Field index

Oddity Directory

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

Search the archive

Explore Oddities

Find unusual destinations by keyword, location, or category.

478 documented oddities Highest curiosity first

View Map

Roadside Attractions

Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden

Bishopville, South Carolina

Hundreds of trees and shrubs were clipped, twisted, rescued, trained, and transformed into towering abstract shapes that turned one residential yard into a world-famous living sculpture…

Historic Oddities

Oscar-Zero

Cooperstown, North Dakota

An elevator descends roughly sixty feet beneath the prairie to an intact Minuteman missile launch control center sealed behind a massive blast door.

Curious Landmarks

Edison Light Bulb Tower

Edison, New Jersey

An Art Deco memorial is crowned with a giant glowing light bulb.

Curious Landmarks

Keahiakawelo

Lanai City, Hawaii

Red earth and massive boulders create a remote, wind-scoured landscape often mistaken for another planet.

Roadside Attractions

Center of the Universe

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Stand on one small circle above Tulsa's railroad tracks and your own voice returns with a peculiar metallic echo that sounds dramatically different from only a…

Roadside Attractions

Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park

Wilson, North Carolina

Thirty enormous kinetic sculptures made from road signs, bicycle parts, industrial scraps, reflectors, fans, and gears turn a downtown park into a wind-powered mechanical carnival.

Haunted Locations

Villisca Axe Murder House

Villisca, Iowa

An ordinary white farmhouse preserves the setting of an unsolved 1912 mass murder and welcomes tours and overnight guests.

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.

Curious Landmarks

The Sunsphere

Knoxville, Tennessee

A 266-foot blue tower topped by a five-story gold glass sphere still rises over Knoxville as the gloriously space-age survivor of the 1982 World's Fair.