All of us have made a small mistake at one time or another, and most of the time it doesn’t turn into anything more than a minor problem. For this reason, the average person doesn’t generally worry too much about paying hyper-focus to detail, at least in most situations. However, there are some cases where a mistake can cause more than just a small problem. Sometimes, one minor error or one single lapse in judgment can cost billions, or lead to the death of thousands. Or, in some cases, potentially both.

10. Casually Using The N-Word on A Conference Call Has Serious Consequences 

Papa John Schnatter has become a case study in how not to talk at a conference call, to avoid marketing disasters. Back in May of 2018, he had been clarifying some earlier comments he made blaming the NFL for not doing enough about the protests regarding the national anthem when he decided to casually throw out the n-word — along with some other off-the-cuff comments many found offensive. Schnatter tried to explain that he was trying to show his antipathy towards racism, and not that he was being racist, but the damage was done. 

While Schnatter may have been worried about lost pizza sales due to decreased NFL viewership, his company soon had a much bigger problem. In July, the first month after the news of what he had said sunk in, sales in Papa John’s stores dropped 10.5%. To make matters worse, the company projected that this would likely be consistent for at least the rest of the fiscal year. As for Schnatter, while he still has a lot of stock in the company, and no one can just take that away from him, the controversy ended with him losing all the power he once had within his own company. 

9. A Small Accounting Error Caused A $4 Billion Discrepancy For Bank Of America 

Back in 2014, Bank of America found itself in hot water with regulators and was forced to suspend some payout plans while they sorted things out. You see, it turns out that for five years, Bank of America had been accumulating losses, and had not been reporting them to the regulatory authorities. This was no small amount either: It turned out that Bank of America had $4 billion of unreported losses, which was something they could handle but was also a very significant sum of money to lose. 

The excuse from Bank of America? Their accountants just got confused and missed it, simple as that. So, how did they manage to lose this much money until an internal review found it five years later? Well, it gets into some fairly complicated financial rules that even accountants don’t necessarily like dealing with, but the short version involves their acquisition of the troubled Merril Lynch. When they did this, they took on their debt, but they did not need to report it as a loss, as it was considered unrealized debt — at least until they sold it. The problem is they started selling the debt, finally realizing their losses, and their accountants didn’t realize they needed to report it. 

8. The Japanese Stock Market Had To Cancel $6 Billion In Transactions Due To A Small Error 

The Japanese Stock Exchange is the second biggest in the world, and Japan is known for having excellent technology as far as most of the world is concerned. So it may be a surprise to some to know that Japan has had multiple instances where their antiquated stock exchange system cost people gigantic sums of money. However, the truth is among stock traders and technology experts, the issues that Japan has had in the past with its stock exchange system are well known, and they have been under fire for not having properly updated systems as far back as the early 2000s when some of the worst errors began. 

In 2004, the first major cracks started to show when a single error caused a loss of $330 million. The error was a mistake by a clerk entering a number by hand into the system for an ew stock that was coming out, marking it as selling for a dollar a share, instead of several thousand dollars per share. Then, in 2014, a fat finger error by a broker who accidentally made 42 transactions and then immediately canceled them, caused such a mess the Japanese stock exchange had to cancel over $6 billion worth of transactions. 

7. You Should Be Careful With Translations When Deciding To Nuke People 

Mistranslations can create some of the worst misunderstandings in the world, but there has never been a greater tragedy caused by mistranslation than when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on two populated cities because of a double translation failure. It all started near the end of the war when the Allies sent terms of surrender to Japan, and then waited hopefully for a reply that would not mean more war. If the Japanese did not comply, they were prepared for very aggressive measures to ensure they did so. 

The Japanese government needed some time to decide, as the terms were strict and unconditional, but reporters wanted to know where things stood. A reporter asked the Japanese premier how he felt about the proposed terms, and he used the Japanese word Mokusatsu, trying to give the age-old response of “no comment.” Unfortunately, the word he chose was not a great choice, as it can mean silence, but it can also mean “to contemptuously ignore.” The reporter made the mistake worse by assuming the rude version and not even asking for clarification. She took her bad translation back to America with the results we all know too well. The story is now taught in some schools as a way to teach kids about miscommunication.  

6. Missing A Hyphen Can Have Tragic Consequences When Working With Rockets 

Have you ever been programming and forgot a single parenthesis and spent hours tracking it down? Or perhaps you sew, and once spent hours trying to find that one stitch that was out of place. Tiny little mistakes in life can be irritating, and make us spend hours of our valuable time doing something stupid and mostly pointless trying to fix or even find the problem. However, no matter how many times we have made a small mistake that caused us an inconvenience — or perhaps even cost our workplace money — most of us can rest easy knowing we never caused $80 million worth of damage because we missed a single hyphen. 

The incident we are referring to is the loss of Mariner 1, the United States’ first major attempt at an unmanned rocket to explore Venus. It was in the early days of space exploration, back in 1962, which meant eighty million dollars was worth closer to $640 million today. Mariner 1 went up, the misplaced hyphen caused its guidance systems to fail, and they were forced to abort the mission by destroying the rocket. In the end, over half a billion dollars was launched into the air, and it didn’t even last five minutes. 

5. If Not For A Single Mistake, The Crossing Of The Delaware May Have Failed 

The Crossing of the Delaware was one of the key moments in the American Revolution and has been immortalized forever in an iconic painting we all know. On Christmas night, Washington and his men snuck across using three different crossings and surprised the Hessian troops on the other side. Many like to talk about how the element of surprise was what won them the day, and there are even claims the Hessians were drunk from Christmas, although there is no proof of this. The truth, however, is that while Washington did his best to keep it secret, spies found out and warned the Hessian commander. 

The commander, General Rall, simply did not take Washington, or his band of men seriously. He thought of them as little more than a rabble, that his men could take without a fuss, and did not believe he was dealing with a real threat. Then on the day of, he received more messages from spies that an attack was imminent, but refused to fortify defenses or amp up security patrols. Instead, he simply told the spies they would meet the Americans with bayonets. In the end, one man’s casual arrogance led to one of the greatest defeats in military history. 

