The 40-year-old machine serves soda quicker than you can catch it for a mere 75 cents a pop.

Buy a token from the liquor store and you can make this beast spew flames on command.

Oversized statues are just the tip of this nostalgic Americana roadside attraction.

The mysterious white squirrels of this Illinois city are treated like sacred cows.

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

This grave in a ghost town cemetery marks the death of a witch on a day that never happened.

The city of Rockford, Illinois is symbolically protected by a quartet of fittingly stony sentinels.

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

What may be America's largest classic video game arcade lurks inconspicuously in a Chicago suburb.

One of the largest pieces of scientific equipment ever carried on a NASA space shuttle sits in a Chicago alley.

Combination beer garden and music venue in the heart of Wicker Park.

Former hotel turned into haunted playground.

An outdoor urban gallery of large-scale artworks by the world's most influential street artists.

Recognized the world over as the home of the McCallisters in the 1990 movie "Home Alone."

River pirates, murderous bandits, and serial killers used this Illinois cave as their debauched hideout.

Shop of curiosities with a dinosaur museum tucked in its basement.

A science teacher's dream.

These abandoned grain silos and tunnels are an urban exploration dream.

Once strictly off-limits, this lower level housing curious and priceless vehicles of the Petersen Automotive Museum is now open to the public.

Dubbed the "Blade Runner dragon," this buzzing neon sign is a beloved local icon.

Eat burgers beneath gargantuan taxidermy and thousands of dollar bills in Utah's oldest continuously-operating bar.

An enormous image of Utah's salt flats made entirely from tape.

This granite monument at the site of an ill-conceived tourist attraction is built from the same stone as the Mormon Temple.

This museum remembers the tough Mormon trek across America through an intriguing array of artifacts.