A historic and oft-filmed prison stands in a Chicago suburb.

A hidden grotto on the grounds of the Kane County Government Center.

The first and only museum dedicated to stained glass and horology opened outside of Chicago in 2017.

In the Shawnee National Forest, amazing rock formations peer through the treeline.

Eclectic collection of rare and beautiful stones in a historic home.

A replica viking ship from the Chicago World's Fair is still in dry dock in an Illinois park.

A monument to the art of slicing people open.

This sprawling building built in 1890 was one of Minnesota’s earliest and largest mental health facilities.

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

This replica of an 8th century burial ship actually sailed to Norway before returning home to Minnesota.

A museum within a museum, devoted to history's most questionable medical devices.

Come for the giant taxidermy lion, stay for the knick knacks at this Minneapolis curiosity shop.

1887 era Russian Orthodox church in Minneapolis.

An eatery within the Minneapolis American Indian Center writes colonial ingredients out of the story of Native American cuisine.

Hub of Scandinavian culture in a Minneapolis deli.

A butcher shop in Minneapolis has all the meats and cheeses you’d expect from any of its kind—except that all the products are vegan.

An architecturally-focused antique shop.

This surprising gem is a world-class archeological museum hidden at the University of Chicago.

Chicago's North Park Village was once the largest municipal sanatorium in the country.

Chicago's museum dedicated to the history of bondage and fetishism is more textbook than titillation.

Chicago's largest cemetery is full of beautiful Victorian monuments and more than a few ghost stories.

An enormous park-like oasis, full of famous Chicagoans' graves.

An antiquated German apothecary on Chicago's North Side.

This morbid, delightful curiosity shop offers everything from animal bones to human teeth.