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Oddball Indiana: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places
Square Donuts. The World’s Largest Stump. Oscar the Monster Turtle. Johnny Appleseed’s grave. The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. While other travel guides tell you about yet another cozy bed-and-breakfast and bike trails through Brown County, Oddball Indiana offers wacky travel destinations and little-known historical tidbits. Why is Nancy Barnett’s grave in the middle of a country road? Where can you go to communicate with your dead Aunt Clara? Who invented Alka-Seltzer? How did David Letterman get fired from his first broadcasting gig? This is the guide to the real Indiana, birthplace of corn flakes, Dan Quayle, and Wonder Bread, for those who want to laugh, not lounge, on their vacation.
- GenresTravelNonfiction
227 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 29, 2025
An oddball book of oddball places.
The good news is I want to make a few road trips, and soon.
The bad is I could not tell if the author was arrogant and uneducated (p.20 "heavier than air originated" 1. Wrights were controlled, powered heavier than air. 2. France and Germany were doing gliders long before ANYWHERE in the US, the points about Gary were wrong on multiple levels). Just being a jack ass (p. 88 Pizza King "trains and tvs make up for a lot..." , I didn't see culinary expert listed in the bio). Or just a misplaced smart ass whose jokes don't always land, but hit every now and then (p 120 "perhaps Mary could have benefited from a few volts. ")
The good news is I want to make a few road trips, and soon.
The bad is I could not tell if the author was arrogant and uneducated (p.20 "heavier than air originated" 1. Wrights were controlled, powered heavier than air. 2. France and Germany were doing gliders long before ANYWHERE in the US, the points about Gary were wrong on multiple levels). Just being a jack ass (p. 88 Pizza King "trains and tvs make up for a lot..." , I didn't see culinary expert listed in the bio). Or just a misplaced smart ass whose jokes don't always land, but hit every now and then (p 120 "perhaps Mary could have benefited from a few volts. ")
July 1, 2024
I used this book for research and found quite a bit of information you can't find anywhere else (the internet)! The author did a great job compiling and writing the stories of each place. I haven't been to many of them, and I've lived in Indiana most of my life. But better than that, the history and stories behind them are what I enjoyed the most.
December 18, 2007
My husband picked up Oddball Indiana at the local bookstore & once he was done, I picked it up.
As described, it's a guide to some of the more unusual historical/tourist attractions in Indiana. It's broken into 4 sections: Northern Indiana, Central Indiana, Southern Indiana and Indianapolis area - as well as a special section for John Dillinger. Within each section, the sites are listed alphabetically by city/town - there's also 2 indexes at the back - by city and by site name.
The descriptions are written in a casual manner, with more than a touch of humour. There are pictures (though not quite enough, in my opinion) and Pohlen gives contact info and cost when available. Bits of trivia are scattered through the book, and each section has a map with the sites listed - making it easy to plan an Oddball Road Trip. Unfortunately, some of the information is out of date; which is common with book publishing. Both my hometown and where I'm currently living have entries :^)
Recommended to anyone with an interest in out-of-the-ordinary tourist attractions - Pohlen also has editions for Wisconsin and Illinois.
As described, it's a guide to some of the more unusual historical/tourist attractions in Indiana. It's broken into 4 sections: Northern Indiana, Central Indiana, Southern Indiana and Indianapolis area - as well as a special section for John Dillinger. Within each section, the sites are listed alphabetically by city/town - there's also 2 indexes at the back - by city and by site name.
The descriptions are written in a casual manner, with more than a touch of humour. There are pictures (though not quite enough, in my opinion) and Pohlen gives contact info and cost when available. Bits of trivia are scattered through the book, and each section has a map with the sites listed - making it easy to plan an Oddball Road Trip. Unfortunately, some of the information is out of date; which is common with book publishing. Both my hometown and where I'm currently living have entries :^)
Recommended to anyone with an interest in out-of-the-ordinary tourist attractions - Pohlen also has editions for Wisconsin and Illinois.
January 7, 2014
Delivers as promised but too much fascination with Dan Quayle and Jim Jones.
Oddball Indiana: A guide to Some Really Strange Places does a great job of showing some of the odd things that make the Hoosier state unique, including Santa Claus, IN and the world's largest steer (he's stuffed). It also turns out that Indiana is the birthplace of Wonder Bread, Alka Seltzer, Corn Flakes, Pork and Beans and the unique shape of the Coca-Cola bottle. He includes driving directions that look to be accurate (I am familiar with some of these places) although a good map of Indiana would also be required to even find some of the towns that he mentions. He includes several pictures, which generally are helpful.
This really could have been a charming little book - one that I would have been 100% enthused about except for the author's fascination with Dan Quayle (not in a positive way, either) and Jim Jones (the cult leader who led his 900+ followers in a mass suicide in Guyana in the 1978)...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...
Oddball Indiana: A guide to Some Really Strange Places does a great job of showing some of the odd things that make the Hoosier state unique, including Santa Claus, IN and the world's largest steer (he's stuffed). It also turns out that Indiana is the birthplace of Wonder Bread, Alka Seltzer, Corn Flakes, Pork and Beans and the unique shape of the Coca-Cola bottle. He includes driving directions that look to be accurate (I am familiar with some of these places) although a good map of Indiana would also be required to even find some of the towns that he mentions. He includes several pictures, which generally are helpful.
This really could have been a charming little book - one that I would have been 100% enthused about except for the author's fascination with Dan Quayle (not in a positive way, either) and Jim Jones (the cult leader who led his 900+ followers in a mass suicide in Guyana in the 1978)...
Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...
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August 21, 2018Never knew there was so many weird things in Indiana. However, there are many weird things in every state. Including the people.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews