; and someone with mysterious powers, specifically ESP and the
power to levitate. He hinted about incarnations and said an alien entered his
body as a young man. He said he had a pet poltergeist, then tried to sell it
through a classified ad.
“It was difficult to tell whether it was all tongue-in- check or not,” said son
David, a physician doing his residency at Jackson Memorial Hospital. “He would
vacillate back and forth.”
His classified ads in The Miami Herald were frequent:
“Sale: Swamp-colored UFO. Must qualify.”
“Free Cruise to Bahamas. Bring oar.”
“Electric car. $25,000. Extension cord extra.”
He sold roc eggs in one ad. He said he rediscovered the ancient secret formula
to make and impregnate the eggs of rocs — mythological birds.
A woman bought the eggs and had them shipped to her Chicago home. Later, Mr.
VanDercar admitted the eggs were really a bunch of garbage piling up in back of
his home. He didn’t want to haul it away, so he covered it in plaster. He didn’t
tell the lady, but sent her a check for the shipping costs.
Then there was the time police found a skull, embedded in concrete, on the
beach. The skull turned out to be plastic. In the concrete was a bottle with a
note: “The creator and the created are one. The world is what we make it. Hate
makes it ugly. Love makes it beautiful. Let us all be lovers.”
Said Mr. VanDercar later: “There is some sense of the ridiculous that can be
carried to such an extreme that it becomes beautiful. Take the time I predicted
that a great extinct primitive bird was going to appear at midnight in the park.
The newspapers exposed it as a hoax. Even so, at midnight, 150 people showed up
in the park to see the bird. That was beauty.”
His Miami home-studio, at 331 NW 18th St., was open always. People continually
passed through and stayed for long philosophical talks with the artist.
Mr. VanDercar, who never got beyond eighth grade, learned from them. “They gave
him a very broad background in terms of knowledge,” his son said. “He knew a lot
about a lot of different things.”
Born in Detroit, Mr. VanDercar entered the Navy during the Depression to help
support his family.
In the late 1930s, he became an animator, drawing Popeye cartoons from a Miami
studio. He entered the merchant marines in World War II and later worked as an
aircraft engineer. He returned to Miami, where he worked construction jobs and
ran a plumbing shop.
Then he learned he could make a living from his hobby — painting and sculpting.
He decorated an exterior wall of his house with faces of every age and culture
— Greek gods, sea monsters, heroines, gargoyles, Moses, faces from Egypt and
India and China and many other places.
He also created mountains for resorts and amusements parks, and built a
gorilla’s lair for Monkey Jungle in South Dade’s Redland. He made a giant
dragon, 100 feet long and 30 feet high, for a Merritt Island Park.
In 1984, he returned to Miami for a short while to repaint a reconstructed
limestone bridge at Arch Creek Park. He painted the concrete and iron used to
rebuild the bridge so it would look like limestone, too. He was still painting
days before his death.
“He spent 30 years and died doing what he liked,” his son said. “Not many people
are able to do that.”
Said Mr. VanDercar once: “Many people think what I do is ridiculous, but not
intelligent people. Most people are fearful and they don’t enjoy life because
they’re afraid to take a chance and do what they want. So intelligent people
admire your courage.”
In addition to his son, Mr. VanDercar is survived by his wife Margaret, daughter
Muggins and three grandchildren. There are no services.
LOAD-DATE: November 12, 2009
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper
Copyright 1988 The Miami Herald
All Rights Reserved
Public Affairs Reporting 
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I knew Mr. Vandercar when I lived in WC. In the 1970’s everyone was leary of him. He was actually a brilliant individual. He would invite us neighbor kids over at Halloween to tell us stories. He was a great artist. His yard was full of his art. I even mowed his yard a time or two. I once saw a rolls Royce pull up in his drive, a small man got out to visit him. Chauffered of course, in a wheelchair with a blanket across his lap. It even had british license plates on it. So it was brought to US aboard a ship. That’s a long way to come and see someone.Have a great afterlife Mr Vandercar. Jeff Daniels
I met Lew in 1060 when I was performing as a memory expert at Miami Beach hotels under the name of Lee Edwards. He was an inspiration. At Lew’s studio, I experienced poltergeists and communicated with people I knew who were on “The Other Side.” The information that came through was of such a personal nature that no one could have researched it. Lew was one of a kind. May he RIP. — Lee Edward Levinson-New York City
I had meant to say, 1960-1. –Lee Edward Levinson
I met Lewis in 1980 when he lived north of Tampa. I went with a friend. We went at night at our arranged time. Following his directions , we drove down a narrow dirt road in a swampy area. We arrived at this two story cave he had built, covered with overgrown vines .We went in. He led us up his winding staircase. Along the stairs were gargoyles he had sculpted. In his office we sat down. My friend did all the talking. He said very little to her, but stared at me the entire time. Then he turned and told me everything about me. I told him nothing. He said he would play my favorite music for me, and played Tchaikovsky piano concert #1.WOW. And then he had me stand, and put a lightbulb in my hand. Then took his hand and went up and down my spine and the lightbulb lit up. He invited me to come back the next evening for a seance. He said I was too morbidly depressed that night to do a seance. I did go back about a year later with a different fried to walk through his gardens , along the path were many sculptures he had made of people he had known , and that was the last time I had seen him. I am happy that I had met him. And for our appointment with him, we had to bring a bottle of rum.
I met Mr Vandercar in the mid 1980’s. I had once visited his property in the late 70’s after a friend told me about it and returned after reading a newspaper article about him. The second time, he came out and struck up a conversation with my girlfriend and I and invited us inside. He showed us his studio upstairs and there were magnificent paintings of Christ that impressed me immediately. He told us that he built a museum in Japan in the shape of a dragon and showed us photos. He was very amusing, I remembered in the newspaper article he told the journalist that he lost track of his age several hundred years ago, but he says 65 (at that time he was somewhere in his 60’s) for social security reasons. He was also a very fascinating and outgoing man and his painting and sculptures were outstanding. I went back there to show it to my wife years later and was told that he passed away and his wife understandably closed the property to visitors. I also noticed some of his ads in the classified section from time to time such as simply “I am tired of this wet weather. I will stop it. – Vandercar”. Rest in peace.
I first met the VanDercar family in 1959. I was 8-years-old and friends with his daughter Muggins. If she is still alive, I would love to reconnect. Thank you!