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Oddity Directory

Explore strange places, unusual attractions, and curious landmarks across America.

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Frog mural by artist Robert Dafford in Rayne, Louisiana, the Frog Capital of the World

Roadside Attractions

Rayne’s Frog Army

Rayne, Louisiana

The Frog Capital of the World did not stop at a nickname. Painted concrete frogs, giant frog art, murals, a live frog pond, and amphibian mascots…

Historic Oddities

Strataca

Hutchinson, Kansas

A 90-second elevator ride drops visitors 650 feet into an active salt mine with miles of tunnels and underground exhibits.

Giant Objects

Roanoke Star

Roanoke, Virginia

An 88.5-foot neon star built as a holiday shopping decoration in 1949 never came down and still glows from the top of Mill Mountain every night.

Curious Landmarks

Frog Bridge

Willimantic, Connecticut

Four enormous copper frogs with gold-leaf eyes sit on giant thread spools above the Willimantic River.

Giant Objects

Giant Dalmatian Fire Hydrant

Beaumont, Texas

A 24-foot-tall working fire hydrant painted in Dalmatian spots stands outside Beaumont's fire museum, because even giant plumbing apparently needs a dog theme.

Historic Oddities

Newport Tower

Newport, Rhode Island

An old circular stone tower stands on eight arches in a Newport park, surrounded by centuries of arguments about exactly when it was built and what…

Curious Landmarks

Center of the Universe

Wallace, Idaho

A decorated manhole cover marks the exact center of everything, according to the town of Wallace.

Curious Landmarks

Gillette Castle

East Haddam, Connecticut

A Sherlock Holmes actor designed this stone fantasy house with trick locks, secret surveillance mirrors, and a private miniature railroad.

Giant Objects

World’s Largest Cowboy Boots

San Antonio, Texas

Two cowboy boots more than 35 feet tall stand outside a San Antonio shopping mall, large enough to make the people beneath them look like misplaced…

Giant Objects

World’s Largest Pistachio

Alamogordo, New Mexico

A 30-foot pistachio stands guard over a working orchard north of Alamogordo.

Roadside Attractions

W’eel Turtle

Dunseith, North Dakota

More than two thousand steel wheel rims were welded into an enormous turtle whose open metal shell looks part animal, part industrial machine.

Strange Museums

Bigfoot Crossroads of America

Hastings, Nebraska

Life-size Sasquatch figures and decades of cryptid lore fill a Hastings museum.