The only place in America where anyone who wants can shovel coal aboard an antique train.

An amazing collection of scale model ships.

One of the first historical sites of an alternative universe was installed in the town of Paris, Illinois—which is now home to an annual spelling bee of Kcymaerxthaereal words.

Tour the luxe "glass cage" that inspired and unnerved the architecture world upon its debut.

Spanking machines, fake goats, and more devices of humiliation are on display in this museum of fraternal initiation devices.

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

Even with only two residents and one building, this tiny Illinois town is famous for its burgers.

The multinational Burger King chain is banned from operating within 20 miles of a family restaurant filed under the same name.

These mansions date back to Chicago's days as a brewer's paradise.

The world's largest collection of the world's largest objects is in one small Illinois town.

A notorious Route 66 eatery once frequented by Al Capone.

When you visit his grave, be sure to rub the Great Emancipator's nose for good luck.

Once one of the world's great cities, Cahokia was a place of religious worship, trade and mass human sacrifice before being mysteriously abandoned.

Internationally known record store and purveyor of "dusties."

A science teacher's dream.

A one-armed veteran of the Battle of Waterloo lies in a cemetery for one in the middle of a Chicago scrapyard.

A river with some unusual, and occasionally dangerous, habits.

The study has wall paneling from a 17th century ship.

A hundred-year-old museum filled with giant physics toys and experiments designed by grad students.

Before he was America’s most famous preservationist, John Muir was an ingenious mechanical inventor.

A museum of the dime museum that features weird entertainments of yesteryear, from feejee mermaids to flea circuses.

Over thousands of years, this slot canyon was carved out of the bed of an ancient lake.

This historic store hides a museum exhibiting a shoe-sizing x-ray machine and a pair of kicks that once belonged to the world's tallest man.

The murals have transformed a residential alley into a vibrant drive-through gallery.