During World War II the Thorp building was guarded by the OSS, FBI, and US Navy because of the top-secret bombsight being produced there.

This institution celebrates the happy accidents of uncommon sticktoitiveness.

This vintage "streetcar boat" lay at the bottom of Lake Minnetonka until the 1980s.

Dakota legend claims this locally iconic pinnacle was once part of a sacred burial site that was cleaved in two.

A Building for Your (Former) Funerary Needs.

America's largest viking stands in a Minnesota city that believes it was visited by the ancient nords.

Thousands of majestic trumpeter swans fill this park, sounding distinctly like a certain brass instrument.

This picturesque cliffside beacon no longer calls to sailors but shines once a year in honor of a famous shipwreck.

A medical facility that has been kept frozen in time.

This former Indiana quarry has been transformed into a park and SCUBA site where divers can explore the drowned mining equipment.

One tree's homage to soles past and present.

One man's vision and a labor of love of many.

The longest navigable underground river in the United States is home to countless blind and albino animals.

The oldest operating Mississippi River–style steamboat still navigates the Ohio River.

The largest ancient burial mound in Ohio.

Giant papier mache hog sits on private property.

An abandoned early-20th-century boomtown sits within the Calico Rock city limits.

The remains of a bustling turn-of-the-century park built to showcase the wonders of electricity.

Chilly air billows out from the entrance of an abandoned mine on a steep hillside, providing a refuge for Ice Age fauna and flora.

This abandoned building made of petrified wood was once a hotspot for buying moonshine.

One nutty businessman’s unique tribute to an ancient tool.

High-end dining has a home in this former gas station.

A quirky collection of old chairs fills a random vacant lot in suburban Texas.

A little stop along the Texas highway where Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean stayed while shooting the 1955 film "Giant."