There’s a lot of strange things going on around here. The most haunted places in Arkansas have been mentioned, and soon we’ll go into detail about the mystique of the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs (what’s going on there will REALLY flip you out), but there are so many other just plain weird places to visit around the Natural State! Unlike the spooky or creepy places, these are interesting and unique locations around Arkansas where you might even learn something new when you visit.
11. Terra Studios
Terra Studios in Fayetteville is the original home of the Bluebird of Happiness glass sculpture and visitors can watch the glass craftsmen make Bluebirds in the gallery on-site. Terra Studios is a great place to visit for irrregular thinkers and artistic minds; pottery classes are available, and those who wander the premises can enjoy both the natural beauty that surrounds the studio as well as the creative glass and clay work created by quirky Ozark folk artists.
10. Rush Ghost Town
Rush, a ghost town located in The Buffalo River National River Park near what is now Flippin, was originally supposed to be an Arkansas locale where people would rush in search of silver deposits. Prospectors found zinc instead and the town still rejoiced in its natural wealth, becoming a boom town during World War I. However, mines across the town began closing after zinc prices fell at the end of the war. The population steadily declined until Rush was officially declared a ghost town in 1972. Oddly enough, the area still has some of the original mines and other structures from its heyday still standing and untouched for decades, many sections prohibited from public view.
9. Fort Chaffee Barbershop
Okay, so it's not completely weird unless you're an obsessive Elvis fan still looking on the floor for a scrap of hair, but you can see where the King of Rock and Roll got his first Army buzz cut on March 25, 1958. Every year since, the museum has celebrated the anniversary of that moment.
8. Quigley's Castle
Quigley's Castle, located in Eureka Springs, is a strange stone house with large glass windows where trees grow on the inside and the interior is decked out with rock sculptures. Visitors can tour the house, which is open and in operation daily from April to October.
7. Dover Lights
We've mentioned the mysterious Gurdon Light which may or may not be a supernatural hotspot, but have you seen the Dover Lights? Several legends and theories exist behind paranormal activity going on in Dover - a particular and peculiar spot located on the hillside above Big Piney Creek, viewed from Treat Road, where visitors see lights seemingly powered by electricity where there's none available. Several have witnessed the lights as well as other phenomena in the area but there has yet to be a solid explanation behind the source of the lights.
6. Popeye Statue
This bronze statue of the spinach-munching comic and cartoon hero was unveiled in 2007 in Alma - a fitting location, as Alma identifies as the spinach capital of the world (even the water tower looks like a giant spinach can) and holds an annual spinach festival.
5. Flying Fish's Retired Billy Bass Wall
Located inside the Flying Fish restaurant in Little Rock's River Market, the Billy Bass Adoption Center claims to be the first of many places where the once-popular and always tacky fishing novelty can be laid to rest (and mounted on a wall) with dignity.
4. Monster Mart
The legend of the Boggy Creek Monster has held the attention of Fouke residents for a long time. Monster Mart, a unique little convienience store in Fouke, tells the whole story of the monster and provides visitors with a crazy photo opportunity in a life-size cutout stand of the creature itself.
3. Toad Suck
An unincorporated community in the middle of Perry County, Toad Suck is widely known for its unusual name alone, but so much has leaped off of that platform (there's a frog joke in there somewhere) and into a lot of local endeavors and businesses! Toad Suck Daze brings the entire state and even those from out of town together for a few days every May in Conway to celebrate the crazy name and welcome the summer!
2. Mount Magazine Peak
The highest pIace in the Natural State also has one of the most interesting and intricately created pieces in Arkansas. The Signal Hill Trail at Mount Magazine State Park leads you to the peak of the state's highest mountain, where you can see an outline of the Natural State in stone.
1. Ozark Medieval Fortress
The question is - exactly how long would it take to build a medieval fortress with towers rising 70 feet over the Ozarks using only the most medieval of tools? The minds behind the Ozark Medieval Fortress in Lead Hill wondered that as well, and the project has been ongoing since 2009 (and yes, it'll probably take years to get someone to take this project seriously again). Currently awaiting funding, the fortress is not expected to see completion until 2030...that is, if it ever sees completion.
We love it here in Arkansas, and it’s pretty cool to know we have more than a few strange and unique attractions here and there throughout the Natural State! Share a comment about your experiences with the Dover Lights or your trip to the Ozark Medieval Fortress, or any other strange places you’ve been in Arkansas!
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