4. People Think We Avoided Y2K, But The Labor Cost To Save The World Was Massive 

Back at the turn of the millennium, many people were worried about Y2K, and how it might cause severe consequences or even the end of the world. Those who thought the world was going to end were a bit over the top, but the truth was that we were far closer to disaster than most people realized, and it was a very serious issue. While it was unlikely to cause a nuclear weapon to accidentally launch or something tragically similar, there was a very good chance that financial systems and other computer systems could suffer huge errors and glitches that had the potential to cause untold economic harm. 

The programmers who had caused the issue in the first place simply never thought their programs would be used decades later, and had given no thought to the mess they created for future generations. Thus, one of the greatest concerted efforts in modern human history, or perhaps human history as a whole, began. Programmers worked around the clock, manually switching out line of code after line of code, doing a tedious but necessary task to prevent disaster. Fortunately, they did manage to switch out the code in time, but that doesn’t mean the whole mess wasn’t costly. The labor costs to manually switch out all the code in time have been estimated at $100 billion. 

3. The Bay Of Pigs: Time Zones Are Important For Invasion Planning 

April 17, 1961, is a day that lives on in infamy as the day of the biggest screwup the CIA ever had and as something they dubbed a “perfect failure”. The plan was to take out Castro’s air fleet with a quick bomber strike, and then land an amphibious force of roughly 1,400 Cuban exiles. These men could be later supported with additional air support and the cover of a smaller attack on the other side of the island. Unfortunately, with a complex plan, there are more points of potential failure, and this became very apparent when the operation began. 

Among many mistakes, things went badly wrong just as the mission began. The bomber strike failed to destroy all of Castro’s bombers, leaving him with six, and plenty of air support. Then, the amphibious force suffered problems with unexpected coral reefs when landing. Things went from bad to worse, when Castro’s air support started tearing them apart, so they asked for backup air cover. The day may still have been won, but the air support arrived an hour late because of a misunderstanding of the time zones between Cuba and Nicaragua. To add insult to injury, the late-arriving air support had to fight alone and was easily destroyed. 

2. Forgetting To Convert Units Has Dire Consequences In Space 

In 1999, after 10 months of travel through space and countless expensive man-hours spent keeping an eye on its progress, the Mars Climate Orbiter reached its destination. It should have been a super happy day, but instead of a time of celebration at NASA, it became a day of loss and frustration. The Mars Climate Orbiter was given instructions for landing, and instead of landing properly, it crashed into the surface of Mars. So how did NASA lose a $200 million orbiter and all those man-hours? 

Well, the investigation found that there had been some confusion between NASA, and Lockheed Martin, who were both working on the orbiter. NASA was working with metric units, while Lockheed Martin was using American units for their data, and neither realized what the other was doing. This meant that on the day the Orbiter was supposed to land, the instructions they gave it with data from Lockheed Martin were not converted from the American units Lockheed Martin had used. This simple miscommunication and failure to convert units led to an expensive orbiter completely failing to do what it needed to do at the most crucial moment. 

1. The Most Expensive O-Ring Mishap In History 

On January 28, 1985, it was a colder than normal morning at Florida’s Cap Canaveral, but no one was bothered by the cold because excitement was in the air. The Space Shuttle Challenger was about to launch, and it was going to be broadcast live on TV for the whole world to see. Many schools across the United States had kids watching in the classroom as it was a huge educational event. Teachers also got to showcase one of their own, as a teacher was going up on the shuttle to inspire the public. Then, just 73 seconds after launch, tragedy occurred and the shuttle disintegrated on live television — killing all inside. 

An investigation was launched, and it was discovered that one o-ring acquired a fault due to the cold temperatures that morning. Whether the blame was mainly those at the top who felt under pressure to launch on time, or partly due to engineers who were afraid to voice their concerns has been picked over every which way over the years and there are various popular viewpoints. However, what is clear is that the United States lost a 3.2 billion dollar shuttle, traumatized a generation, and lost eight lives, including a school teacher and seven astronauts.

Maybe you are one of the lucky ones who has set your eyes on the world’s largest ball of twine, located in Kansas. Maybe you’ve even seen aliens on the highway as you’ve passed through Roswell, New Mexico, at night. Could it be that you can even brag to your friends about attending the world’s largest spinach festival in Alma, Arkansas? Or perhaps it’s always been your dream to see the world’s largest ketchup (catsup?) bottle in Illinois.

Whatever strange, silly, or (in)famous things you have seen on your travels throughout the United States, you cannot possibly see every wacky thing in every wacky town across this wacky country often simply referred to as “America.” That’s why this list of small towns famous for weird things is here for you. From the weird to the spooky, from the pointless to the dangerous, from the historic to the futuristic, this list of ten strange towns below might just make you want to go on a road trip in search of them all!

10 The Flavor Graveyard

Everybody loves ice cream, especially Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. If you stop in Waterbury, Vermont, and take a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream factory, you’re sure to get a sweet and fun experience. However, a more gruesome part of the tour leads you to a hill in the back of the factory surrounded by white picket fencing and some ghostly trees. But don’t worry, it’s just the Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard, where ice cream flavors go to die!

The Flavor Graveyard is there because of the company’s constant experimentation with weird and wacky ice cream flavors. However, some flavors are just too strange, which ultimately means they did not turn a profit. Every year, around ten or so flavors are eliminated due to low sales and become unfortunate inductees into the Flavor Graveyard. While the sweet cemetery makes for a serene setting for some of the oddest ice cream flavors to rest, only 34 graves have been dug so far out of the over 200 flavors that have been killed off as of this writing. If you can’t find your favorite ice cream flavor in your local supermarket, maybe it’s time to pay your respects at the Flavor Graveyard in Vermont.^[1]

9 The Lost Luggage Capital

Alabama may be famous for college football, Southern food, and Forrest Gump, but if you’ve ever wondered where unclaimed airline baggage ends up, and you happen to be in the northeastern part of the state, make a stop in Scottsboro. When an airline cannot track down the owner of a lost item or piece of luggage, it is sent to the Unclaimed Baggage Center there. At the center, you can browse through and purchase a myriad of lost luggage items.^[2]

Strange items have been found in this bizarre retirement community for suitcases. Ancient Egyptian artifacts, secret documents, and even a 5.8-carat diamond ring have been reportedly been discovered. The Unclaimed Baggage Center has even been given awards for retailer of the year.

