tchagnon's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Aurora, Texas

1890s Alien Gravesite

This small town Texas cemetery is said to be the burial site of a UFO pilot who crashed in the 1800s.
Glenwood Springs, Colorado

Doc Holliday's Grave

Even in death, he's still your huckleberry.
Baker, California

Mojave Megaphone

No one's quite sure why there's a metal megaphone bolted on two rocks in the middle of the Mojave Desert.
Chicago, Illinois

Cosmic Ray Detectors

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

District of Columbia Center Point

A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.
Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Center of the Universe

An acoustic anomaly with a mysterious cause.
Washington, D.C.

National Capitol Columns

The United States Capitol's former columns still stand.
Manitowoc, Wisconsin

Sputnik IV Crash Site

A metal ring in the middle of the road marks the exact spot where the Soviet satellite crash-landed in 1962.
Altoona, Pennsylvania

Horseshoe Curve

This dramatic rail curve was once the target of a failed Nazi attack.
Rjukan, Norway

Giant Sun Mirrors of Rjukan

For six months of the year, three giant mirrors direct a pool of sunshine onto this otherwise occluded town.
Honolulu County, Hawaii

Tern Island

This airstrip atoll is uninhabited by humans, but absolutely full of birds.
San Francisco, California

The Last Standard Oil Company Gas Station in California

Chevron maintains one “Standard” brand station per state so it doesn’t lose the trademark.
Nevada City, California

'Ladies of the Evening' Marker

Hidden in a hotel parking lot is a strange historical plaque erected by an obscure fraternal society.
New Brunswick, New Jersey

Evans/Ellis Cemetery

Seven people are buried in the middle of what's now a movie theater parking lot.
Hope, British Columbia

Othello Tunnels

Railways may have forged this quintet of lovely tunnels, but now they are open to hikers.
Los Angeles, California

The Bonaventure Hotel

The space-age building is home to one of the few remaining rotating restaurants in America, and the only one that inspired a 1980s sitcom.
San Francisco, California

Esmeralda Slide Park

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.
Amado, Arizona

Longhorn Grill and Saloon

This giant steer-skull edifice refuses to die.
Sacramento, California

Spirit of Sacramento

Before it was abandoned and left to rust alongside the road, this riverboat starred in a John Wayne movie.
Peoria, Illinois

Uniroyal Gal

This rare female version of the Muffler Man has its clothes removed each summer to signal the start of pool season.
North Yorkshire, England

Kilburn White Horse

England's largest white horse isn't even white.
Bremerton, Washington

Sail of the USS Parche

The only surviving piece of a submarine said to be the most decorated vessel in U.S. history.
New York, New York

Henry Bliss Plaque

A memorial to the first person killed by a motor vehicle in the Western Hemisphere.
San Francisco, California

Aquatic Park Tombstones

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.