Illinois Curiosities

Whether you’re a born-and-raised Illinoisan, a recent transplant, or just passing through, Illinois Curiosities will have you laughing out loud as Richard Moreno takes you on a rollicking tour of the strangest sides of the Prairie State. Take a date to the World’s Largest Laundromat, a 13,500-square-foot facility in Berwyn with 153 washers and 148 dryers in nearly constant use. Enter Chicago’s “sub” culture with a museum visit to the U-505, the only German submarine in the United States. Visit the site in Carthage where Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith was murdered on June 27, 1844. Learn about the strange case of H. H. Holmes’ notorious Murder Castle and the sad tale of Burr Oak Cemetery.

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Hoosier State has to offer!

In this updated edition, it's plain to see that the state of Illinois has only gotten weirder. Where there was once just a single Popeye statue in downstate Chester, today the town has monuments to Olive Oyl, Swee' Pea, Bluto, the Sea Hag, and more. The creepy Piasa Bird petroglyph on the bluff in Alton now has a roadside pullout with picnic tables, and the two-story outhouse in Gays has a new contemplative garden. With almost twice as many destinations as its predecessor, this edition boasts detailed information on each site—address, phone number, website, hours, entry fees, and driving directions—as well as maps, photos, and a wealth of regional history in the descriptions. Some new sites include Henry's Rabbit Ranch, the World's First Jungle Gym, Ahlgrim Acres (a miniature golf course at a funeral home), the Leather Archives and Museum, General Santa Ana's two wooden legs, the World's Largest Sock Monkey, the Friendship Shoe Fence, a truck stop with a marionette show, and a coin-operated fire-breathing dragon. There is more between Chicago and St. Louis than cornfields and plenty of fascinating places in the Windy City that aren't on Michigan Avenue, and here is a chance to see these underappreciated sites throughout the state.

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Windy City has to offer! Whether you’re a born-and-raised Chicagoan, a recent transplant, or just passing through, Chicago Curiosities will have you laughing out loud as Scotti Cohn takes you on a rollicking tour of the strangest sides of the Windy City. Watch Daedalus and Icarus fly across the façade of the Savings of America Building—and wonder if the mural’s location might carry a message for the financial industry. . . . A baboon with wings? A predatory grasshopper? Figure out for yourself just what Picasso’s “gift to Chicago”—a sculpture unveiled in 1967—represents. Want to stand out? You can do so at the Ledge at Skydeck Chicago, an all-glass architectural wonder attached to the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). Meet the man who travels the world impersonating President Obama.

The definitive collection of Nevada's odd, wacky, and most offbeat people, places, and things, for Nevada residents and anyone else who enjoys local humor and trivia with a twist.

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Hawkeye State has to offer!