Field index

Kansas Oddities

Unusual destinations, curious landmarks, and worthwhile detours across Kansas.

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10 documented oddities Highest curiosity first

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Giant Objects

Big Brutus

West Mineral, Kansas

An 11-million-pound electric shovel towers over the Kansas coalfields where it was abandoned as too large to move.

Curious Landmarks

Big Easel

Goodland, Kansas

An 80-foot easel holds a 24-by-32-foot Van Gogh reproduction above a western Kansas park devoted to sunflowers.

Giant Objects

Big Well

Greensburg, Kansas

A spiral staircase descends into a 109-foot hand-dug well built with picks, pulleys, barrels, and an astonishing amount of nerve.

Curious Landmarks

Monument Rocks

Oakley, Kansas

Chalk towers and arches filled with marine fossils rise from western Kansas where an inland sea vanished millions of years ago.

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.

Natural Oddities

Mushroom Rock State Park

Marquette, Kansas

Wind and water balanced broad sandstone caps on narrow stems, creating a five-acre garden of giant stone mushrooms.

Curious Landmarks

Geographic Center of the Contiguous United States

Lebanon, Kansas

A lonely monument, tiny chapel, and picnic shelter mark an approximate center that is not quite at the actual calculated point.

Historic Oddities

Garden of Eden

Lucas, Kansas

In the tiny Kansas town of Lucas, a retired Civil War veteran spent nearly three decades transforming his home and yard into a remarkable landscape of…

Giant Objects

Cawker City ball of twine

Cawker City, Kansas

What began as a simple farm chore in rural Kansas grew into one of America’s most famous roadside attractions. The Cawker City Ball of Twine is…

Giant Objects

Johnny Kaw

Manhattan, Kansas

Standing among the trees of Manhattan, Kansas, Johnny Kaw is a towering concrete folk hero created to embody the tall tales and agricultural character of the…