Places aerynriver Wants to Go

Roses and other fascinating flora fill this garden built to commemorate Britain's immortal Bard.

This architectural stunner is one of the few surviving Egyptian Revival theaters in the U.S.

An eccentric park and pool.

Arguably the best example of an authentic Dutch windmill in the United States, rivaling its counterparts in the Netherlands.

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

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

A sprawling outdoor museum filled with larger-than-life works of art.

The legacy of an unsolved, gruesome murder rests beneath the spans of this historic bridge.

A small abandoned and abused cemetery that has become a magnet for ghost hunters.

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

This sprawling mini-golf empire is an impressive testament to a disappearing attraction.

This elaborate Hindu temple is located in a Chicago suburb, but looks like it was transported directly from India.

An avant garde art museum at the University of Chicago.

The city of Rockford, Illinois is symbolically protected by a quartet of fittingly stony sentinels.

This overgrown Illinois water park offers a whole new type of adventure.

Oversized statues are just the tip of this nostalgic Americana roadside attraction.

Former hotel turned into haunted playground.

These pretty kitties killed and ate as many as 135 railway workers.

One-of-a-kind preserved ruins of an abandoned 1880s church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

River pirates, murderous bandits, and serial killers used this Illinois cave as their debauched hideout.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

The only Bahá'í house of worship in North America and one of only a handful worldwide.

Chicago's largest cemetery is full of beautiful Victorian monuments and more than a few ghost stories.

A once-booming Mississippi River town with a history of racial violence is now eerie and mostly abandoned.