The "mysteries" of this quintessential roadside oddity were almost destroyed by neglect but were saved by fans of kitschy wonder.

First known as the "Sample House," this construction mash-up was meant to be a living catalogue of building styles.

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

This abandoned 19th century orphanage started as a boarding school for children of Civil War veterans.

One-of-a-kind preserved ruins of an abandoned 1880s church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

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

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

A strange and haunting monument of unknown origin in the historic Graceland Cemetery.

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

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

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

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

Former hotel turned into haunted playground.

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

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

A once-booming Mississippi River town with a history of racial violence is now eerie and mostly abandoned.

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

A unique botanical garden housed in three giant geodesic domes.

A giant, Gilded Age mansion that once belonged to the beer baron of Milwaukee.

Paranormal activity on the great lakes.

Six tiny houses built for working class people form the largest intentional cluster of Wright homes anywhere.

"Iron Age" creatures fill this huckster's rusted metal sculpture garden.

A house and yard adorned with bizarre concrete sculptures in a Milwaukee suburb.

Restaurant in Northern Wisconsin comes with a unique feature: a grassy roof covered in living goats.