The 30 Weirdest Roadside Attractions in the Midwest

As summer glide slope , we ’re remind of one of the quintessential American pursuit : the road trip . The open US roadway link us to beautiful innate marvel , historic sites , and a SPAM Museum ? ! Yes , there are quite a few strange man - made quirkiness around the midwest , and these 30 weird roadside attractions are well deserving a cavity stop , peradventure even buy the novelty key chain .

World’s Largest Catsup Bottle

Each summer , the town gathers to babble out " Happy Birthday " to this 70ft - grandiloquent water tugboat ( atop a 100ft - magniloquent steel tower ) painted to resemble a feeding bottle of Brooks Rich & Tangy Catsup in 1949 . The tomato ketchup - bottling industrial plant left Ithiel Town in the seventies , but lead behind the regional landmark , which could hold up to 640,000 14 oz bottles of the tomato table sauce . The annual Catsup Bottle Festival also include a tomato ketchup - covered live dog - wipe out competition , so it ’s a good matter the town ’s a strong four - and - a - half hours driving space from Chicago - dash spicy dog purists .

Leaning Tower of Niles

While it ’s roughly half the contender of the famed Italian tower ( 94 ft to Pisa ’s 177 ft height and a mere 7.4 ft off of vertical vs. Italy ’s 15 ft lean ) , the Midwestern version work up in 1934 holds its own as a tourist attraction . hold back by while swinge over to the first franchised McDonald ’s in nearby Des Plaines and take all the " dad exposure " of you pushing it over .

World’s Largest Ball of Paint

Nearly 40 years and 25,000 multi - colored coat of paint have translate what was once your average baseball game into this 2.5 - long ton orb hanging from an industrial - sized claw in rural Indiana . Now that the workload has grown , they let visitor give it the daily coating , so call ahead to add your own level to its solid mass . Be sure to ask for your coat phone number for line-shooting right !

Santa Claus Museum & Village

If Christmas in July sounds appealing , then there ’s a peculiar place for you in Indiana . " America ’s Christmas Hometown " is screen with holiday attractions like the only post office with the Santa Claus name , Santa ’s Candy Castle – a amply fix 22ft - marvelous Santa Statue from 1935 take for the world ’s oldest – and plenty of untried replication around town for selfies with Santa . or else , you could chitchat Christmas , MI or Noel , MO . But unquestionably get off your letters to Santa here .

Iowa’s Largest Frying Pan

A state with the world ’s largest hand truck stop would naturally also lie claim to the largest frying cooking pan internationally – and apparently there are six grown - nookie fry pans with the " mankind ’s big " nickname elsewhere in the US alone . But the one that weighs 1,020lbs , stretch out 14ft - marvelous , and could potentially cook up to 528 eggs and/or 88lbs of bacon wins ( that ’s this one ) .

Star Trek Voyage Home Museum

Did you cognize this Iowa town is the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk ? His 23rd C DOB ( March 22 , 2228 ) is scratch in a gemstone repository located behind a pilus beauty parlor . While they first claim the Starship Enterprise maitre d' in 1985 , the museum did n’t open its doors until 2008 . It ’s since become a hub for Star Trek collectibles , home - make exhibits , and flip-flop history disputes .

Sistine Chapel in Spray Paint (Galleria De Paco)

Among its John Deere tractor highlighting , this townsfolk boasts an Italian dining experience under Michelangelo ’s chef-d’oeuvre … rendered entirely in spraying paint . While Michelangelo ’s work took four year to complete , artist Paco Rosic spend four twenty-four hour period under the real Sistine Chapel ceiling sketching then four month barren - hand spray painting hundreds of scriptural image for his vibrantly colour 2,511sqft reproduction . Apparently , he temporarily deplete the regional supply of spray paint , piquing the curiosity of a paint party that ended up ship him loose bottom .

The World’s Largest Ball of Twine

What started as Fannie Merritt Farmer Frank Stoeber ’s storage scraps of Agave sisalana twine from 1953 has tardily expanded into a gargantuan roadside area . When he deform it over to the townsfolk in 1961 , over 1,600,000 ft of twine had been roll into a clump stretching 11 ft in diam . Now composed of nearly eight million feet ( 40 ft in circumference ) , the nine ton ballock is still a work in progression ( and fight to remain an actual nut ) . Add your own twine to the record - breaking orchis at the one-year Twine - a - thon in August .

World’s Largest Easel along a US Interstate

You do n’t even have to get out of your railway car to check this giant reproduction of Van Gogh ’s Three Sunflowers in a Vase ( for the " Sunflower State , " of course ) paint off your list of " World ’s large thing to See . " Passersby on I-70 wo n’t miss the 768sqft replication on an 80ft - grandiloquent steel easel about a half mile aside . The big easel was actually part of a larger effort to multiply all seven of Van Gogh ’s helianthus painting in different land ( they raised $ 150k to build the matter ) ; the other two completed works are in Canada and Australia .

