Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Stories a place tells about itself, passed down and still repeated.
Apache Junction, AZ
The museum sits beneath the Superstition Mountains and interprets mining, local history and the Lost Dutchman legend. Relocated Apacheland movie-set buildings and the Elvis Memorial Chapel make the grounds especially visual.
Carrabelle, FL
Huge swampy forest named for the local legend of Cebe Tate's disastrous trek through the wilderness.
Fort Dodge, IA
A rural bridge north of Fort Dodge is tied to local stories of a woman, children and unexplained sounds around the crossing. The legend is unverified folklore, and OddWay should treat the bridge only as a public-road stop with no entry onto adjacent private land.
Boston, MA
A stone sphere embedded in a downtown wall is labeled 'Boston Stone 1737,' but exactly what it originally signified remains debated. Explanations range from a paint-grinding stone to a deliberately manufactured historical curiosity, making the uncertainty part of the attraction.
Tamworth, NH
A state marker summarizes the legend of Chocorua, whose death on the mountain was later embellished into stories of revenge and a curse upon local settlers. Multiple versions disagree about what actually happened, and even the historical identity behind the legend is debated. The marker provides a concrete roadside point for a story that otherwise spreads across an entire mountain.
Clarksdale, MS
The famous Highway 61/49 crossroads is associated in popular culture with the legend that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for musical ability. The crossroads is real; the supernatural bargain is folklore, and the stop should be presented that way.
Ashland, MA
A small talus cave beside Ashland High School was once feared by colonial settlers as a possible hiding place of the Devil. Archaeological evidence points instead to earlier Indigenous use, giving the cave both genuine history and a layer of Puritan-era supernatural folklore.
Traverse City, MI
A sprawling fallen willow on the former Traverse City State Hospital grounds has been covered in layers of colorful paint by generations of visitors. Local folklore claims the tree is connected with spirits from the old hospital and even calls it a portal to hell, while today it remains a strange trailside folk-art landmark.
Buffalo, NY
A four-foot plaque at the Erie Basin Marina commemorating Theodor Fontane's poem about a helmsman who steers a burning Lake Erie steamer to shore. Maynard is a fictionalised name over a real rescue. Buffalo and its German sister city Dortmund dedicated it in 1997, with the finished plaque rededicated in 1998.
Kent, OH
A five-piece outdoor sculpture by Brinsley Tyrrell, professor emeritus at Kent State, made in 1980-81 and inspired by twisted dry wood near his home. After stints elsewhere in Ohio it was installed permanently near Henderson Hall in July 2011.
Lewis, NY
Joseph Call was a real nineteenth-century wrestler, logger and millwright whose unusual size and strength inspired stories of superhuman feats. Known as the Lewis Giant or the Paul Bunyan of the East, he is commemorated by a Legends & Lore marker along U.S. Route 9.
Lowell, MA
A nineteenth-century cemetery statue of a woman has accumulated stories that her dress changes length, that she moves, and that offerings left at the grave mysteriously disappear. The monument is real; the supernatural claims are cemetery folklore. Visit Lowell Cemetery respectfully and only during permitted hours.
Watertown, CT
One of the caves associated with the mysterious nineteenth-century wanderer known only as the Old Leatherman sits along his former Connecticut circuit. Dressed almost entirely in handmade leather, he repeatedly walked a roughly 365-mile route through Connecticut and New York while refusing to reveal much about himself.
Savannah, GA
A historic Savannah restaurant occupies buildings associated with the city's early maritime district and generations of pirate and shanghaiing stories. Its tunnels and legends are part of local lore rather than proof of literal pirate kidnappings, but the building remains one of the city's classic strange-history landmarks.
Athens, GA
Local tradition holds that a University of Georgia professor loved this white oak so much that he deeded ownership of the tree and surrounding land to the tree itself. The original tree fell in 1942; the present tree was grown from one of its acorns and continues the beloved legal-fiction legend.
Parkersburg, WV
A melancholy female statue in Riverview Cemetery has collected local legends claiming she weeps, changes position or grants wishes to visitors who approach her correctly. The monument is in an operating cemetery open during daytime hours, so this is a folklore stop that needs respectful cemetery behavior rather than nighttime ghost hunting.
Lenoir, NC
Local tradition says an unusual keyhole-shaped opening in George Powell’s old house was intended to give witches or “haints” a way to escape instead of tormenting the occupants. The house was demolished decades ago, but the keyhole feature was preserved in a roadside display at Trinity United Methodist Church.
Louisville, KY
Local legend says a tree once used as a gathering place by witches was cut down before the 1890 tornado that devastated Louisville, and that the witches cursed the city in revenge. The gnarled replacement tree at Park Avenue and Sixth Street has become a neighborhood landmark where visitors still leave small offerings.
Watertown, NY
Local lore claims there is a strange area within Thompson Park where people become disoriented, lose several minutes of time, or briefly experience another time period. There is no proven supernatural vortex, but the story has become one of Watertown's best-known modern legends and the public park can be visited normally.
Willimantic, CT
Four enormous bronze frogs perch on equally enormous thread spools at the corners of this bridge. The sculptures combine Willimantic's textile history with the famous 1750s 'Battle of the Frogs,' when mysterious nighttime noises terrified residents before being traced to masses of frogs.
El Paso, TX
Stop on Thunderbird Drive, facing south, put the car in neutral, and it appears to roll uphill. The slope is an illusion — the surrounding land hides the true horizon, so a gentle descent reads as a climb — which has never once stopped anyone trying it with a bottle of water. A public road, so pull over sensibly and watch for traffic.
Edisto Island, SC
A brick mausoleum at the ruins of the old Presbyterian church is tied to the legend of Julia Legare, who was supposedly mistakenly declared dead and buried alive. Folklore says the tomb’s heavy door repeatedly opened or was moved despite attempts to secure it. The buried-alive story is legend rather than established fact, but the unusual tomb is real.
Dahlonega, GA
Motorists traditionally add stones to this roadside cairn, which local legend identifies as the grave of a Cherokee woman named Trahlyta. Historical scholarship has not established the popular story as authentic Cherokee tradition, so OddWay treats it as a long-running regional legend rather than documented tribal history.
Austin, TX
An ancient live oak wrapped in Texas folklore, including stories connecting it with Native councils and Stephen F. Austin. The tree survived a deliberate poisoning in 1989.
