Illinois

Find Illinois travel tips, stories, maps, videos and news for unusual tourist attractions and sights.

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Gemini Giant: Space Age Muffler Man
Wilmington, Illinois
Outfitted for short-sleeved space travel, this fiberglass giant has guarded the Launching Pad drive-in on Route 66 since 1965.

Sights for Oddball Excursions

Historic Auto Attractions
Roscoe, Illinois
History, via 20th century pop culture and you-are-almost-there artifacts. The way we like it!
Dungeons and Dragons Park (Castle Park)
Carbondale, Illinois
Dungeons and Dragons fan killed in an auto accident is remembered with a fantasy memorial park.
America's Largest Cross
Effingham, Illinois
198-ft. tall interstate-convenient no-nonsense soul-saver.
Museum of Initiation Pranks
Greenville, Illinois
Tour the company that built "prank" devices for fraternal lodge initiations. Visitors can experience the Branding Iron, the Bucking Goat, and the Spanking Machine, among others.
Super Museum
Metropolis, Illinois
The life's work of Jim Hambrick, stuffed with over 65,000 items relating to Superman.
Superman Statue
Metropolis, Illinois
The Man of Steel stands, larger than life and ever-vigilant in his hometown of Metropolis.
Miniature Golf in a Funeral Home
Palatine, Illinois
Funeral parlor owner's private basement mini-golf. Kids, keep the noise down during viewings!
Wheels O' Time Museum
Peoria, Illinois
Historical Peoria brought to life with the city's old clocks, cars and jukeboxes. Singing barbershop quartet of former Presidents!
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum
Springfield, Illinois
An imagineered immersion in the life of the 16th President.
Kaskaskia Dragon
Vandalia, Illinois
Spend your dragon coins wisely at this fire-breathing beast contraption.
Volo Museum: Bonnie and Clyde Death Car
Volo, Illinois
Hollywood vehicles and outlandish Kustom Kars: million-dollar Cat-in-the-Hat car, 1966 Batmobile, Elvis's 1974 custom Cadillac station wagon.
Gold Pyramid House
Wadsworth, Illinois
The only house in the neighborhood with giant statue of an Egyptian god and a 3-pyramid garage.
Robert Wadlow, World's Tallest Man
Alton, Illinois
Exhibits and statue at the birthplace of the World's Tallest Man, Robert Wadlow.
The Piasa Bird
Alton, Illinois
Monster bird of legend merits a tourism roost along the river.
Curiosity Museum, formerly Historic Museum of Torture Devices
Alton, Illinois
Chastity belts, Native American foot torture, and "the much-dreaded Chinese Death Cage," in America's most haunted building and town.
One and Only Hippie Memorial
Arcola, Illinois
The conceptual artistic legacy of the late Bob Moomaw, whose Hippie Memorial suggests that he liked the 1960s and disliked Ronald Reagan.
Sit with Roger Ebert
Champaign, Illinois
Famous movie reviewer Roger Ebert watched films in the Virginia Theatre when he was young. Empty seats allow visitors to critique alongside a bronze Roger.
Statue of Popeye
Chester, Illinois
Hometown of cartoonist immortalizes Popeye's ragtag entourage with statues around town.
World's Largest Catsup Bottle
Collinsville, Illinois
A water tower painted to resemble a bottle of Brooks Tangy Catsup.
Muffler Man - Bunyan
Crystal Lake, Illinois
A Paul Bunyan Muffler Man, once an attraction at Ozzie Water Park in Palatine, has retired to gardening.
Muffler Man - Indian
Crystal Lake, Illinois
Displaced by the closing of a local water park, the towering Indian brave now greets customers at a garden center.
McDonald's Museum and Store No. 1
Des Plaines, Illinois
A sacred origin spot for American fast foodies, the Store No 1 museum creates its own 1955 time warp, but stands across the street from a modern McDonald's. Note: Seasonal floods closed exhibits; building visible over fence.
Big John - Grocery Clerk
Eldorado, Illinois
A grocery clerk giant, Big John clutches three car-crushing bags of groceries in a supermarket parking lot.
Two-Story Outhouse
Gays, Illinois
No joke -- this double dumper was in service for years.
Purple Martin Capital of the Nation
Griggsville, Illinois
Signs claim Purple Martins eat 2,000 mosquitoes a day... and they live in luxury bird condo high-rises in town. Coincidence that purple martin houses are manufactured here?
Home of the White Squirrels
Olney, Illinois
Mecca of Albino Squirrels, Olney loves their pink-eyed squirrel colony.
Norma Jean, Elephant Killed By Lightning
Oquawka, Illinois
Norma Jean was the star of the Clark and Walters Circus until a bolt of lightning killed her in Oquawka's town square.