The World’s Largest Collection of Smallest Versions of Largest Things

The original journey museum commit to iconic roadside structures ( like the aforesaid " World ’s Largest Catsup Bottle " in miniature word form ) is now stationed in an alley behind the Garden of Eden . Whenever God Almighty Erika Nelson hears about a new " World ’s Largest " roadside attraction , she photograph it , then builds a small replica out of multifaceted materials to add to her fluid collection . A second , smaller roving museum now travels from townspeople to town . This is getting very meta .

M.T. Liggett’s Political Sculptures

A Kansas pasture serves as an unexpected veranda space for the artistic expressions of M.T. Liggett , who ’s been produce the metal sculptures that flap and spin with the current of air from his nearby b . Hundreds of work showcasing his political viewpoints line the fence along Highway 154 . Whatever your popular opinion , his political acts are something to admire .

The (Former) World’s Largest Cherry Pie Pan

Two " World ’s Largest Cherry Pie Pans " reside a simple 50 miles aside in Michigan ( apparently , you ca n’t have a gargantuan cherry Proto-Indo European genus Pan without a neighboring opponent ? ) . While Charlevoix boast the first swelled pan , which was used by local patronage to actually bake the " World ’s Largest Cherry Pie " in 1976 , the 17,420 lb pan was outdone in 1987 when Traverse City make an even openhanded pie pan .

World’s Largest Paul Bunyan

While Paul Bunyan statue can be spot in many towns around the Great Lakes , only Minnesota has the world ’s largest version of the mythical faller hero . The country also has the oldest wayside Bunyan and Babe statue in Bemidji , which claim to be his provenience , but you ca n’t rest in Bunyan ’s mighty palm like you’re able to with this 30ft - tall kneel shrine .

SPAM Museum

unveil the historic intricacies of the undisputed big businessman of mystery sum through Hormel ’s collection of spiced pork barrel artifacts across the street from the marrow plant . " Spambassadors " will tell you more than you ever want to have sex about the iconic product , like how 44,000 cans per hour roll off the assembly lines for the masses ( aka Hawaiians ) to consume .

Pierre the Pantsless Voyageur

Beside The Voyageur Motel , you ’ll find a giant canoe - canoeist statue of Pierre , equip with a short jacket , tall boots , paddle , and even a canoe , and never , under any circumstances , pants . The French Internet Explorer is reportedly " talking " to visitors again , so you might even get to find out about what it ’s like to navigate the angry waterways if you ’re favourable .

Precious Moments Chapel

Fanatical fans of one of 1985 ’s hottest collectible flock to this sprawl , multi - million dollar complex dedicated to the adorable holy person dolls . The empire has an eery amount of statues and paintings of the sister figurines in and around the chapel . It ’s definitely a must - see stop if grandma ’s in the van .

Leila’s Hair Museum

There are collectors of Precious Moments dolls , and then there are collector of human hair . Former styler ( and friend of Ronald Reagan ) Leila Cohoon exhibit an telling collection of hair’s-breadth nontextual matter , which admit fuzz sample from Abe Lincoln and Marilyn Monroe . You wo n’t bump your average hairballs here , but you ’ll discover plenty of intricate wreaths of whisker in frames , which were often used to beautify priggish rest home .

Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail and Museum

you may now stroll across 54 - acres of remnants from the largest explosives factory in the US as well as a Cold War - era uranium refinery , which was on the site until it was abandon in 1966 . Twenty class later , the U.S. Department of Energy covered the risky waste matter with rocks . The 75ft - tall pile consists of 1.5 million three-dimensional pace of cover - up TNT , mercury , asbestos , radioactive uranium , and radium for all to enjoy .

Carhenge

In 1987 , artist Jim Reinders envisioned a balmy formation mimicking England ’s medieval marvel for a 10 - acre stretch of prairie earth in Nebraska as a tribute to his father . Far from the nearest interstate , you ’ll find 38 autos rescued from nearby farms and dumps , painted slating gray and fashioned in the familiar Stonehenge transcription ( its 96 foot diam even matches the dimension of the original landmark ) . However , unlike a interchangeable well - love artistic repository of junk cars , Cadillac Ranch , spray blusher is powerfully discouraged in the " Cornhusker State . "

World’s Largest Ball of Stamps

Whether the 4,655,000 stamps are wrap around a pencil butt or a golf ball at its core ( no one can really say ) , the 32 in diameter formal , weighing in at 600lbs , is an outstanding presentation of some badly consecrate tongues and fingers of the Boys Town Stamp Collecting Club .

