This former office building has been transformed into an immersive music venue and art space.

One of the world’s largest living advertisements is made out of pine trees.

A science teacher's dream.

Over 1,000 pieces of one of the most niche art objects imaginable: the glass paperweight.

This abstract sculpture is rumored to cast a hammer-and-sickle shadow once a year.

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

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

The haunting "Hell House Altar" is one of the few remnants of an abandoned college that has been a magnet for local legends.

An architecturally unique lighthouse that had to be lifted up and moved to avoid falling in the sea.

Eclectic collections, artwork, and some feline friends fill the writer's former home.

A large collection of motorbikes with some impressive gems.

First planned industrial community in the United States.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

The unluckiest U-boat in the entire German fleet is now on display in a Chicago museum.

The final resting place of up to 6,000 Confederate soldiers, the largest mass grave in the Western Hemisphere.

This modest post office sits on the site of H.H. Holmes' famous murder castle.

A hollow cement depiction of time's inexorable effect on the human body.

This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

An antiquated German apothecary on Chicago's North Side.

A century-old hotspot for jazz, frequented by everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone.

What was once one of the country's largest confectionary plants is now an abandoned ruin, but is still pretty sweet.

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

A lush green oasis in the middle of Chicago.

This whimsical Oz-themed park had a wonderful impact on the surrounding neighborhood.