The Palace of Depression: Feeling Much Better
George Daynor's Palace of Depression was a multi-spired castle built in the 1930s in a Jersey swamp out of rusted auto parts and mud. It's a tourist attraction so fondly remembered that it's being rebuilt by fans. Close to completion...maybe 2017? We're optimistic. Story
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Bonding at Stumpy's Hatchet House
Hurling axes and drinking alcohol -- what could go wrong? Stumpy's enables everyone's inner ax-thrower as a social fad and a sure way to bond with friends, co-workers, and family. Story
Yesterday's Stars at Wax Works
Independent wax museum, opened in 1984, goes its own way with displays on D.B. Cooper and Bigfoot, as well as E.T. and Daryl Hannah from her mermaid days in Splash. Story
Pyramid of Memphis: Cursed No More?
After two decades as America's largest cursed building, the Pyramid has reopened as a hunting and fishing megastore, with live alligators and a glass-floored observation deck at its top.
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High Mass at the Church of Cannabis
A tourist attraction as well as a place of worship, the Church of Cannabis offers daily visiting hours for nonsmokers -- and a gift shop. Its hypno-artwork alone may cause altered states of consciousness.
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Look, kids! Bonnie & Clyde's Death Car!
Bonnie and Clyde exited in a hail of bullets over 80 years ago -- but that didn't kill their allure. The crime couple's bullet-riddled Death Car became a hit attraction mere months after they died in it, thanks to master promoter and "Crime Doctor" Charles Stanley. The Crime Doctor's Death Car memorabilia survives in his Kansas hometown.
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The Big Well - After The Big Tornado
The World's Largest Hand-Dug Well (which you can walk to the bottom); the World's Largest Pallasite Meteorite; and a museum about its town, destroyed in a 2007 mega-tornado. All under one roof.
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Gemini Giant: On The Launching Pad
One of the most unique of the Muffler Men models, the Space Age Gemini Giant wears a helmet and holds a rocket. He's stood on Route 66 since 1965, but his Launching Pad needs a new owner.
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Miss America Crowns You
Larger-than-life sculpture of Miss America holds out a crown for the new winner... you! The beauty queen mixes features from New Jersey's two winners (1937 and 1984) and Miss America 2013.
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Frank Sutton: Gomer Pyle Nemesis
As Marine Sergeant Vince Carter, actor Frank Sutton was forever yelling on the 1960s TV series Gomer Pyle. His hometown immortalized Sutton with a bronze statue, in his familiar open-mouth pose.
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Sea Blanket Springsteen
Stephen Zorochin felt that Bruce Springsteen's Jersey Shore soul was being neglected. So he sculpted The Boss wrapped in a blanket-like cape of sea shells and foam, and made him completely green.
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Video: Stanley Hammell's Insulator Forest
Obsessed collector Stanley Hammell is gone, but his yard display of thousands of old glass electrical insulators still stands... for now.
Watch the soothing video
*****
Happy thoughts, happy moods,
The RoadsideAmerica.com Team
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