World’s Largest Time Capsule

Harold Keith Davisson vowed 1975 would never to be forgotten when he construct a 45 - ton vault beneath a dirt mound , sealed with an eclectic assortment of 5,000 eclectic detail inside , like a brace of bikini panties , a human race ’s aquamarine leisure time suit with stitched white-livered heyday , and the cheapest cable car he could discover at the time – a trade name - young Chevy Vega . Due to some disputes with other time flotation gadget , he build up a second pyramid - panache time capsule ( and a 2nd bury car ) atop the first in 1983 , so there ’d be no question as to whose was the largest . Something tells us this one’ll be easier to find than the sometime shoe box you eat up in your backyard .

World’s Largest Man-Made Turtle

Erected as a fallal in 1982 , the titan turtle ( which naturally dwells in the Turtle Mountains ) was weld together from over 2,000 steel wheel lip by George Gottbreht , the possessor of Dale ’s Thrifty Barn next threshold . Its head alone matter over a ton , and is mounted on a pivot so you’re able to move it up and down .

Enchanted Highway Sculptures

Driving across the two-dimensional North Dakota prairie can be pretty monotonous , so the towering , whimsical sculptures along a 32 - Roman mile stretch of Highway 21 ( now the Enchanted Highway ) between Regent and Gladstone can seem to come out of nowhere . alloy sculpturer and retired school teacher Gary Greff ’s metal works – from giant metal cervid and a immense grasshopper to a complex underwater man – crop up up every few miles along the empty route to keep you from district out on the open road .

Giant Horseshoe Crab

A massive crustacean beside a Baptist church in the middle of Ohio does n’t make a lot of sense , but neither does " Make America Great Again . " After its initial creation for the Baltimore Maritime Museum , the 68ft - longsighted and 24ft - tall transplant ended up at the Freedom Worship Baptist Church after a random stint at the Creation Museum in Kentucky .

Longaberger Basket Headquarters

No matter how humble the tasks , 500 employee of Longaberger Basket Co. could once take solace in the fact that work inside a seven - story - grandiloquent hoop was a veridical duck soup while it last . pattern after one of its own baskets , the company put $ 30 million into the 160x larger corporate headquarters - edition . It ’s now up for sales agreement , but the building equipped with 150 - long ton handle and two 725 lb gold leaf paint tags remains a sight to see . Other Longaberger creation can be found nearby , like the house - sized wicker cinch basket from the original central office in Dresden and the 29ft - tall apple basket in Frazeysburg .

Chief Crazy Horse Memorial

Crazy Horse ’s point is bigger than the four heads of Mount Rushmore combined , and it ’ll eventually be much more than a head . choose by a group of Lakota elders , Polish - American Korczak Ziolkowski began work on the super - sized monument in 1948 , and now his family is continue his life ’s work through jackhammering and dynamite . visitant get 30 mo notice before part of the mountain explodes and elaborately choreograph night attack notice Korczak and his married woman ’s natal day . tourist can walk the six miles to the mountaintop and back on the first full weekend in June for up - close looks at his presently 88ft - marvellous face , but the foot of the heap is the closest you ’ll get any other meter of the year .

World’s Only Corn Palace

This corn crazed prairie town in South Dakota is home base to the high shoal fun team the Kernels , local wireless place KORN , and the " architectural showplace of the humans " known as the Mitchell Corn Palace . Its czarist - Russia exterior and intricate mural are made alone out of local corn and grain ( it ’s refurbished annually ) , and the onion plant domes and minaret make it the world ’s only corn palace , but would the world really ask more than one of these ?

U.F.O. Landing Port

extraterrestrial being from any nebula are welcome to land their spaceships on welder Bob Tohak ’s 42ft - tall political program . Designed to encourage close encounters , it ’s made from an empty fuel tank and now has a satellite up top . He ’s even plan on working on a big aluminum starship . The CIA is likely watching from afar .

FAST: Fiberglass Statue Mold Yard

Ever marvel where those big fiberglass statues in front of business come from ? No ? Well wander the Mold Field anyway and see the a la mode colossus conception new out of the casting mould or blusher store at the workshop of Fiberglass Animals , Shapes , and Trademarks Corp. ( or tight ) , just outside of Sparta . For more than 30 years , the studio apartment has been the go - to place for line of work look for eye - see statues , and the grassy , clear area behind the factory is strewn with hundred of molds from previous jobs .

Upside-Down White House

Just like the real White House , you ’ll call for a scout to take you through the Top Secret Inc. house repose on its roof in the Wisconsin Dells . And only then will you start out to bring out the mysterious conspiracy , which will just be the startle of explaining why the domain stands on its head .

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Nicole Bruceis a contributing writer for Thrillist . She ’s ready to put her digit on the map and foot on the flatulence foot pedal . find oneself her on Twitter at@nicoleabruce .

Carhenge