Great Britain’s Stonehenge, the Bermuda Triangle, the rust-colored river waters in Rio Tinto, Spain – with all the intriguing unanswered questions around the world, the United States may not rank high on a mystery seeker’s destination wish list. Yet the vast United States has its fair share of seemingly impossible natural phenomena and puzzling man-made structures. Get spooked by the supernatural, explore space alien lore, marvel at Mother Nature or become bamboozled by tricks of the mind at destinations across the country.
Haunted Homes and Hotels
- Wander the winding halls of the Winchester Mystery Mansion in San Jose, California, where you’ll find staircases to the ceiling and doors to nowhere but the ground two stories down. At the Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida, you’ll puzzle over the seeming impossibility of a single man carving the massive structure from 1,100-ton limestone boulders he collected himself. Stephen King fans flock to the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, for a chance to stay in the haunted hotel that inspired the author to write “The Shining.” The perplexing House on the Rock in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, houses a collection of puzzling oddities, including the world’s largest carousel, a circus building and an Infinity Room that juts out over the surrounding forest.
Mystifying Mother Nature
- Very few get to see the mysterious, privately owned Fly Ranch Geyser that grows upward, but you may score a tour if you ask around town in nearby Gerlach, Nevada. For a sure shot at viewing water spouting from the ground, visit the world’s largest collection of geysers in Yellowstone National Park – in the tri-state area of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho – where you’ll also marvel at mud pots, hot springs, waterfalls and the multicolored Grand Prismatic Spring. While the Grand Canyon is Northern Arizona’s big name draw, mystery seekers make sure to swing by Sedona, Arizona, to investigate its reputed energy vortexes and absorb the wonder of the red rock mountains. For those who prefer their rocks to move, view the tracks left by the “Sailing Stones” at Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park, California.
Alien Attractions
- Whether extraterrestrials are fantasy or unproven fact, believers consider the southwestern United States as home to some of the best places to search out aliens – especially near Groom Lake, Nevada, also known as Area 51. Or stake out the skies over Roswell, New Mexico, where a UFO is rumored to have crashed on July 7, 1947. While those two locales attract the most attention from alien enthusiasts, hardcore believers are drawn to the paranormal and UFO activity happening at the Skinwalker Ranch south of Ballard, Utah. Aliens also appear to adore mountains, as their “flying saucer” light shows grace the skies near Mount Adams in Trout Lake, Washington, and Mount Shasta in Redding, California.
Strange Roadside Stops
- Some U.S. attractions were built to appear mysterious, such as the visual tricks that appear to defy gravity at the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, California, and the Oregon Vortex near Gold Hill, Oregon. In case of a zombie apocalypse, the massive, man-made Georgia Guidestones, or “American Stonehenge,” were erected by a mystery man who had them etched with instructions, in eight modern languages, for rebuilding the post-apocalyptic world. While most oddity hunters may visit Marfa, Texas, for the green, ghostly, UFO-like lights in the sky, perhaps the biggest mystery is why someone constructed a faux Prada storefront in the tiny desert town.
