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.
Norton, VA
After Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot filmed in Southwest Virginia, Norton embraced its local Bigfoot-like creature known as the Woodbooger and designated Flag Rock Recreation Area as a Woodbooger Sanctuary. A large creature statue now stands just beyond the parking area on the footpath toward Flag Rock Overlook.
Stories a place tells about itself, passed down and still repeated.
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.
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.
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.
Stuart, VA
The park is famous for naturally occurring staurolite crystals shaped like crosses, which local legend says formed from the tears of fairies who learned of Christ's crucifixion. Visitors can hike, camp and search designated areas for the distinctive stones while the state park interprets both the geology and folklore.
Stuart, VA
A wooded mountaintop park at about 2,930 feet with several overlook platforms and picnic tables. It carries the same Lover's Leap story as the Route 58 pull-off nearby, but this is the park viewpoint rather than the highway one — they are two distinct stops.
Alexandria, VA
A white marble table tomb in St. Paul's Cemetery marks the grave of an unidentified 23-year-old woman who died in Alexandria in 1816. Her true identity remains unknown and later legends have connected her to figures such as Theodosia Burr Alston; the grave is the third on the right after entering the St. Paul's section and should be visited respectfully during cemetery hours.
Hotels, theatres, prisons and back roads with a reputation.
Gordonsville, VA
The Exchange Hotel became a receiving hospital during the Civil War and treated tens of thousands of sick and wounded soldiers before later serving other purposes. Today it operates as a museum with medical and wartime displays, while reported apparitions, voices and unexplained activity have made it a frequent paranormal destination.
Virginia Beach, VA
The current Federal-style house dates to about 1830 on a property whose history reaches back to a 17th-century ferry and an earlier courthouse site near the famous Grace Sherwood witch trial. It operates as a historic house museum on limited weekly tour hours and has also become well known locally for reported paranormal activity.
Alexandria, VA
These historic tavern buildings hosted travelers, political figures and social events in early Alexandria and are now preserved as a city museum. The site is also bound to the Female Stranger mystery, whose unidentified young woman allegedly died here in 1816 and is said in local lore to still haunt the building.
Warrenton, VA
Haunted Hollow at Maple Tree Farm is a seasonal Virginia haunted trail that leads visitors through wooded paths, barns and farm settings populated by live scare actors. It operates on selected fall nights and requires visitors to follow the event's ticketing and safety rules.
Bedford, VA
Built around 1838, Avenel remained in only two families for nearly 150 years and is now preserved by the Avenel Foundation. The house has long-standing stories of a spectral woman known as the White Lady and other unexplained activity, but visits to the interior must be arranged through scheduled tours or events.
Max Meadows, VA
This 19th-century Wythe County mansion has accumulated stories of apparitions, voices and other reported paranormal activity tied to generations of the Graham family and the property's history. Access is event-based and has included history tours, seasonal haunted attractions and paranormal investigations, so verify an authorized date before traveling.
Real events too strange to have made the textbook.
Stafford, VA
The present Aquia Church was completed in 1757 after its nearly finished predecessor burned, and the building later survived use by Union soldiers as a stable, hospital and campsite during the Civil War. It remains an active Episcopal church with remarkably preserved colonial woodwork, and historical tours should be arranged with the church office rather than treated as unrestricted sightseeing.
Port Royal, VA
John Wilkes Booth was cornered at Richard Garrett's farm and fatally shot on April 26, 1865, twelve days after assassinating Abraham Lincoln. The farm buildings are gone and the actual site lies in a posted highway median with no public access, so OddWay should route travelers only to the roadside "Assassin's End" historical marker and pull-off.
Surry, VA
Built in 1665, this extraordinary brick house acquired its misleading name after followers of Nathaniel Bacon seized and fortified it during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. The historic house is open for scheduled tours during its operating season, while the grounds generally have broader daytime access.
Hampton, VA
After Blackbeard was killed off North Carolina in 1718, his severed head was brought back to Virginia and displayed at the mouth of the Hampton River as a warning to other pirates. A modern historical marker at Blackbeard's Point identifies the tradition and gives travelers a physical stop tied to one of the grimmest episodes in Virginia's pirate history.
