The book is clearly aimed at the sightseer, as the listings are arranged into geographical regions: The UP, northern Michigan, western Michigan, central Michigan, eastern Michigan, Detroit and Suburbs, and a bonus section called The Christmas Tour. There are also two indexes, so you can search by site, or by city.
The classics make their appearances: the Fist, the big tire, Dinosaur Gardens, the Edmund Fitzgerald, the site of Bo Schembechler's Death (woo! Southfield represent!). But even more fun are the weird little sites that you might not go out of your way for. I'm definitely stopping in at the Nun Doll Museum next time I'm near Indian River, and who knew we hosted the Grave of Lizzie Whitlock, the Original Circus Fat Lady (Batavia)?
With the influx of all the new weirdos — artists, I mean — supposedly flooding Detroit, if nothing else, it's a good get-to-know us guide, so check it out.
—DC in Detroit
A Guide to 450 Really Strange Places
By Jerome Pohlen
There’s more to Michigan than beautiful forests, shuttered factories, and miles and miles of stunning shoreline. Armed with this offbeat travel guide, you’ll soon discover the strange underbelly of the Great Lakes State. Michigan has monuments to fluoridation, snurfing, the designer of the Jefferson nickel, and the once-famous Mr. Chicken, as well as festivals honoring tulips, Christmas pickles, and a 38-acre fungus. It’s where you’ll find the World’s Largest Lugnut, the Nun Doll Museum, Joe’s Gizzard City, the Teenie-Weenie Pickle Barrel Cottage, Howdy Doody, and Thomas Edison’s last breath. The state also has its share of weird history—it’s where Harry Houdini perished on Halloween night in 1926, where skater Tanya Harding’s posse whacked Nancy Kerrigan, and where the Kellogg brothers invented popular breakfast cereals and less-popular yogurt enemas. Along with humorous histories and witty observations, Oddball Michigan provides addresses, websites, hours, fees, and driving directions for each of its 450 entries.