Weird Places in America; 7 Spots for a Mindblowing Experience

The world gets weird sometimes. There are people with creativity that knows no borders. There are conspiracy theories and supernatural phenomenon. If mystery, uniqueness and oddity appeal to you, don’t miss a chance to witness it during your travels. When wandering through America, don’t only visit New York, Las Vegas or San Francisco. Go further and look for the continent’s weirdest attractions. Here’s a list of 7 wonderfully weird places in America.

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   The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California

At first glance, the Winchester Mystery House looks like a beautiful mansion, but as soon as you take a closer look, you’ll notice it’s much more than that. An insane maze of 160 rooms, dead-end hallways, secret passageways and doors that lead to nowhere, the house is as bizarre as it gets. The story behind it isn’t usual either. After the death of her husband William Wirt Winchester, Sarah Winchester inherited millions of dollars. Mr. Winchester was a powerful gun magnate. His wife claimed spirits of people killed by his rifles told her the house should be built, so she followed the instructions and used inherited money to create this fantastic, eerie construction. Even though it’s supposed to be haunted, the house has become a popular tourist attraction.

2. Roswell, New Mexico

Everyone who believes in aliens or at least finds it interesting to analyze the potential of their existence must have heard of Roswell. This small town in New Mexico is known for the Roswell UFO Incident. A strange object crashed at a ranch near Roswell in 1947. Soon after the military reported it was simply a weather balloon, but the fuzz was already made, and conspiracy theories arose. Even if real extraterrestrial occupants didn’t arrive in Roswell, it’s now filled with human-made representations of aliens – quirky statues stand here and there, and street lamps have white heads instead of typical covers. Whether you’re a believer or not, the International UFO Museum & Research Center is an exciting place to visit. In July the Roswell UFO Festival is being held in the city.

3. Santa Claus, Indiana

Did you think Santa Claus lives in Lapland? Well, it might be the place where he resides most of the year, but even Santa needs a vacation once in a while, and when that happens, he inevitably heads to Indiana. As the name suggests, the town offers themed attractions: Santa’s Candy Castle, Frosty’s Fun Center, Santa Claus Museum, Christmas Lake Golf Course and others. For all those who enjoy the atmosphere and excitement of Christmas, the town of Santa Claus is a perfect place.

4. Whimsical Dr. Seuss House, Willow, Alaska

It took ten years for the owner to build this strange house. His goal was to have a home with the view of Denali/Mt. McKinley. He started the construction right after a fire, so trees were small, but as soon as they began growing again, the view was impeded – that’s one theory. Another one claims he didn’t take the fog and cloud line under consideration. Either way, the view wasn’t as perfect as he wanted it to be, so the man kept adding floors one after another. You can see it wasn’t planned from the beginning because the house has 12 floors that look as if someone was just grabbing little houses and placing them one on the top of another quite randomly. The house is abandoned, but it’s privately owned and not open for tourists. Nevertheless, you can see it from the car or train while traveling through Alaska – and it’s worth it.

5. The Minister’s Tree House, Crossville, Tennessee

Created by order of God himself (or at least that’s what the believing constructor claims), the Minister’s Tree House is world’s largest tree house. Minister Horace Burgess had a vision in which God told him if he builds a tree house; he’ll never run out of material. He didn’t. Indeed, there was always enough of wood to keep on building, until finally, a gigantic structure stood in the middle of the forest. It did only cost $12000 but has over 3000 square meters. There’s a church bell inside, large halls and many rooms. After being open to visitors for years, the house was closed in 2012, because it violated the fire code and was considered dangerous by the local fire department.

Photo credits: Roger Smith

6. Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, Texas

From the lack of a better word, the Cadillac Ranch can be called an art installation. Well, it is art indeed, but definite and collectively created through the years of its existence. The ranch was opened in 1974 by a quirky millionaire called Stanley Marsh. He was the sponsor, but creative part of the job was done by members of The Ant Farm, a hippie collective of artists. They brought ten old Cadillacs, half-buried them in the ground and painted. The installation was made as a tribute to the Cadillac, Route 66 and the beauty of a road-trip. Visitors are welcome to add their original signatures, so take a spray and paint something on one of the cars.

7. Coral Castle, Homestead, Florida

This kitschy piece of beauty was built by an eccentric Latvian immigrant Edward Leedskalnin. Made of incredibly massive corals, the castle’s a large, impressing structure. Leedskalnin only used home-made tools, and nobody’s entirely sure how he managed to complete his weird mission. The whole process was mysterious; he worked at nights and used no mortars. Some say Leedskalnin had supernatural powers, others that he was heartbroken and tried to express the tremendous pain of lost love, some believe he knew the secrets of pyramids and wanted to illustrate the power of ancient sciences unlimited by gravity. Whatever was his motivation, the result is astonishing.

Ready to start the journey to weird places in America? Share this article with your friends before you hit the road!