EricGrundhauser's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Des Plaines, Illinois

McDonald's First Store Museum

Despite its name, this fast food museum is actually a replica of the ninth McDonald's store.
Rockford, Illinois

Rockmen Guardians

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

Rosenberg Statue

A goddess-topped water fountain in Chicago was created thanks to the dreams of a thirsty newsboy.
Wilmington, Illinois

Gemini Giant

This historic Illinois "Muffler Man" has been converted from axe-touting lumberjack to rocket-wielding space ace.
Ban Long, Laos

Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre

Buried in the Laos jungle is a sanctuary for bears that would have otherwise been milked to death by poachers.
Chinguetti, Mauritania

The Libraries of Chinguetti

Five ancient libraries, little changed for centuries, preserve a medieval archive of Quranic lore and civic documents
Geneva, Illinois

The Viking

A replica viking ship from the Chicago World's Fair is still in dry dock in an Illinois park.
Dhar Lama Chung Chung, India

Key Monastery

This hilltop warren of monastic dwellings is the result of centuries worth of Mongol attacks.
Salt Lake City, Utah

This Is The Place Monument

A towering tribute to decisiveness stands on the spot where Brigham Young and his followers decided that this must be the place.
Boston, Massachusetts

The Sacred Cod

No one messes with the Massachusetts sacred cod, not this time...
Bedford, England

The Panacea Museum

A historic house devoted to the teachings of a 1700's prophetess and her mysterious box of revelations.
Riola, Italy

Rocchetta Mattei

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.
Seoul, South Korea

Trick Eye Museum

South Korea's love of the silly photograph is on full display at this goofy collection of trompe l'oeil paintings.
Rome, Italy

The Mouth of Truth

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.
Brooklyn, New York

Torah Animal World

Every animal in the torah taxidermied and crammed into a Brooklyn townhouse.
Riegersburg, Austria

Riegersburg Castle

A centuries old castle atop a dormant volcano houses museums devoted to both women and witches.
Prague, Czechia

The Museum of Alchemists and Magicians of Old Prague

The history of occult science is turned into a creepshow at this lurid Prague tourist attraction.
Brighton, England

West Pier

The rotting skeleton of a shoreside fun fair that was destroyed by fire and storms still haunts the Brighton ocean view.
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Blackbeard's Castle

Rumored to be the famed pirate's lookout tower, this historic stone structure is now just watching for tourists.
Coalinga, California

Iron Zoo

A dwindling menagerie of anthropomorphic oil derrick animals still dot the barren California landscape.
Alexandria, New York

Deer Island

The private island of Yale's elite Skull & Bones society is kind of a dump.
Bangkok, Thailand

Cabbages & Condoms

A condom-covered Thai restaurant that is more concerned with birth control than food.
Dunedin, New Zealand

Baldwin Street Houses

One of the world's steepest streets seems to have houses sliding down it.
Berlin, Germany

Mengenlehreuhr (Berlin Clock)

The world's first clock to use set theory as a measure of time required the invention of a new light bulb just to maintain its obtuse measurements.