A controversial sign posted on Highway 21 near Redgranite, Wisconsin, has drivers wondering if they made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in the past.

With the words "hang" and "Obama" in red, and the words "in there" written in black next to a drawing of a noose, many have concluded the obvious: That a sign that ostensibly reads "hang in there Obama" is meant to be a less-than-covert death threat aimed at the President.

But signmaker Thomas Savka claims he had no idea why people think his sign is anything but a message of love and support.

"It's my attitude for it," he told Fox 11 News. "Everybody's picking on Obama. It's the attitude of 'hang in there, buddy!' It isn't over ‘til you're done kicking."

Savka says the noose was merely thrown in to grab people's attention. "That got your attention," said Savka. "It got you to look at the sign."

True enough, but what about the sign's apparent allusions to the racist practice of lynching? "This has nothing to do with color," Savka insists. "It's to get people's attention. If they're taking that direction from it, they're not reading the sign."

[screengrab via Fox 11]