10 Mysterious, Unusual Spots In Nebraska You Never Knew Existed

At this cabin in Nebraska City, abolitionist John Brown hid slaves on their way to Canada in his secret, underground tunnels and passages. The cabin is the only "National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom" site in Nebraska. This site isn't really mysterious, but it is certainly unusual, and quite fun to visit.

This tree, near the Mormon Bridge on the Missouri River, is a great place to take a "Hello from Nebraska" postcard picture. Not only is this one unusual, but it's also mysterious - how did this happen? Was in some accident of Mother Nature, or a man-made trick?

This old cemetery has a number of strange headstones, but probably the most unusual and mysterious one is this desk-shaped headstone. We're not quite sure what the story is with this one, but it seems that even in death we can't escape the office.

If you're ever driving along Highway 26 near Ogallala/Northport, you may notice the fence posts alongside the road have been lined with boots and hats. This strange site leaves many people wondering: "why on Earth are there shoes on these fence posts and who put them there?" Well, apparently, the shoes are placed there because before fence posts were made with treated wood, farmers had to put old cans, pie plates, and even shoes on their posts to keep the moisture from rotting the wood. Who would have known?

This water tower in Ogallala is painted to look like a UFO, and at night, it's lit up by UFO landing lights. There are even little green aliens peeking out the window.

This one is certainly well-known, but we wanted to include it on the list because it's still very unusual. This formation wasn't put here by ancient druids as a worship site or a calendar of stars - it was actually built in 1987 by a Nebraska man in memorial of his late father.

Local eccentric Harold Keith Davisson wanted to be sure that his descendants understood what his life was like in 1975. Instead of making a photo album, he constructed and buried a 45-ton vault in the yard in front of his furniture and appliances store. Then, not content with the already-massive capsule, he built a second time capsule directly atop the first in the shape of a huge pyramid. Among the huge and eclectic collections inside the vaults: two cars, stacks of phone books, and various clothing items. The capsule is scheduled to be opened on July 4, 2025.

On August 6, 1867 the telegraph went dead at the Union Pacific’s Plum Creek Station near present day Lexington, Nebraska. Telegrapher William Thompson was dispatched to repair the telegraph, when he was attacked by a group of Cheyenne warriors. Thompson was beat over the head and knocked unconscious, then scalped by one of the Cheyenne. When he awoke, Thompson managed to find his scalp laying on the ground, and made it to a doctor, who saved his life - but unfortunately couldn't save his scalp. Thompson promptly quit his job at Union Pacific and moved back to England - but not before he left his salt cured scalp with the doctor who had saved him. The legend is that the scalp is now located at the Union Pacific Museum in Omaha.

On the Steamboat Trace Trail near Peru, an artist named Roland Sherman created a series of unique and unusual carvings that are unlike anything else. Sherman used a putty knife to carve intricate pictures into the sandstone bluff, and sometimes even carved figures out of the bluff itself. In 2007, one year after Sherman died, a 1,000-foot section of the Trace Trail was dedicated to his memory. The little works of art are a wonderful surprise for trail travelers, and signs ask visitors to respect the carvings.