8 Birthplace Of Captain Kirk

Riverside, a small town in Central Iowa, once had a town slogan saying “Where the best begins,” honoring its laid-back lifestyle and small-town Midwestern values. However, the town’s slogan is now “Where the trek begins,” as it is the self-described future birthplace of James T. Kirk, captain of Star Trek ‘s USS Enterprise.^[3]

While Kirk has not yet been born, the town celebrates his future birth date of March 22, 2228, with a festival called Trek Fest (formerly River Fest). Note that Kirk’s birth year was established as 2233 in the Star Trek series. The 2228 date is from a book, The Making of Star Trek, published in 1968. While no Star Trek novels, television series, or movies have made clear what Iowa town Kirk was (will be?) born in, Riverside, during the mid-1980s, said, “Why not us?” Perhaps this small town truly has gone where no small town in Iowa has gone before!

7 The Devil’s Crossroads

According to lore, when blues legend Robert Johnson was a young man, he sold his soul to the Devil himself in the small town of Clarksdale, Mississippi. As the pioneering state of American blues music, Mississippi has been the home of blues greats such as B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters, to name but a few. However, Robert Johnson was said, in exchange for playing wicked blues, to have made a wicked deal with the Devil himself at what is now known as the Crossroads, where US highways 61 and 49 converge in Clarksdale.^[4]

As a young man, Johnson wanted desperately to be a blues guitarist. “Voices” told Johnson to take a guitar to nearby Dockery Plantation at midnight and wait. He did, and a tall, dark man emerged, took Johnson’s guitar, played it, and then handed it back to Johnson. Immediately, Johnson was able to play blues guitar like no other ever had. If you desperately need to make a pact with the Devil anytime soon, perhaps a trip to the small town in Central Mississippi is what you need.

6 World’s Largest Time Capsule

In the small town of Seward, Nebraska, a man named Harold Davisson liked the year 1975 so much that he made sure to preserve everything he could in the world’s largest time capsule. Today, his time capsule, which is largely underground, is a tourist attraction for those passing through. With a pyramid built on top, the 45-ton vault holds more than 5,000 items from the 1970s!

The large vault made Davisson somewhat of a local celebrity in Seward, and his time capsule was sealed on July 4, 1975. Two years later, The Guinness Book of World Records certified that his time capsule was the largest in the world. However, Seward’s most famous resident received backlash from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, which argued that their “Crypt of Civilization,” sealed in 1940, was the world’s largest time capsule. Controversy followed, but Davisson was granted the title. His capsule is due to be opened on July 4, 2025.^[5]

5 The Last Sideshow Town

Gibsonton, Florida, with a population of around 14,000, is America’s one true “Carny Town.” During the early 20th century, when roaming carnivals traveled the land, many carnival workers, also known as carnies, took the summer holiday in the small town of Gibsonton, about 19 kilometers (12 mi) north of Tampa. Gibsonton is fabled for a large portion of its population having been former carnival workers and so-called “sideshow” human attractions. Gibsonton was known as a place for many such people to retire or spend the off season in a warm locale.

Many “carnies” called the place town Gibtown. In the past, the local police chief was a dwarf, and the fire chief was a 244-centimeter-tall (8′) carnival performer. As one can imagine, the carnie population in Gibtown was a closely connected community, and over time, the former carnival workers even developed their own secret language called (yes, you guessed it) carny. Additionally, the International Independent Showmen’s Association runs a very specific welfare system for retired and out-of-work carnies. These days, however, the number of former carnies in Gibsonton has greatly dwindled, and the town is more or less like any other.^[6]

4 On Fire for Decades

Centralia, Pennsylvania, has been on fire since the 1960s. In the early 1980s, around 1,000 people lived in this small Pennsylvanian town about 100 kilometers (60 mi) north of Harrisburg. Centralia is more of a ghost town now; by 2010, less than a dozen inhabitants called it home.

Why is Centralia on fire, you might ask? Since 1962, there has been an intense coal mine fire burning not above but below the tiny town. Toxic smoke venting from the cracked ground, sinkholes, and underground gas explosions are pretty good reasons to avoid living in Centralia at all costs. Nevertheless, a few (brave?) residents still hang on.^[7]

In 1992, the Pennsylvania government seized all properties in Centralia and condemned them. However, the handful of inhabitants in and around the town are currently allowed to stay. However, once they pass, the town of Centralia will officially be no more. In fact, some scientists believe the fire underground will go on for at least another 250 years!

3 Meet ‘The Slabs’

Residents of Slab City, California, are creatively known as “the Slabs.” This tiny town is popular for recreational vehicling in the Sonoran Desert, but, situated 240 kilometers (150 mi) northeast of San Diego, the bizarre Slab City remains a self-described city without laws. The residents, or “Slabs” as we should refer to them, share one communal shower in this dusty part of the California badlands. As many as 4,000 people may live there in the winter, when it’s cooler, but it gets quite hot in the summer.

Often occupied by hippies, the homeless, drifters, drug addicts, artists, adventurers, and local weirdos, Slab City’s residents brag about their “town” being “the last free place in America.”^[8] In this lawless land, a city with no rules, some arguments have resulted in absolute chaos, with tents and RVs set ablaze and even shoot-outs and duels.

Today, Slab City is managed by the state of California, but in the past, the site was known as Camp Dunlap, a former World War II base. But why is it called Slab City? The name comes from the large concrete slabs that remained after the Army abandoned the area. The site was returned to the state of California in 1961. The state eventually destroyed the remaining slabs.

2 The Bell Witch Cave

What makes this small town of Adams, Tennessee, so scary? Well, during the 19th century, the area was said to be haunted by a demon-like witch!

