Places abbynormal Wants to Go

The arboretum whose marshy soil sucked up the dreams of housing developers.

"Looks so real, it's scary!"

The history of funerals and funerary customs.

Once known as the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane.

This historic house museum that celebrates one of the world's most influential social reformers is also one of the most haunted locations in Chicago.

This small-town opera house has appeared much more in national culture and history than its charming setting might suggest.

This lush 12-acre site was once named the finest Japanese garden in North America.

The study has wall paneling from a 17th century ship.

Julia Buccola Petta's body was peculiarly well-preserved when it was exhumed six years after her death.

An abandoned observatory in the middle of the Illinois prairie.

The dream home of an iconoclastic renaissance man still stands as a monument to his domestically mundane vision.

A historic beacon built in the aftermath of the worst maritime disaster on the Great Lakes.

A historic and oft-filmed prison stands in a Chicago suburb.

First known as the "Sample House," this construction mash-up was meant to be a living catalogue of building styles.

The first and only museum dedicated to stained glass and horology opened outside of Chicago in 2017.

Take a break from all the boring business of death at this funeral home mini-golf course.

No one knows how many bodies are in this vault in a Chicago public park.

Spanking machines, fake goats, and more devices of humiliation are on display in this museum of fraternal initiation devices.

This abandoned 19th century orphanage started as a boarding school for children of Civil War veterans.

A chance to follow in the footsteps of the word's most legendary animator.

Small and slightly hidden, the American Writers Museum is preserving the legacy of America's finest authors.

Cold War missile launch site which has been converted to a public park.

In the loving memory of a tragically deceased role-player this Illinois park is decked out with both dungeons and dragons.

In the Shawnee National Forest, amazing rock formations peer through the treeline.