Skip to content
OddWay home

Weird history

Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.

2650 of 7093 places

Weird history2,650

Suggest a stop

Real events too strange to have made the textbook.

  • Weird history41.8175° N, 71.4302° W

    Barnaby Castle

    Providence, RI

    This extravagant 1875 Victorian mansion became connected to one of the country's earliest nationally famous murder-by-mail cases after widow Josephine Barnaby was poisoned with whiskey in 1891. The castle-like house has also accumulated reports of cold spots, uneasy sensations and other alleged paranormal activity. It is private property outside select tours and events, so exterior viewing should remain on the public sidewalk. Secondary source: https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-PR186

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Weird history42.0746° N, 72.5804° W

    Barney Family Mausoleum — Sphinx Tomb

    Springfield, MA

    A bronze sphinx guards the entrance to the Barney family mausoleum in Forest Park. The Egyptian-style tomb was commissioned by wealthy industrialist Everett Hosmer Barney and looks dramatically out of place amid the surrounding New England landscape.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history34.3017° N, 84.9843° W

    Barnsley Manor Ruins

    Adairsville, GA

    The roofless brick shell of Godfrey Barnsley's nineteenth-century manor remains standing inside the modern Barnsley Resort. War, tornado damage and decades of abandonment reduced the mansion to picturesque ruins that are now preserved as part of the property; visitors should follow resort access rules.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Weird history44.9712° N, 69.5467° W

    Bartlettyarns Mill — Graveyard Shift Filming Location

    Harmony, ME

    This working woolen mill supplied the exterior for the sinister textile mill in the 1990 Stephen King adaptation Graveyard Shift. It remains an active property, making this primarily a respectful exterior-viewing stop from public areas.

    Access
    Private land, view only
  • Weird history32.2740° N, 106.8003° W

    Basilica of San Albino

    Mesilla, NM

    The present church anchors Mesilla Plaza on a site associated with parish life since the 1850s. Its twin towers and borderlands history make it one of the strongest architectural landmarks in the historic district; visitors should respect worship services.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Weird history34.3457° N, 89.9239° W

    Batesville Mounds

    Batesville, MS

    A rare surviving Woodland-period mound group incorporated into Batesville's public mound trail area. Several original mounds were destroyed, but the surviving earthworks and interpretive setting make this one of the easier archaeological stops to experience directly.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history42.8164° N, 84.4493° W

    Bath School Disaster Memorial

    Bath, MI

    On May 18, 1927, school-board member Andrew Kehoe used explosives to destroy part of Bath Consolidated School before detonating his truck outside, in an attack that killed 45 people including Kehoe. James Couzens Memorial Park preserves the school's cupola, a historical marker and the Girl with a Cat memorial dedicated after the disaster.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history34.5130° N, 93.0535° W

    Bathhouse Row

    Hot Springs, AR

    Eight historic bathhouses line Central Avenue over Hot Springs’ naturally heated thermal water. The architecture and long history of medical bathing make the district unlike any other national park streetscape.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history39.6446° N, 74.6469° W

    Batsto Village

    Washington Township, NJ

    More than 40 surviving structures preserve a Pine Barrens industrial village built around ironmaking and later glass production. The grounds are open daily, with an 1852 post office, sawmill, mansion and other buildings forming a remarkably intact historic settlement.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history46.1926° N, 123.9754° W

    Battery Russell

    Hammond, OR

    Explore the concrete remains of a World War II-era coastal gun battery inside Fort Stevens, part of the harbor-defense complex attacked by a Japanese submarine in 1942.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history43.6587° N, 70.1798° W

    Battery Steele

    Peaks Island, Portland, ME

    Built during World War II, Battery Steele is a long concrete coastal-defense battery now covered in graffiti and surrounded by island trails. Visitors can walk through portions of its dark, bunker-like corridors, making it one of the more atmospheric ruins near Portland.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history38.2365° N, 94.4395° W

    Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site

    Butler, MO

    This site commemorates an 1862 Civil War fight in which the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry engaged Confederate guerrillas before Black soldiers were formally accepted into federal service nationwide. The landscape is preserved with trails, interpretation and memorial elements.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history57.0474° N, 135.3109° W

    Battle of Sitka / Russian Memorial

    Sitka, AK

    The park landscape marks the 1804 battle between Tlingit defenders and Russian forces and their allies. Interpretation centers the conflict within the larger story of colonial expansion, resistance and the Tlingit departure from the fortified site.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history39.5012° N, 89.7667° W

    Battle of Virden Monument

    Virden, IL

    A public memorial recalls the deadly 1898 confrontation between striking union miners and armed guards brought in by a coal company.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history21.3630° N, 157.9536° W

    Battleship Missouri Memorial

    Honolulu, HI

    USS Missouri is preserved at Ford Island near the site where the Pacific War began; Japan's formal surrender was signed aboard the ship in Tokyo Bay in 1945. Access requires the authorized Pearl Harbor shuttle and current base-security procedures.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Weird history29.3026° N, 94.7984° W

    Battleship Texas

    Galveston, TX

    A surviving dreadnought-era battleship and veteran of both world wars. Its display location and visitor access have changed during major restoration, so current access should be checked before routing.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Weird history37.0280° N, 94.7334° W

    Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum

    Baxter Springs, KS

    Baxter Springs combines Route 66, mining, Civil War, and frontier history in a town that repeatedly sat on important transportation routes. The museum is a strong context stop before visiting the town's surviving Route 66 structures.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history46.4533° N, 84.6046° W

    Bay Mills Old Indian Burial Ground

    Brimley, MI

    This historic Ojibwe burial ground contains weathered wooden spirit houses and a large white pine connected with Bay Mills community history. The cemetery is closed to general public entry, so travelers should view it only from permitted public areas along the perimeter and never enter the grounds.

    Access
    Private land, view only
  • Weird history44.3976° N, 114.3126° W

    Bayhorse Ghost Town

    Bayhorse, ID

    A state-managed mining ghost town with preserved kilns, buildings and mining remains. Use only the designated park roads and trails; seasonal mountain access can change.

    Access
    Seasonal or ticketed
  • Weird history45.5194° N, 123.9475° W

    Bayocean Ghost Town Site

    Tillamook, OR

    Trails on the Bayocean Peninsula cross the former site of a resort community that lost streets, homes and landmarks to erosion before much of the town was abandoned.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history31.9822° N, 91.0054° W

    Bayou Pierre Mounds

    Port Gibson, MS

    A prehistoric mound complex near Bayou Pierre where one large platform mound remains clearly visible from Old Mill Road. The property is private, so stay on the public road and use the trail marker as the stop.

    Access
    Roadside, no entry
  • Weird history44.4599° N, 103.4509° W

    Bear Butte

    Sturgis, SD

    Known as Mato Paha to the Lakota and Noahvose to the Cheyenne, Bear Butte is sacred to numerous Indigenous nations and remains an active place of prayer and ceremony. Visitors must stay respectful, leave offerings undisturbed and not photograph prayer cloths or tobacco ties.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history34.6426° N, 88.1404° W

    Bear Creek Mound

    Tishomingo, MS

    A prehistoric ceremonial mound preserved near the Alabama end of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The mound and interpretive stop provide one final ancient-site anchor before the Trace leaves Mississippi.

    Access
    Open to visitors
  • Weird history48.3779° N, 109.2134° W

    Bear Paw Battlefield

    Chinook, MT

    The site where the 1877 Nez Perce flight ended after a five-day battle and siege. The National Park Service interprets the landscape as part of Nez Perce National Historical Park.

    Access
    Open to visitors