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.
Iowa City, IA
A large darkened bronze angel marks the Feldevert family grave in Oakland Cemetery and has accumulated decades of local legends involving curses, death and supernatural consequences for touching or kissing it. Treat the stories as folklore and visit respectfully during cemetery hours.
Dundee, IA
The narrow rock spine that gave Backbone State Park its name forms a dramatic ridge above the Maquoketa River. Its devil-themed name and unusually rugged terrain make it a natural OddWay stop within the larger park.
Bloomfield, IA
This isolated historic church is associated with long-running southeastern Iowa ghost stories involving lights, apparitions and unsettling nighttime encounters. The haunting claims are folklore; travelers should remain on lawful public access and respect the church and surrounding property.
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.
Hotels, theatres, prisons and back roads with a reputation.
Dubuque, IA
Dubuque's historic Carnegie-Stout library has long been associated with staff stories of unexplained movement, sounds and apparitions. It remains a functioning public library, so OddWay should present the supernatural claims as local lore rather than fact.
Scotch Grove, IA
This former Jones County poor farm and later care facility is now operated specifically for tours and paranormal investigations. Its institutional history, isolated setting and preserved interior have made it one of Iowa's best-known ghost-hunting locations.
Farrar, IA
The 1920s Farrar school building is privately operated as a paranormal investigation destination, with scheduled tours and overnight access. OddWay visitors should book through the operator rather than treating the building as abandoned.
Strawberry Point, IA
The historic Franklin Hotel is one of Strawberry Point's best-known old buildings and has accumulated local ghost lore alongside its National Register history. Check current operating status before routing visitors inside.
Dubuque, IA
The historic Hotel Julien occupies a long-standing downtown hotel site associated with river-town history, famous guests and local ghost stories. It remains an operating hotel, giving travelers a lawful way to experience the atmospheric building.
Bentonsport, IA
Built in the nineteenth century along the Des Moines River, the Mason House Inn has hosted travelers for generations and openly embraces stories of reported apparitions and unexplained activity. It remains an operating inn, so access is through lodging or scheduled events.
Real events too strange to have made the textbook.
Arnolds Park, IA
This small cabin survives from the 1857 Spirit Lake conflict and became associated with survivor Abbie Gardner Sharp's later interpretation of the event. It is a sensitive historic site with scheduled museum access.
Amana, IA
The museum preserves the story of the communal religious society that founded the Amana Colonies and operated a highly organized shared economy for decades. Historic buildings and artifacts explain a social experiment that still shapes the villages today.
Amana, IA
Textile manufacturing has continued in Amana since the communal era, and the woolen mill remains part of that unusual industrial tradition. Visitors can see a working business rooted directly in the colony's nineteenth-century economy.
Anamosa, IA
The Anamosa State Penitentiary Museum sits outside the walls of the still-active prison and documents its history through uniforms, photographs, inmate-made objects, weapons and a replica cell. The museum operates on a limited seasonal schedule and is a prison-history stop rather than a conventional haunted house.
Bentonsport, IA
A remarkably intact nineteenth-century river village survives along the Des Moines River with old storefronts, homes, bridges and ruins. The quiet streets feel like a commercial town that time simply moved around.
Larchwood, IA
Blood Run preserves part of a large Indigenous settlement and ceremonial landscape used for centuries along the Big Sioux River. Earthworks and archaeological remains make it one of the most important pre-contact sites in the region.
Small, specific collections run by people who care far too much.
Spillville, IA
Brothers Frank and Joseph Bily carved astonishingly elaborate wooden clocks, many filled with moving figures, patriotic scenes and miniature architecture. Their collection fills a small museum in Spillville alongside Antonín Dvořák history.
Le Claire, IA
This riverfront museum covers William 'Buffalo Bill' Cody, local Mississippi River history and unusual regional artifacts. One of its major objects is the preserved Lone Star steamboat, a National Historic Landmark.
Britt, IA
Britt's Hobo Museum preserves artifacts, photographs, artwork and oral history connected with America's hobo culture. The town also hosts the long-running National Hobo Convention, giving the museum a living connection to the tradition it documents.
Walcott, IA
This free museum beside Interstate 80 preserves antique trucks, rare engines and artifacts spanning the history of long-haul transportation. Its collection is unusually specific and pairs naturally with the giant truck stop next door.
Greenfield, IA
Historic aircraft, engines and aviation artifacts fill this small museum at Greenfield's airport. The collection also honors Iowa aviators and preserves machines that look especially strange at close range.
Johnston, IA
The Iowa National Guard museum displays armored vehicles, aircraft and military artifacts at Camp Dodge. Access procedures can change because the museum is on an active military installation, so visitors should check requirements before routing there.
Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Audubon, IA
A gigantic concrete Hereford bull towers over Audubon as a tribute to the area's cattle industry. Albert has become one of Iowa's classic oversized roadside mascots.
Eldon, IA
Grant Wood used this small Carpenter Gothic house as the architectural backdrop for American Gothic. Visitors can see the actual house, use costume props at the adjacent center and recreate one of America's most recognizable paintings.
Le Claire, IA
The original Antique Archaeology shop is associated with the television series American Pickers and occupies a former fabrication property near the Mississippi River. Visitors can browse vintage signs, motorcycles and show-related memorabilia.
Arnolds Park, IA
The wooden Legend roller coaster dates to 1930 and remains the signature ride of one of America's oldest amusement parks. Its lakeside setting and traditional wood construction preserve an increasingly rare form of amusement history.
Dundee, IA
Iowa's oldest state park is centered on a narrow ridge of exposed dolomite known as the Devil's Backbone. Trails pass cliffs, caves, forest and stone structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Bentonsport, IA
This nineteenth-century iron truss bridge now carries pedestrians across the Des Moines River between Bentonsport and Vernon. Its skeletal metal framework creates a strong visual centerpiece for the historic village.