The legend goes that the Bell Witch’s original name was Kate Bates (or Batts). As rumor has it, Kate entered a poorly planned land deal with the neighboring family, whose name was the Bells. Kate promised to haunt the Bell family after learning she had been tricked. She seemed to keep her scary promise after one of the Bells’ daughters appeared to show signs of possession and strange aggression toward spirituality during the time. Some rumors hold that even former US president Andrew Jackson encountered the Bell Witch after investigating the cave that Kate’s spirit now seems to inhabit as she terrifies all who go near.^[9]

For roughly two centuries, people in the area have told of experiencing strange feelings when they go anywhere near the cave. Despite her being known locally as a not very kind spirit, a major dare is to repeat the Bell Witch’s original name in a mirror three times. No thanks!

1 A Town Under One Roof

In Whittier, Alaska, nearly the entire population of 218 people resides in a single building! This 14-story condominium was originally designed as an Army barracks during the 1950s and was made a residence in 1969, about five years after the Army moved out. The building, now known as Begich Towers, doesn’t just have people living in it but is nearly a fully functional tiny town under one roof. The building also serves as a church, the police station, a convenience store, and the post office for the town, 100 kilometers (60 mi) south of Anchorage.

In this so-called “town under one roof,” keeping secrets is much more difficult than in other small towns. However, since Whittier is situated between mountains and the sea, the town, or rather building, can mostly only be accessed by boat from long distances. Or, you can take a very long one-lane tunnel that runs one way underneath the mountains for certain portions of the day. While this setup might look strange, isolated, and perhaps even uncomfortable, Whittier’s residents seem to get along quite well and are a very close-knit community.^[10]

A lot of media tend to view news and history through the lens of countries and their big, powerful cities. Though that makes sense from the standpoint of simplicity, too often, it leaves out the ground-level turmoil that boils up in small towns and villages.

We know about the Boston Tea Party, but what about Grey’s Raid at Fairhaven? We all remember the Alamo, but how many remember Gonzalez and Goliad?

Sometimes, small towns play host to the biggest calamities, tragedies, and misfortunes to ever occur. As such, a lot of little places have developed large reputations for darkness and horror. Here are ten of the darkest, small settlements whose dubious pasts place them in the history books right next to their big-city cousins.

Related: Top 10 Ghost Towns Inside Or Near Famous Cities

10 Burke, Idaho

Today, Burke, Idaho, is an abandoned ghost town. Most of its buildings still stand, though dilapidation is slowly taking hold as the decades go by. Founded in 1887 as a prosperous mining settlement, Burke began its life strong but was rapidly overpowered by violence and natural disasters.

Within just four years of its founding, Burke was the site of a deadly avalanche, a shootout between miners and mine owners, and an accidental mine explosion. By 1892, the governor of Idaho had declared martial law in Burke and sent hundreds of soldiers to restore peace. It was short-lived. Over the next two decades, Burke was subject to a deadly hotel fire, another mine explosion (this one intentional and malicious), another fatal avalanche, another fire, a flood, and one last fire. If anywhere on Earth is cursed, it’s Burke.

9 Liberty & Independence, New Jersey

Liberty and Independence are two small, neighboring towns in New Jersey that are unremarkable for the most part. A road that snakes through them both, aptly named Shades of Death Road, earns them a spot on this list.

The road earned its name through a series of dark and violent incidents that occurred along its length, running the whole gamut of human suffering. The site was home to a deadly malaria outbreak, a string of lethal wild cat attacks on travelers, repeated robberies and murders by highwaymen, the lynching of said highwaymen, three unrelated brutal murders (including a beheading), and an above-average amount of fatal car accidents. And that doesn’t even include the various paranormal sightings along the road and neighboring Ghost Lake.

8 Pripyat, Ukraine

Pripyat may not be a household name in America, but its neighbor Chernobyl definitely is. Though Pripyat swelled to almost 50,000 residents at its peak, pushing past the boundary of a small town, it now spends every day with a total population of zero.

Pripyat was a functioning city for 16 years before it was hastily abandoned during the nearby Chernobyl disaster. After 16 years of habitation, it has now spent 35 years as an irradiated, decaying ghost town. One of the most famous photos meant to highlight the tragedy of Chernobyl is actually from Pripyat; it shows the Pripyat Amusement Park and, in particular, its towering Ferris wheel, now blanketed in rust and standing eerily still. As the whole population was evacuated in only two days, the ruined city buildings still hold much of their former contents—schoolbooks sit open on desks and sheets still lay on their beds, half thrown off in haste.

7 Attica, New York

Attica is a tiny town just a short drive from Buffalo in upstate New York. In its 210-year history, hardly anything of note has occurred in the quaint little country town. That is, aside from some of the most notorious torture of prisoners in U.S. history and its single bloodiest prison riot.

The Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison famous, in part, for housing some of the most high-profile criminals in U.S. history, including Mark David Chapman, Joel Rifkin, and Son of Sam. The facility is also famous for its mistreatment of its prisoners, including overcrowding, over-liberal use of solitary confinement, and race-based punishment from guards. This led to the Attica Uprising in 1971, a mass prisoner rebellion that ended in over 40 people (almost all of them prisoners) dead.

6 Elaine, Arkansas

Elaine, Arkansas, is one of those tiny towns that nonetheless play a big role in revealing the systemic issues that plague America. Even now, its population is less than 700, so it’s easy to imagine how small and deceptively sleepy it must have seemed in 1919 before it became the site of one of the worst racial conflicts in U.S. history: the Elaine Massacre.

In 1919, dozens of sites across the U.S. saw racial violence during what came to be known as the Red Summer. The most violent of these incidents was the massacre in Elaine, which claimed the lives of an estimated 100 to 240 local black farmers. The attack was carried out by a combination of local white mobs, the KKK, and federal soldiers. Immediately following the incident, the Arkansas state government began to cover it up, though luckily, the truth eventually found its way out. It has left the town with a permanently scarred reputation.

5 Centralia, Pennsylvania

Centralia, Pennsylvania, used to be home to over 1,000 residents. As of 2017, it had five. The town isn’t haunted by any murders or massacres. Even its acquisition from the Indigenous population was peaceful by American standards. Instead, Centralia is nearly abandoned and nicknamed “Hell on Earth” for one reason: the whole town is on fire and has been for 59 years.

