Everything OddWay knows about. Narrow it down by what you're after, or where you're going.
Creatures people keep reporting and nobody has caught.
Bangor, ME
The International Cryptozoology Museum moved to Bangor in 2026, bringing its collection of Bigfoot casts, cryptid artifacts, alleged evidence, pop-culture objects, and decades of cryptozoology history to a new home on Broadway. It is one of the most directly on-theme OddWay stops in the state.
Princeton, ME
Pocomoonshine Lake is tied to one of Maine’s lesser-known lake-monster traditions. Stories recorded in the region describe a huge serpent-like creature and strange trails supposedly left as it crossed between bodies of water. The coordinates lead to a legitimate public boat-launch access point, not to a claimed encounter location.
Stories a place tells about itself, passed down and still repeated.
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.
Manchester, ME
A large foot-shaped depression in a boulder beside the North Manchester Meeting House has long been explained through local stories involving the Devil. The stone sits near the cemetery and can be viewed without wandering onto unrelated private property.
Rockwood, ME
A carved moose with large wings stands beside the road north of Rockwood, accompanied by a sign recounting a locally attributed Abenaki flying-moose legend. It is best treated as a roadside viewing stop without entering the nearby private property.
Rangeley, ME
Tiny houses and more than twenty gnome figures are scattered through the woods along trails at the Rangeley Lakes Trails Center. The handmade village turns a normal forest walk into a small-scale folklore scavenger hunt.
York Harbor, ME
A plaque on a roadside boulder marks a local story connected to the Candlemas Massacre of 1692 and a pair of abandoned snowshoes said to have warned settlers of danger. The modern marker has an added OddWay twist: accounts say it was deliberately placed on a different rock so visitors would not trespass at the actual traditional site.
York, ME
Mary Nasson’s 1774 grave is covered by a large stone slab, which later folklore claimed was placed there to keep a witch from rising from the dead. There is no evidence Nasson was a witch; the unusually protected grave itself is real and the legend has persisted for generations.
Hotels, theatres, prisons and back roads with a reputation.
Boothbay Harbor, ME
The 1894 Opera House remains an active performance venue, but it also carries a long-running reputation for unexplained activity. Local ghost lore includes stories about sounds, movement, and a purported presence sometimes nicknamed “Fingers”; these are legends, not verified paranormal claims.
Owls Head, ME
Perched above Penobscot Bay, Owls Head Light combines dramatic coastal scenery with a collection of long-running ghost and maritime legends. Stories associated with the site include unexplained footsteps and apparitions as well as tales of the lighthouse keeper’s dog Spot, who famously rang a bell to warn passing vessels. Paranormal claims remain folklore.
Bristol, ME
One of Maine’s most recognizable lighthouses also carries a local ghost tradition involving the apparition of a woman sometimes described as wearing a red shawl. The tower and surrounding rocky point are real public attractions; the haunting is regional folklore rather than a verified event.
Northport, ME
Founded in the 1800s, Temple Heights developed as a Spiritualist camp centered on mediumship, spirit communication, healing, and religious gatherings. The community still hosts scheduled services, readings, and events, making it a living continuation of New England Spiritualism rather than simply a historic site.
Biddeford Pool, ME
Wood Island Light stands offshore from Biddeford Pool and has accumulated stories of unexplained voices, footsteps, and other activity tied to the island’s difficult past. The lighthouse is not connected to the mainland by road, so closer visits depend on seasonal boat access and tour availability.
Real events too strange to have made the textbook.
Rockport, ME
A life-size granite statue on the Rockport waterfront honors Andre, the harbor seal who became a local celebrity through his relationship with harbor master Harry Goodridge. Andre’s true story inspired books and films and remains an unusually Maine piece of animal history.
Greenville, ME
Wreckage from a U.S. Air Force B-52 that crashed on Elephant Mountain during a 1963 training mission remains scattered in the woods near a memorial. Seven crew members died and two survived; visitors should treat the site as both a historical location and a memorial.
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.
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.
Portland, ME
Several sections of the Berlin Wall stand outdoors near Portland’s waterfront, an unexpected fragment of Cold War history far from Germany. The slabs are publicly viewable along the Commercial Street/Long Wharf area.
York, ME
New England’s tallest lighthouse stands on an isolated rocky island several miles off York. Boon Island also carries grim maritime history, including an infamous 18th-century shipwreck whose stranded survivors were later associated with accounts of cannibalism.
Small, specific collections run by people who care far too much.
Searsport, ME
A room-size camera obscura on the Penobscot Marine Museum campus is built to resemble an old box camera. Visitors can step inside and see a live, inverted image of the outside world projected through a small opening onto the interior surface. Museum: https://penobscotmarinemuseum.org/
Bangor, ME
This large transportation museum preserves an eclectic collection of Maine road, rail, military, farm, and commercial vehicles. Exhibits range from snowplows and fire engines to motorcycles, trains, military equipment, and historic machinery, making it much broader and stranger than a conventional car museum.
Bangor, ME
The unlikely star of the Bangor Police Museum is the Duck of Justice, a taxidermied wood duck rescued from a trash bin and transformed into the department’s internet-famous mascot. The small museum is inside the police department and is currently viewed by appointment.
Yarmouth, ME
Eartha is an enormous rotating globe installed inside the former DeLorme headquarters, now associated with Garmin. The three-story sphere turns slowly inside a glass atrium and can also be seen from outside the building.
Freeport, ME
A roughly 50-foot fin-whale skeleton nicknamed “Finny” hangs overhead inside Maine Beer Company’s Freeport facility. The enormous specimen turns a commercial stop into an unexpected natural-history display and was installed after the whale’s remains were recovered and prepared for exhibition.
South Paris, ME
This local library and museum occupies Oxford County’s former stone jail, giving visitors a chance to see historic cells alongside collections tied to the area and the Hamlin family. The unusual reuse leaves much of the old lockup atmosphere intact instead of disguising the building’s original purpose.
Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Portland, ME
An eight-foot steel pine cone stands in Deering Oaks Park, but its overlapping scales are actually made from roughly 140 recycled shovel heads. The transformation is obvious only when viewed closely, making the sculpture a good quick OddWay reveal.
Searsport, ME
A dead roadside tree outside the Yardarm Motel was transformed in 2025 into an approximately 20-foot carving of Poseidon by artist Josh Landry. The sea god rises from the trunk holding a trident, creating a particularly fitting giant figure along Maine’s coast.
Alexander, ME
More than two dozen large hand-carved wooden sculptures line a trail through the woods in rural Washington County. The privately created but visitor-friendly outdoor collection includes human figures, animals, and imaginative forms carved primarily from local trees.
Fort Kent, ME
A monument in Fort Kent marks the northern beginning of U.S. Route 1, the highway that runs from northern Maine to Key West, Florida. It is a clean geographic bookend stop for anyone traveling the far northern reaches of the state.
Brunswick, ME
Built in 1892 by John A. Roebling’s Sons, the company associated with the Brooklyn Bridge, this pedestrian suspension bridge crosses the Androscoggin River between Brunswick and Topsham. Locals call it the Swinging Bridge because the narrow span noticeably moves beneath walkers.
Harpswell, ME
This unusual bridge is built from massive granite blocks stacked in an open crib-like pattern instead of a conventional solid foundation. Gaps between the stones allow tides to flow through while the heavy granite keeps the structure anchored between Bailey and Orr’s islands.