Afton, VA
Engineer Claudius Crozet's 4,273-foot railroad tunnel opened in 1858 after nearly nine years of difficult construction through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The abandoned bore reopened as a pedestrian and bicycle trail in 2020, but it is completely dark inside and the walk to and through it requires a flashlight and appropriate trail access.
Blackstone, VA
Virginia tradition says camp cook Jimmy Matthews created an early Brunswick stew during an 1828 hunting trip in Brunswick County, originally using squirrel, butter, onions, bread and seasoning. A Virginia historical marker erected in 1997 preserves the claim, though competing origin stories exist elsewhere, making this a suitably odd food-history roadside stop.
Small, specific collections run by people who care far too much.
Hampton, VA
This free city park displays aircraft, rockets, missiles and space hardware outdoors in a landscape tied closely to Hampton's aerospace history. The outdoor collection is accessible daily during park hours, while the indoor museum adds exhibits on aviation and space exploration.
Quicksburg, VA
A warehouse beside Shenandoah Caverns is packed with enormous retired parade floats from presidential inaugurations, Rose Parades and other major celebrations. Visitors walk among giant genies, animals, patriotic displays and repurposed float pieces on seasonal guided tours, generally from Memorial Day through Labor Day with selected additional dates.
Staunton, VA
This independent museum has assembled thousands of cameras spanning the history of photography, including espionage cameras disguised as everyday objects, early daguerreotype equipment and hundreds of Brownie models. The collection also includes historic photographs and material connected to figures such as John Wilkes Booth.
Arlington, VA
The Drug Enforcement Administration's museum documents the history of illicit drugs, federal enforcement and major investigations through seized objects, undercover material and unusual artifacts. Admission is free, but the museum is inside a federal building and adult visitors must meet current government identification and security-screening requirements.
Richmond, VA
Richmond's Poe Museum holds the world's largest collection of Edgar Allan Poe manuscripts, letters, first editions, personal belongings and memorabilia. The museum opened in 1922 in Richmond's oldest surviving residential building and includes the atmospheric Enchanted Garden inspired by Poe's writing.
Fredericksburg, VA
This restored 18th-century apothecary interprets medicine from an era when treatments included bloodletting, leeches, lancets, snakeroot and other remedies that look alarming by modern standards. Costumed interpretation and demonstrations make the small museum much stranger than a conventional colonial house tour.
Giant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
Mount Jackson, VA
Mount Jackson turned an otherwise ordinary municipal water tower into an enormous basket of apples as a tribute to the Shenandoah Valley's apple-growing heritage. The painted tower has been a roadside landmark for decades and remains easily visible from Interstate 81 and nearby public roads.
Bealeton, VA
An enormous fiberglass roller skate has stood outside the former skating-rink property since the roller-disco era of the 1980s. The weathered oversized shoe remains visible from the public-facing commercial area and is best treated as a quick roadside photo stop.
Lynchburg, VA
The Craddock Terry complex grew from Lynchburg's shoe-manufacturing industry, which began here in the late nineteenth century and once produced thousands of pairs a day. A giant red high-heel sculpture with a built-in seat now stands outside the converted hotel, turning that industrial history into a deliberately oversized photo stop.
Ashland, VA
A fiberglass bass roughly 27 feet tall leaps from an equally oversized faux splash at the entrance to the Winding Brook development. The sculpture was installed as a commercial landmark in the early 2010s and remains visible from the surrounding public roads near Interstate 95.
Wytheville, VA
This privately operated mountain stop combines a country store with a 100-foot observation tower perched high on Big Walker Mountain. The attraction has been family-run for more than 75 years and hosts seasonal craftspeople and music; tower and store access follow business hours rather than being a 24-hour overlook.
Arlington, VA
Artist Nancy Holt designed Dark Star Park as Arlington's first county-commissioned public artwork, and it was installed in 1984. Its concrete spheres, tunnels, poles and carefully placed shadows form a strange astronomical landscape, with a famous annual alignment occurring around 9:32 a.m. every August 1.
