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

This historic Illinois "Muffler Man" has been converted from axe-touting lumberjack to rocket-wielding space ace.

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

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

Half-sized replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa built to honor Galileo.

Pizza with a side of fine art.

Designed by Alfred Caldwel, this landscape showcases his vision of a native garden.

A little-known subterranean street runs under some of the best-known buildings in Chicago's River North.

This memorial plaque remembers a strangely shallow maritime disaster known as "Chicago's Titanic."

Where dioramas can follow you home.

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

Illegal drag racing two stories beneath Chicago’s streets.

The last masonry skyscraper ever built reveals a transitional moment in architectural history.

This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

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 awkward aquarium sculpture is one of the strangest statues in Chicago.

A 19th-century horse lover's bequest led to the construction of this unique fountain in Chicago.

This surprising gem is a world-class archeological museum hidden at the University of Chicago.

A relic of the Cold War in Chicago.

The NBA player's elaborate former home is now a ghost of its old glory.

An actual 1957 Cadillac De Ville, encased in 15 cubic yards of concrete.

The fifth-longest natural arch in the world, and the longest outside China.

Inside this striking glass building, visitors can see thousands of dinosaur fossils in the positions that nature deposited them more than 150 million years ago.

An obsolete, vanishing traffic device warns Cincinnati drivers away from middle-of-the-road obstructions.