In May 1962, local firefighters were hired to clean up the town dump as they always had: by setting it on fire. Except that this time, the fire didn’t die out. A passage beneath the dump connected to the labyrinthine network of coal mines beneath the town. The fire spread and, fueled by the immeasurable quantities of natural gas in the tunnels, burned and burned. It took 30 years for the majority of Centralia’s residents to evacuate the city, as sinkholes, open flames, and toxic gas clouds slowly engulfed the town, leaving it the fuming wasteland it is today.

4 Oradour-sur-Glane, France

Most towns on this list have histories built partially on murder; it’s a common inciting incident for ghost myths and dubious reputations. Rarely, however, are towns famous for the murder of the entire town in one incident. Yet that’s precisely what happened to the country village of Oradour-sur-Glane in France.

In 1944, the leader of a Nazi SS regiment received potential intel that a fellow Nazi officer had been taken prisoner and executed by the local French resistance. In retaliation, the regiment carried out one of the most violent mass executions in history at Oradour-sur-Glane. After a few hours, 643 civilians, most of them women and children, were dead. The city was razed, and, in deference to the slain, it was never rebuilt, forever standing as a monument to the massacre.

3 Pine Ridge, South Dakota

The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota has been a black spot on America’s record ever since 1890 when it was the site of the infamous Wounded Knee Massacre.

Leading up to the attack, local white settlers and army men became increasingly alarmed at Indigenous activity in the area. Their newly-formed Ghost Dance movement was seen as a precursor to war, and so the U.S. Army attempted to relocate local Lakota people and disarm them. Tensions were too high, the disarmament went tragically awry, and by the end of the day on December 29, 1890, 250 to 300 Lakota men, women, and children lay dead at the hands of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment. The incident has since become a symbol of past government-Indigenous relations, a rallying cry for Indigenous rights movements, and a dark stain in American history books.

2 Sharpsburg, Maryland

Sharpsburg, Maryland, is a village of only 700 with 281 years of almost exclusively peaceful history. There is almost nothing of note to say about the little village except for one fact: in 1862, it was the site of the single bloodiest day in American history, the Battle of Antietam.

On September 17, 1862, Union and Confederate forces met in Sharpsburg and battled from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm. In those 12 hours, more than 22,000 American soldiers died. No other day in the country’s history produced as many casualties, even in World War II, and that has made Sharpsburg famous in the most ghoulish of ways.

1 Salem, Massachusetts

No list of towns with dark, bloody histories would be complete without the most famous haunted town in America: Salem, Massachusetts (more precisely, Salem Village). Salem’s bloody and spooky reputation has made it a modern mecca for Halloween lovers and fans of the occult. But unlike Halloween, the events in Salem between 1692 and 1693 were not the fun, playful kind of dark. They were the malicious, insidious, please-take-a-lesson-from-this kind of dark.

The Salem witch trials were the deadliest witch hunt in U.S. history. In a little over a year, Massachusetts executed more alleged witches and conspirators than it had in the preceding century. At least 25 people died due to the trials and all of them, needless to say, were innocent of witchcraft. The incident has forever linked the town of Salem (and to a lesser extent neighboring Danvers, the modern-day location of Salem Village) to the dangers of religious extremism, unchecked groupthink, and the subversion of due process.

New York City is home to perhaps the most famous island in the world: the 13-mile long, 2-mile wide parcel called Manhattan. In fact, of NYC’s five boroughs only one – The Bronx – is connected to the mainland US.

Far smaller tracts dot the East River, Long Island Sound and other bodies of water flowing through the city limits. Most of them have harrowing histories.

Top 10 Bizarre Islands

10 A Pox on Thee: Roosevelt Island’s Ruins

Few diseases have been more impactful than smallpox. Notable victims include France’s King Louis XV, who it killed, and England’s Queen Elizabeth I, who wore makeup to conceal cringeworthy facial scarring from battling the disease as a child. In America, an estimated 90% of Native Americans died from smallpox, which they contracted from white settlers – including instances of intentional transmission through tainted blankets, a sort of rudimentary biowarfare.

Smallpox was finally eradicated in 1979 – but not before it had its way with New York.

Roosevelt Island is a narrow, two-mile-long strip between Manhattan and Queens, large enough for its own subway stop, its trademark tram of Spider-Man fame, a few apartment buildings and a technical campus for Cornell University. Its southern tip contains two adjacent, starkly different structures: a pristine park and monument dedicated to its namesake, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the ruins of a 19th Century hospital where smallpox victims were segregated from the city and cared for, often futilely.

From 1856 until 1875, the facility known today as Renwick Hospital (after its architect) treated roughly 7,000 patients a year. Nearly 10,000 victims perished there over a span of two decades. Then, as with many institutions, the city’s swelling population caught up with it. As Roosevelt Island’s residence grew, the smallpox unit was shifted to tinier, more remote North Brothers Island. By the 1950s, Renwick Hospital had become useless and was abandoned by the city, quickly falling into disrepair.

9 Randall’s/Ward’s Islands: Fun Present, Dysfunctional Past

A mile north of Roosevelt Island is Randall’s Island, a shorter yet wider patch at the confluence of Manhattan, Queens and The Bronx accessible by the Robert F. Kennedy (formerly the Triborough) Bridge. Today, Randall’s is best known for two things: concert venues hosting popular music festivals, and soccer pitches, baseball diamonds and football fields where many of NYC’s schools hold practices and games. (Fun tourism fact: It also has the city’s best mini-golf course.)

The area wasn’t always such a good time. For decades, it was where the city tucked away many of its poor, sick and institutionalized. As with many of this list’s other tiny tracts, NYC officials saw the river as a ready-made moat to physically ostracize misfits; actually, “Island of Undesirables” was once Randall’s Island’s nickname.

Or rather, its neighbor’s. Because Randall’s Island itself was segregated – by a manmade stream aptly called Little Hell Gate Channel. They named the secondary turf Ward’s Island, which, though less than a square mile, nonetheless made room for the terminally ill, criminally insane and juvenilely delinquent. Other lowlights included a disreputable orphanage and a potter’s field. A literal shithole, Ward’s also housed (and continues to house) a sewage treatment plant.

