The iconic Chicago sculpture hides a beautiful and easily overlooked plaque on the backside.

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

The world's only known button museum.

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

A science teacher's dream.

An antiquated German apothecary on Chicago's North Side.

An enormous park-like oasis, full of famous Chicagoans' graves.

This massive stained-glass masterpiece is thought to be the largest Tiffany dome in existence.

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

A curious building honoring past and current members of a historic musical comedy troupe.

This meticulously extracted nervous system allegedly came from a 19th-century custodian who donated her body to science.

A museum dedicated to the strange and extravagant costumes and memorabilia of the mummers, a tradition older than Philadelphia itself.

Dr Barnes' $25 billion private collection of art and arboretum.

The origin of this mechanical boy was a mystery until he revealed his maker by writing it in perfect cursive.

The taxidermied remains of Charles Dickens' pet raven, which helped inspire one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous poems.

Tour the dark and beloved poet's former cobwebbed basement, which may have inspired "The Black Cat."

A rare view of a preserved Victorian science museum.

A layered tribute to the work of mosaicist Isaiah Zagar.

An abandoned cemetery lies in ruins as the surrounding forest swallows it whole.

One of the few existing, fully functional Showbiz Pizza animatronic shows.

In the mid-20th century, a tamale-slinging juke joint attracted a diverse clientele in the Mississippi Delta.

The simple gravesite of a Romany clan leader is dotted with offerings, including cans of her favorite drink, Crush orange soda.

Tucked away on a hilltop in the backwoods of Mississippi lies the remains of a blues legend.

The second-largest ceremonial mound in the United States is an artificial hill that is loosely shaped like a pentagon.