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Albino Squirrels - Olney, Ill.
Red eyes and snow-white fur make albino squirrels look like something out of a sci-fi movie, but in Olney, Ill., the rodents might as well be royalty. City laws give these rare white squirrels the right-of-way on every street (jay-walking permitted), and police prohibit visitors from leaving town with one of the estimated 111 colorless pets.Flikr - westerntragedy
Albino squirrels scurry down trees in towns nationwide (at least five other American towns boast similar populations), but Olney provides something of a safe haven for the animals, who don’t exactly blend in like their camouflaged counterparts. For guaranteed sightings, visit on Saturdays in October (this year’s schedule is set for Oct. 9, 16, and 23), when a citywide squirrel census takes place (volunteers actually go around counting the number of white and gray squirrels to keep track of the population). Otherwise, find a park bench at Olney City Park, scatter a few nuts on the ground, and wait, camera at the ready.
Marfa Lights - Marfa, Texas
The Marfa Lights have baffled scientists since the first recorded sighting in 1883. Visible only on clear nights, the weird yellowish-green orbs float, bounce around, and vanish then reappear over the Mitchell Flats, just outside of Marfa, Texas. Explanations range from the mundane (mirages, car taillights) to the otherworldlyFlikr - Rob Thomson - his website
(alien spacecrafts, displaced souls), but the fun of these inexplicable lights is certainly in the mystery. Each Labor Day weekend, Marfa residents celebrate the phenomenon at the Marfa Lights Festival. The three-day fest – complete with live music, street parties, and local arts and crafts vendors – kicks off with a Friday night parade and has become a reunion for former Marfa residents and mystery lights fanatics alike (there are several full books on the topic, by the way). Year round, visitors flock to the viewing center, about 10 miles east of Marfa, for a glimpse of the mystifying glows.
Petrified Wood Park - Lemmon, S.D.
Visionary Ole S. Quammen probably deserved New Deal funding for his Petrified Wood Park in Lemmon, S.D. At the onset of the Great Depression in 1930, Quammen commissioned some 30 men to scavenge the Great Plains for rocks and fossils (and earn him an “amateur geologist” title). Besides putting food on their tables, theSouth Dakota Tourism
team's efforts dug up gobs of petrified wood chunks that Quammen later turned into one weird site, featuring statues of everything from waterfalls to wishing wells. Today, the park features 100 towering cones of the ancient wood (each embedded with dinosaur-era fossils) and occupies an entire city block in downtown Lemmon.
Banner Image: Carhenge - Alliance, Neb.
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