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.
Salt Lake City, UT
Stop on Bonneville Boulevard, looping around Memory Grove, 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.
Frederica, DE
The National Register documentation for the Bonwell House records a curious local legend about a huge red-eyed canine apparition called the Fence-Rail Dog because it was supposedly as long as a fence rail. The supernatural story is folklore, but its appearance in the historic documentation makes this an unusually well-preserved Delaware legend. The house is private property and should only be viewed from lawful public areas.
Sedona, AZ
Boynton Canyon combines a dramatic box-canyon hike with one of Sedona's best-known vortex traditions. The landscape is real; claims of concentrated spiritual energy are subjective and should be presented as part of modern local culture.
Mount Shasta, CA
This high-elevation trailhead is a practical public gateway to Mount Shasta, a mountain surrounded by Lemurian, UFO and mystical folklore as well as serious mountaineering history.
Clifton, VA
This narrow railroad overpass on Colchester Road became the center of Northern Virginia's Bunny Man legend after reports of a man in a rabbit suit threatening people with an axe or hatchet circulated in 1970. The bridge remains an active public road, so view it while passing through or from a safe legal spot nearby and never stop inside the one-lane tunnel or trespass along the tracks.
Hinckley Township, OH
Hinckley has celebrated the supposed annual return of turkey vultures every March since the 1950s, creating one of Ohio's strangest recurring local traditions. Buzzard Roost in Hinckley Reservation is the public viewing area associated with the event, where Cleveland Metroparks continues to welcome visitors looking for the returning birds.
Lewes, DE
Delaware folklore describes a mysterious offshore beam known as the Corpse Light, appearing near Cape Henlopen where no working lighthouse should be seen. State sources preserve the ghost story as part of Delaware’s maritime folklore. This pin uses the public Cape Henlopen Point area as the safest place to connect with the legend.
Jackson, TN
Engineer Casey Jones died in a 1900 train collision and was transformed into an American folk hero through song and storytelling. His preserved home and railroad museum turn the legend back into a specific person, place and fatal event.
Southfields, NY
Local legend says Revolutionary War loyalist and outlaw Claudius Smith hid stolen valuables inside caves at nearby Cat Rocks before his capture and execution. Treasure hunters have searched for the supposed cache for generations, and a Legends & Lore marker along Route 17 records the story; do not leave public access areas to hunt for it.
Frankford, DE
Long Cemetery is tied to the Delaware legend of Catman, a former cemetery caretaker said to keep watch over the grounds after death. Versions of the ritual involve knocking three times and later having car trouble, but these are local ghost stories rather than verified events, and some older descriptions no longer match what visitors report at the site. Treat it as a cemetery first: visit only when permitted and do not disturb graves or structures.
Philadelphia, PA
Tradition connects this stone-lined chamber in the Wissahickon to Johannes Kelpius and his seventeenth-century community of mystics, who believed the end of the world was imminent. Historians debate whether the structure was actually Kelpius's cave or a later springhouse, but visitors can reach it on foot from the public park trails.
Cave-in-Rock, IL
A huge riverside limestone cave once served as a landmark and shelter along the Ohio River and became notorious in stories about frontier outlaws.
Pineville, KY
Pineville folklore says residents chained an enormous boulder to Pine Mountain to keep it from rolling down and crushing the town. The chain was actually installed in the 1930s as a publicity stunt inspired by the legend, and visitors can hike to the rock from Pine Mountain State Resort Park.
Milford, CT
Charles Island is wrapped in stories of curses, buried treasure and an alleged Captain Kidd connection. At low tide a sandbar can appear to connect it with shore, but currents and rapidly changing tides make crossing dangerous, and seasonal wildlife closures prohibit access during nesting periods.
Newbury, NH
For decades, a roadside boulder has carried the hand-painted message "Chicken Farmer, I Still Love You." Local versions of the story connect it to a long-ago romance, but the exact origin has become part fact and part community folklore. The rock is visible from the road; visitors should not stop in traffic or enter private property for a photograph.
Brandywine, MD
A small cemetery and surviving steps are all that remain of the Church of the Atonement, built in the 19th century and demolished decades after services ended. The isolated burial ground has accumulated witch and ghost folklore over the years; access is awkward near the railroad, so use only legitimate approaches and never cross active tracks unsafely.
Bucksport, ME
A strange boot- or foot-shaped stain marks the monument of Colonel Jonathan Buck, the founder for whom Bucksport was named. Local legend claims the mark is tied to a curse involving an executed witch, although the story is folklore rather than documented history.
Boulder, CO
Boulder's oldest cemetery holds pioneers, miners and other early residents beneath a wide mix of historic markers. Ghost stories are part of local lore, but this is an active historic cemetery and should be visited quietly during permitted hours.
Copperton, UT
Stop on State Route 48, under the train bridge, 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.
Yorktown, VA
For generations, local tradition claimed British General Cornwallis used this riverside cave as his headquarters during the 1781 Siege of Yorktown. Historians have since rejected that story and identify the cave as a later ammunition-storage site, making the debunked legend itself part of the stop; the opening is gated and should not be entered.
Crosby, MN
A fiberglass serpent called Kanabec coils beside Serpent Lake, turning the lake's name into a physical monster. It is civic fantasy rather than a claimed cryptid specimen, but the creature gives OddWay a playful monster stop with a definite location.
Corbin, KY
Cumberland Falls is one of the few places where visitors can regularly see a lunar rainbow, or moonbow, under the right full-moon conditions. The surrounding gorge also carries the Lover's Leap ghost story of a bride said to have fallen to her death and later appeared in a white dress near the falls.
Lynchburg, VA
According to an 1839 Lynchburg legend, this mahogany cradle repeatedly rocked with no one touching it and would begin moving when a local minister challenged the unseen force to rock it. The actual cradle resurfaced through descendants of its original owners and was donated to the Lynchburg Museum in 2021, where visitors can now see the artifact behind the story.
Dawsonville, GA
A loud siren on the Dawsonville Pool Room is traditionally sounded when a local Elliott family driver wins a major NASCAR race. The custom became part of Dawsonville identity, turning an ordinary downtown restaurant into a living piece of racing folklore.