Randall’s and Ward’s were reconnected in the 1960s, and the duo’s depressing past isn’t completely behind them. The former site of a decrepit insane asylum is now the barely-less-decrepit Manhattan Psychiatric Center.

8 Made for Quarantining: Hoffman & Swinburne Islands

Despite the famous statue that, starting in 1876, would adorn another nearby island – one that urged foreign lands to “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” – one thing New York City didn’t want was your contagiously ill.

Just south of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island, are two tiny tracts that have existed for exactly 151 and 148 years, respectively. The smaller, Swinburne, was created from landfill in 1870, with its larger counterpart, Hoffmann, completed in 1873. At the time, however, few knew these fanciful names; to most, they were simply Lower and Upper Quarantine Islands.

NYC’s most famous immigration intake facility, Ellis Island, did not commence operations until 1892. In the 35 years prior, new arrivals were processed at Castle Garden (now Castle Clinton) at Manhattan’s southern tip.

Before 1870, immigrants suspected of contagion were quarantined in Staten Island – not exactly fair, since it didn’t become part of NYC until 1898. So NYC used landfill to create two islands – a large one for those potentially exposed (yet asymptomatic), and small one for those showing symptoms of one infectious disease or another. So basically a tiny, man-made petri dish.

Surprisingly, only about a dozen people died there, including a doctor. Notably, during World War I Swinburne’s hospital was used to treat US soldiers suffering from venereal disease. Today, both are uninhabited bird sanctuaries, their ruins incorporated into Gateway National Recreation Area.

7 What’s in a Name? Rat Island

A half-mile off The Bronx’s causeway-connected City Island, in Long Island Sound, is a 2½-acre islet with no definitive origin surrounding its less-than-appealing name: Rat Island. Three distinct possibilities exist.

Let’s start with the most mundane, which involves marine navigation. Since the island lies between two larger parcels of land – City Island and Hart Island (for more on Hart Island, see the final two entries) – it’s likely rattles were once used as noisemakers to warn night-sailing ships of nearby ground. In this theory – espoused by the island’s current owner, Alex Schibli – Rat is short for “rattle.”

Now the more entertaining ones. During the typhoid fever scares of the 1800s, the island housed a 40-person quarantine hospital. Back then, the islet was considered part of Pelham, and became known alliteratively as the Pelham Pesthouse. All this activity, of course, attracted vermin – hence, Rat Island.

But the last possibility is the coolest. Among other notorious institutions, nearby Hart Island once contained a prison. In the 19th Century, “rat” was a term used by guards to describe inmates. To escape to City Island (and the mainland) was a mile swim, and the tiny islet in between was a natural resting point; many even wore boxes on their heads to be mistaken for floating trash. Rat Island: a respite en route to felon freedom.

6 Smallest & Oddest: U Thant Island

On August 28, 1973, subway riders lived every New Yorker’s nightmare. A concrete slab in a tunnel under the East River fell, killing one passenger and trapping 1,000 others in 115-degree heat and smoke for over an hour. Their near-tomb was Steinway Tunnel – named for the pianos made in Astoria, Queens.

The tunnel had always been troubling. Around 1880, William Steinway wanted to run trains between Manhattan and his promising piano factory in Queens. The project got off the ground, underground, then… boom! An explosion killed five workers and bankrupted the contractor.

Still, the tunnel endured, and its dregs created a 200×100-foot islet off the East Midtown coast. It was named Belmont island, after the project’s financer.

Unknown to all, the tiny tract would later grace the sightline of the United Nations headquarters, completed in 1948. Now, a man-made mound of dirt became the perfect guerrilla protest destination. In 1972, Belmont was declared “Soviet Jewry Freedom Island” and occupied for 2½ hours to protest Soviet emigration policy.

But it was five years later that Belmont became NYC’s oddest-named island… unofficially, anyway. In 1977, followers of the guru Sri Chinmoy, who served as the UN’s interfaith chaplain, leased the land and renamed it after the Burmese former United Nations Secretary General U Thant, a friend of Chinmoy. Today, it’s home to a “oneness arch” of Thant’s personal items.

5 Fake Island, Real Damage: The Black Tom Explosion

The year was 1916 and, though the U.S. had yet to enter World War 1, the country’s manufacturing heft made it a steady supplier of munitions to the English and French. The majority of these were shipped from greater New York City – actually just across the river in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The embarkation point was a man-made island – Black Tom Island, allegedly named for a local dark-skinned fisherman (woke much, 1910s?) – originally built around a tough-to-spot rock that made navigation dangerous. There, a railroad hub had been built where, on July 30, 1916, some two million tons of war materials were ready for shipment overseas.

Then… boom! German saboteurs blew it up. The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter Scale. Windows within a 25-mile radius shattered, the outside wall of Jersey City’s City Hall was cracked, and metal shrapnel damaged the Statue of Liberty’s skirt. New arrivals on nearby Ellis Island were evacuated. Seven people were killed, and an estimated $20 million in damages incurred.

Combined with continued German submarine attacks and its attempts to convince Mexico to ally itself with the Kaiser against America, the Black Tom incident was a factor in America’s eventual entrance into the war in April 1917. Today, Black Tom Island is connected to Liberty State Park, which gained notoriety as a massive triage location in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

4 Just Offal: NYC’s Smelliest Island

Before NYC was a subway and taxi town it was, like many cities, a horse town. Horse-drawn carriages permeated the streets; by 1900, some 200,000 horses lived in NYC – and are, in fact, a big reason many residences have staircases leading up to the front door. Who wants their first step outside to be ankle-deep in horseshit?

Anyway, those horses inevitably died and, when they did, their carcasses were used to make glue and fertilizer. Between 1850 and 1930, much of this occurred on a small strip off Brooklyn’s southeast shore called Barren Island. Over decades, the offal of hundreds of thousands of horses quite literally bled into the surrounding waters, lending a name – Dead Horse Bay – that exists to this day.

Here, the story of Barren Island goes from just plain gross to just plain weird. Around 1900, the tract also became used as a trash heap. Filled to capacity by 1930, it was capped and left to rot, which much of it invariably did.

