Four, 18-foot-tall badminton shuttlecocks lie scattered about the lawn of a Kansas City museum.

Lone survivor from Custer's Last Stand forever preserved.

A home designed to be on the cutting edge of comfortable, low-cost living.

A monument to the art of slicing people open.

In 1810, free people of color made up more of New Orleans's population than any other Southern city.

This ancient settlement contains some of the largest earthen mounds in North America.

The warmest cave in the Ozarks features two seemingly bottomless lakes.

The scant remains of an expansive indigenous civilization can be seen at this Arkansas state park.

The show pony of cave systems, Fantastic Caverns manages to live up to its name.

A creepy sculpture of a decapitated head invites viewers to see St. Louis through its empty eyes.

Less a museum than a bizarre fantasy world created by artists and engineers.

European castle ruins in an American state park are actually the product of death and grief.

If there's another drive-through golf-cart bar in a bat-filled cave on top of a mountain, we don't know about it.

The history of the treatment of mental illness, illustrated in all its gory detail, and housed in an asylum.

This 22-acre botanical garden is home to the largest collection of rhododendrons in the world.

In this century-old literary safehouse, print is alive and well.

This monument to the victims of a tragic explosion is said to turn and look at passing cars.

A preserved stretch of ancient fossilized trees with an impressive gem collection to boot.

One of the longest water bridges in the world was built over a supposedly haunted swamp in Louisiana.

The world-record holder for the longest bridge stretching continuously over water.

A symbol of Texas pride.

Legend has it the commander of the defenders drew a fateful line in the dirt with his sword just before the final battle.

A National Historic Landmark with a scenic clock tower and park filled with deer and peacocks, plus a military museum.

A 131-year-old wunderkammer of Texas history.