Review – Oddball Illinois Weirdness Makes for a Great Road Trip

By Tom Kocal | The Prairie Advocate News

One of my favorite books about Illinois, Oddball Illinois, features a photo of a former landmark in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn. Called the “Spindle,” it was a sculpture created in 1989 by artist Dustin Shuler. It was quite a sight there at the corner of Cermak Road and Harlem Avenue in the parking area of the Cermak Plaza shopping center.

Spindle consisted of a 50 foot spike with eight cars impaled on it. (Anyone remember what the cars were?) It was torn down in 2008 after the shopping center was redeveloped for another Walgreen’s.

It was a unique and wonderful sight to behold. But just because it’s gone is no cause to fret. Illinois still has hundreds of “weird, wacky and wonderful sites to visit” - the claim made in the first volume of Oddball, written 12 years ago, as well as volume 2, Oddball Illinois, A Guide to 450 Really Strange Places, written by Chicago’s-own Jerome Pohlen. There’s even a few from right here in good old Northwest Illinois, too.

For those of you who love those one or two day “adventures” (that’s what we call them in my family), the second installment of Oddball Illinois is the ultimate Illinois Road Trip guide.

In this updated edition, it’s plain to see that the state of Illinois has only gotten weirder. Where there was once just a single Popeye statue in downstate Chester, today the town has monuments to Olive Oyl, Swee’ Pea, Bluto, the Sea Hag, and more. The creepy Piasa Bird petroglyph on the bluff in Alton now has a roadside pullout with picnic tables, and the two-story outhouse in Gays has a new contemplative garden.

With almost twice as many destinations as its predecessor, this edition boasts detailed information on each site—address, phone number, website, hours, entry fees, and driving directions—as well as maps, photos, and a wealth of regional history in the descriptions.

Several well-known local sites are included. “The fevered brainchild” of Jim Warfield, Raven’s Grin Inn, one of Mount Carroll’s most famous tourist attractions, is included in both volumes. Pohlen says, “To call Raven’s Grin Inn a haunted house is to call Disneyland a kiddie park . . . it’s a childhood clubhouse gone haywire . . . a performance art piece that could have been built by the Marx Brothers.” To those of us who have experienced this treasure (or know Jim), you know what he means!

Other nearby sites include Ronald Reagan’s Boyhood home in Dixon, Tara’s Green Drapes (remember “Gone With the Wind?) hanging at Galena’s Belvedere Mansion, the Cow Cannibal in Durand, Oregon’s Chief Blackhawk statue on the Rock River, and the World’s Largest Sock Monkey in Rockford, are just a few of the truly weird but wonderful attractions within an hour’s drive of the Prairie Advocate’s distribution area.

Some new sites include Henry’s Rabbit Ranch, the World’s First Jungle Gym, Ahlgrim Acres (a miniature golf course at a funeral home), the Leather Archives and Museum, General Santa Ana’s two wooden legs, the Friendship Shoe Fence, a truck stop with a marionette show, and a coin-operated fire-breathing dragon. There is more between Chicago and St. Louis than cornfields and plenty of fascinating places in the Windy City that aren’t on Michigan Avenue, and here is a chance to see these under-appreciated sites throughout the state.

The author points out a few unforeseen possibilities, like a site published in Oddball that has met its untimely demise, or the fact that you may get lost, in spite of the directions.

“Don’t panic. Think of it as part of the adventure,” Pohlen says.

Any veteran road-tripper will suggest that you take the following advice:

- If you’re a guy, don’t be afraid to stop and ask. Sometimes the locals are just as interesting as the site you seek!

- Call ahead, just to be sure that their hours haven’t changed, and that they are still open.

- Don’t trespass! Just because you see something weird, strange or just plain photo-worthy doesn’t mean you can just wander onto someone else’s private property (unless you have a zoom lense!).

- Don’t give up. Yes, many of these trips can be way-out-of-the-way. As strange as it all seems, only you can make your adventures a memorable experience for you and your family and friends.

Enjoy the journey! Oddball Illinois will be just the catalyst you need to break away from that hum-drum, same old same old vacation. Do it now, while gas is still less than $4 a gallon!

Jerome Pohlen is the author of 10 travel books and a commentator on travel and politics for 848 on WBEZ, the Chicago affiliate of National Public Radio. He lives in Chicago.

The latest edition of Oddball Illinois is available at bookstores everywhere and through Independent Publishers Group, 814 N. Franklin, Chicago, IL 60610, or online at ipgbook.com.