But then, in 1950, the cap burst. Ever since, slower-degrading trash – such as glass – has been steadily leaking up to the island’s surface, as well as into the bay. Dead Horse Bay suddenly had an equally discomfiting neighbor: Glass Bottle Beach.

For years, the area became a popular destination for antique enthusiasts searching for today’s treasure amid yesterday’s rubbish. However, access to the area was suspended last year when high levels of radioactivity were detected.

3 Among America’s Worst: Riker’s Island

The island synonymous with incarceration in New York City wasn’t always a hellhole consistently ranked among the ten worst places to serve time in the United States. In fact, it was once quite quaint.

Riker’s is named for Abraham Rycken, a Dutch settler who moved to Long Island in 1638 and purchased it in 1664. Rycken’s descendants, the Ricker family, owned the tract until 1884, when it was sold to the city for $180,000. Along with attractive farmland, the island served as a training ground for New York troops during the Civil War.

Its downturn started in 1925. Now officially part of greater New York City, municipal leaders wanted to replace the crowded, dilapidated prison on the aforementioned Roosevelt Island (then known as Welfare Island). They chose Riker’s, and its prison opened in 1932.

Why Riker’s? Because it was already a disaster area. By 1930, some 1.5 million cubic yards of refuse – more than the amount of debris displaced to build the World Trade Center in the 1960s – had been dumped there. Much of the waste was ash from coal heating and incinerators, causing spontaneous phosphorescent fires. Fun.

Today, Riker’s Island contains ten city jails of varying decay and danger. Until last year, many detainees were poor folks arrested for minor offences, unable to afford bail and awaiting a hearing at the city’s notoriously backlogged courts.

2 A Mile Long, a Million Dead: Hart Island

Half a mile east of The Bronx’s more populous City Island, the mile-long, 1/3-mile-wide Hart Island has perhaps the most morbid history of any parcel in greater NYC.

It started promisingly enough. Hart Island was first publicly utilized in 1864, as training grounds for Black Union troops during the Civil War. As POWs mounted that year – primarily because Confederate leaders refused to take Black prisoners, prompting Union leaders to eliminate prisoner exchanges in protest – a war prison camp was added. Following the war, Hart housed other not-so-fun facilities including a tuberculosis sanitarium, a jail, a homeless shelter and a boys’ reformatory.

But most prominently, the island was a potter’s field. Incredibly, the remains of over a million bodies lie in shallow mass graves throughout the diminutive tract. A fancy funeral this was not: burials on Hart included the homeless, indigent, unclaimed, and disease-ridden (more on that shortly).

In fact, burials still occur today, though far fewer – about 1,500 per year. The sad deed is performed by residents of another nearby island: Riker’s Island, the city’s notorious primary jail. So essentially, inmates are ferried to forced gravedigging duties on the creepiest place in the entire city. Don’t ever get arrested in New York, folks.

Recently, an effort was launched to identify as many souls buried at Hart Island as possible. The initiative includes a fascinating interactive map showing the project’s progress.

1 Hart-breaking: Hart Island, COVID & AIDS

In the previous entry we mentioned that the pace of burials at Hart Island had slowed. That was until…oh, about March of 2020.

A hub of international travel, New York City was among the first US locations to be inundated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t just hospitals that were overwhelmed: the city’s morgues quickly ran out of room, forcing bodies to be stored in massive freezer trucks and other makeshift settings.

By March 2021, NYC was on pace to bury 1 in 10 COVID victims at Hart. Pictures of workers in protective gear burying people in shallow graves permeated local media. At least 2,300 adults were interred there in 2020 — 2½ times the 2019 figure and 1,000 more than in 1988.

That year – 1988 – is significant because it marked the peak of AIDS-related deaths in NYC. Hart Island is intimately linked with the AIDS epidemic, due largely to the period’s widespread paranoia. Starting in 1985, the first NYC residents identified as AIDS victims were shipped to Hart Island, then buried in an isolated area away from the remains of other individuals, in deep graves under several feet of dirt rather than the typical three.

In fact, the only single marked gravesite on Hart Island belongs to NYC’s first pediatric AIDS victim. The concrete marker simply reads “SC (special child) B1 (Baby 1) 1985.”

10 Strange and Mysterious Islands

There is just something about small towns in America. Every one of them is a little bit different. Some small towns are beautiful; some are historically significant. Still, others are remarkable for famous residents. Our list today, however, is not about any of those things. It is about small towns with creepy myths.

All across the United States, myths about heinous crimes, mysterious monsters, and spooky locations persist. Some of these myths have become widely known, while others are only locally famous. Still, the list below is certainly not for the faint of heart. Take caution from Alabama to Idaho, Rhode Island to Colorado as we go through ten creepy small-town myths.

10The Italian Bride (Elmhurst, Illinois)

We start our journey in the small town of Elmhurst, Illinois. Within the town, there is a cemetery with a creepy myth. The cemetery contains a life-size marble statue of a woman. If that weren’t unusual enough, the woman is wearing a wedding dress. All through the area, local legends persist.

Locals have reported the smell of fresh flowers and seeing a ghostly figure moving throughout the cemetery at night and even at the nearby high school! The woman who is immortalized by the statue is Julia Buccola Petta. Petta died over 100 years ago, in 1921, during childbirth. Not only was Petta a new mother, but she was also newly married. Her family elected to bury her in her wedding dress.

According to the myth, Petta’s mother repeatedly had nightmares following her daughter’s death. This is creepy enough on its own, but her daughter spoke directly to her in her nightmares, commanding her to open her grave. The grave was reopened, and Julia Buccola Petta was incredibly well preserved. Petta’s mother raised funds to have a statue commissioned, and the myth continued to spread and expand from there.

Fair warning, if this small-town myth creeped you out, be careful! They are just going to get more creepy!

9Mercy Brown, the Rhode Island Vampire (Exeter, Rhode Island)

Many people know about the witch hunts in New England. However, there was also a time when New Englanders feared vampires. One such tragic story relates to Mercy Brown. Brown had a difficult childhood, as her sister and mother both died of tuberculosis.

At just 19, she contracted the disease and passed away on January 17, 1892. Due to all the death surrounding Brown’s family, locals were suspicious. Many of them suspected that witchcraft, or vampires, were involved. After her burial, she was exhumed. Citizens thought her body was too well preserved (but was it really?) and took it as a sign of the supernatural.

