This cheerfully-named branch of the Chicago River is the fetid result of years of blood, entrails, and meatpacking waste.

To find the "unicorns of the deep" you've got to go downstairs.

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

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

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

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

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

A six-story-tall golden pyramid, surrounded by a moat.

What was once the second largest steel mill in the US is now a sprawling complex of modern ruins.

A beloved Chicago music venue offering cold beer and lots of “Friendly."

The beloved home to all publications indie, erotic, and punky.

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

This overgrown Illinois water park offers a whole new type of adventure.

The face of a woman pushes its way through the earth.

Former meatpacking facility turned vertical farm and sustainable business complex.

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

Years of archaeology, just chillin' by the water cooler.

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

The subtle science of a master molecular gastronomist.

A science teacher's dream.

A Bibliophile's Dream.

A giant bronze coil of feces is both a tribute to doggie defecation and a reminder to pick it up.

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

Hidden high on a remote mountain peak is a humbling and mysterious Vietnam War memorial.