Here’s where it gets weird. The vampire-fearing people of Exeter, Rhode Island, took out Mercy Brown’s heart and liver and burned them to ashes. If that weren’t enough, they fed those ashes to her surviving brother. He died just two months later. Locals around Exeter say that Mercy Brown’s ghost still haunts their cemetery.

8The Candy Lady (Texas)

In a small town in Texas, the Candy Lady still scares children and adults alike. According to a myth that started in the early 20th century, the Candy Lady lured children by leaving candies on their windowsills at night. She waits by the window for the children to grab the candy. Then, she grabs them!

Some children reportedly went missing, while others confessed to eating the windowsill candy years later. Other reports include a farmer finding rotting teeth around his farm, a sheriff’s deputy with his eyes poked out (and pockets stuffed with candy), and a dead boy with candy wrappers in his pockets.

As so much time has passed, it is hard to say how much is true and how much is a legend. Maybe this idea was created to try and stop kids from eating candy or trusting strangers, but one thing is for sure. The Candy Lady gives me the creeps!

7 Riverdale Road (Thornton, Colorado)

Riverdale Road is a short road near Thornton, Colorado. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in legend. Locals have reported seeing the spirit of a runner and phantom vehicles. However, the most famous of these Riverdale road myths is the Gates of Hell. This myth refers to an old mansion (which is in total disrepair).

According to legend, a man burned his wife and children alive on the property. In the years since, there have been many reported ghost sightings. These include the ghosts of slaves hung on the property, a ghost of the madman’s wife, and even a ghostly pack of dogs. Stories of this kind have been told since the mid-1800s.

Whether true or not, it is probably best to stay away from Riverdale Road (unless you are a ghost hunter), especially at night!

6 The Mothman of West Virginia (Point Pleasant, West Virginia)

The next small-town myth on our list is somewhat more recent than most. In the small town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a legend was born (or discovered?) in 1966. Apparently, an insect-like flying creature about the size of a man was seen flying around the town. This creature had glowing lights and bright red eyes. Because of its large wings and the combination of human and insect characteristics, locals dubbed it “The Mothman.”

The Mothman legend has gone on to be known outside the local area. There is even a 2002 film about the myth, The Mothman Prophecies. Locals and other paranormal experts have speculated about the Mothman. Some think it’s a government experiment; others think it may be an alien. Citizens continue to report sightings, even in 2016! Point Pleasant has enjoyed the national attention, I think, and seem to embrace what makes their town unique, even if it is creepy!

5 Hell’s Gate Bridge (Oxford, Alabama)

Not to be confused with the “Hell’s Gate” of Riverdale Road, Hell’s Gate Bridge in Oxford, Alabama, features a legendary myth. In fact, there are two. Both involve what happens to cars as they go over the road and can be traced back to the 1950s.

The first myth says a couple died driving off the bridge. Supposedly, if you stop on the bridge, the ghostly couple will sit in your car, leaving behind a wet spot. The second myth has spread more widely. According to this creepy legend, you will see hell itself if you look in your rearview mirror (or over your shoulder) as you cross the bridge. Spooky!

Either way, the bridge is now closed to cars and deemed unsafe to walk across.

4 Phantom Jogger (Canyon Hill, Idaho)

One of the most prominent features of the small town of Canyon Hill, Idaho, is the Canyon Hill Cemetery. Like many other creepy small-town myths on our list, the cemetery is central. The local myth has a name, the “Midnight Jogger.”

According to believers, the jogger only appears in the cemetery and only in a specific place. Scared citizens have reported a knocking sound on their windows, attributed to the spectral spirit. It certainly seems like a very particular ghost! What are all these people doing in a cemetery at night, anyway? Considering the lack of things to do in small towns, this myth may have been created for fun or entertainment.

3 Stull Cemetery, Kansas: The Gateway to Hell (Stull, Kansas)

Another gateway to hell?! I guess the devil has to get around too. This one is in the very small town of Stull, Kansas. Their local legend is focused not only on hell but also Satan.

Supposedly, Satan appears in Stull not once but twice yearly. He appears in the town cemetery for the spring equinox and Halloween. Near the cemetery are the remains of a church that Satan used to portal back and forth from hell.

Another feature of the area is a hanging tree that was used to hang witches. Some people believe that Satan is attracted to the site for this reason. Amazingly, the cemetery is still in use, with new plots still being dug.

2 The Arkansas Dog Boy (Quitman, Arkansas)

Our next legend is another mythical creature, this one from the small town of Quitman, Arkansas. As silly as it sounds, the Arkansas Dog Boy comes with a very dark backstory. Gerald Bettis was a child raised in Arkansas in the 1970s. He was a difficult child both in and out of school. The most concerning thing was his treatment of animals, particularly dogs.

Bettis tortured dogs and had a pretty disturbing worldview, even performing experiments on helpless animals. Later in life, he would take his anger out on his parents, abusing and, according to legend, even murdering them. The legend of the Arkansas Dog Boy is based on his story.

According to local myth, the Dog Boy is a half man, half dog, standing six feet and weighing more than 300 pounds. The myth also indicates that he chases his victims, nipping at their heels.

1 The Bunny Man (Fairfax, Virginia)

Arkansas is not the only state with a legendary creature with a silly, even comical moniker. In the town of Clifton, Virginia, the Bunny Man makes his home.

The origin of the Bunny Man is connected to a local asylum. Patients from the asylum were being transported when their vehicle crashed. One patient escaped and became the Bunny Man. This was back in the early 1900s, but the legend persists. He was given his name because when police were looking for him, they kept finding skinned, partially eaten rabbits. In particular, many of these rabbits were hung on Fairfax Bridge.

Local legend has changed the name to the Bunny Man Bridge. This is one myth on our list that may have more truth to it than others do, making it even more creepy. In October of 1970, more than 60 years after the bus crash, several people reported seeing a man in a white suit with bunny ears and carrying a hatchet. Does this make anyone else think of the movie Donnie Darko? The town of Clifton embraces the legend now, particularly around Halloween.