Unearth The Voyage
Florida isn’t just about beaches and theme parks. Hidden across the Sunshine State are some of the strangest, most mind-boggling attractions you’ll ever encounter.
From mysterious monuments built by lovesick loners to underwater mermaids performing ballet, these bizarre destinations prove that Florida’s weirdness runs much deeper than just alligators and hurricanes. Get ready to explore the quirky side of Florida that most tourists never see.
1. Coral Castle – Homestead
One man spent 28 years carving and moving over 1,100 tons of coral rock to build a castle for a woman who left him. Edward Leedskalnin created this mysterious monument using tools he made himself, working alone at night so nobody could discover his methods.
The stones are so perfectly balanced that a child can push open a nine-ton gate with one finger.
Nobody knows exactly how Edward moved these massive blocks without modern machinery. Some pieces weigh more than the stones used in the Egyptian pyramids.
He claimed to understand the secrets of the ancient builders, but he took those secrets to his grave in 1951.
Walking through Coral Castle feels like stepping into a stone-age Disneyland built by a heartbroken genius. You’ll see coral furniture, a sundial that tells time accurately, and a telescope pointed at the North Star.
Every carved chair, table, and fountain represents Edward’s undying love for a woman who never returned. The place proves that obsession and determination can create something truly unforgettable, even if it’s completely bonkers.
2. The Devil’s Chair – Cassadaga
Cassadaga calls itself the Psychic Capital of the World, and sitting in its cemetery is a brick bench with a seriously spooky reputation. Legend says if you sit in the Devil’s Chair at midnight and leave an offering, the Devil himself might join you for a chat.
Visitors report cold spots, strange voices, and offerings that mysteriously disappear overnight.
This spiritualist community has been home to mediums and psychics since 1894. The whole town feels frozen in time, with Victorian houses where you can get palm readings and communicate with the dead.
But the cemetery’s Devil’s Chair remains the crown jewel of creepiness that draws curious thrill-seekers from everywhere.
Whether you believe in the supernatural or not, sitting on this weathered brick bench gives you serious goosebumps. People leave beer cans, cigarettes, and coins as offerings, though skeptics say raccoons probably enjoy those gifts more than any demon.
The chair has become so famous that the cemetery installed a fence to keep out midnight visitors. Still, the legends persist, making this one of Florida’s most haunted spots where the veil between worlds feels paper-thin.
3. Spook Hill – Lake Wales
Your car will roll uphill by itself on this street, defying everything you learned in science class. Put your vehicle in neutral at the white line, and watch as it mysteriously climbs the slope backward.
Kids scream, adults scratch their heads, and everyone leaves questioning the laws of physics.
Local legend blames a giant alligator that terrorized the area long ago. A brave chief fought and killed the beast, and supposedly the gator’s ghost pushes cars uphill to this day.
Scientists offer a less exciting explanation involving optical illusions and the landscape playing tricks on your eyes, but where’s the fun in that?
The town embraced this weirdness by painting the street with special markings and installing signs that explain the phenomenon. Tourists line up daily to experience this free attraction that takes about two minutes but creates memories that last forever.
Some people try it multiple times, convinced there must be a logical explanation their brain can accept. Others just enjoy the strange sensation of rolling uphill while their passengers freak out.
Either way, Spook Hill delivers exactly what it promises: a genuinely weird Florida experience.
4. Skunk Ape Research Headquarters – Ochopee
Florida’s version of Bigfoot smells terrible and hangs out in the Everglades, according to this research center dedicated to finding the legendary Skunk Ape. Dave Shealy runs this roadside attraction filled with plaster footprint casts, blurry photographs, and eyewitness accounts of encounters with the smelly swamp creature.
He’s absolutely convinced the Skunk Ape exists and wants you to believe too.
The facility doubles as a wildlife preserve where you can see actual Florida animals like alligators, snakes, and turtles. But the real draw is the Skunk Ape museum section, crammed with evidence that ranges from genuinely intriguing to hilariously questionable.
Dave himself has claimed multiple sightings and will happily share his stories with anyone willing to listen.
Visiting this place means embracing the absurd while learning about Everglades ecology. You’ll leave with a Skunk Ape souvenir and probably a story about the enthusiastic owner who treats cryptozoology like serious science.
Whether the Skunk Ape is real or just a guy in a gorilla suit remains hotly debated, but this headquarters provides entertainment either way. It’s peak Florida weird.
5. Weeki Wachee Springs State Park – Weeki Wachee
Real women dressed as mermaids perform underwater ballet in a natural spring while you watch through a theater window 16 feet below the surface. They smile, wave, eat bananas, and drink soda underwater without any breathing equipment visible.
The show has been running since 1947, making it one of Florida’s oldest and strangest roadside attractions that somehow survived into the modern era.
These mermaid performers train for months to hold their breath while doing flips, tricks, and choreographed routines in the crystal-clear spring water. They breathe from hidden air hoses cleverly disguised as props and scenery.
The whole production feels like stepping into a 1950s postcard come to life, complete with vintage costumes and wholesome entertainment your grandparents probably saw as kids.
Beyond the mermaid show, you can kayak or swim in the springs, which pump out 117 million gallons of fresh water daily. The water stays a constant 74 degrees year-round, making it perfect for cooling off after watching aquatic acrobatics.
Meeting a mermaid in person after the show makes the experience even more surreal. They’re genuinely talented athletes who chose the most Florida career path imaginable.
6. The Ringling Circus Museum – Sarasota
Before Sarasota became famous for beaches, it was the winter home of the Greatest Show on Earth. This museum preserves the golden age of circus entertainment with elaborate parade wagons covered in hand-carved figures and gold leaf.
You’ll see costumes worn by legendary performers, original posters advertising death-defying acts, and miniature circus models so detailed they took decades to complete.
The Howard Bros. Circus Model is mind-blowing, featuring 44,000 tiny pieces including performers, animals, and spectators.
One man spent 50 years of his life building this incredibly detailed replica. Walking through the museum feels like traveling back to when circuses were the biggest entertainment on the planet, before television made traveling shows obsolete.
John Ringling’s mansion and art museum sit on the same property, creating a full day of exploration. But the circus museum captures something special about American entertainment history that’s almost completely vanished.
Kids today will never experience the magic and wonder of a three-ring circus rolling into town. This museum preserves that lost world in all its sequined, elephant-filled glory.
The weirdness factor comes from realizing how recently this bizarre form of entertainment dominated American culture before disappearing almost overnight.
7. Solomon’s Castle – Ona
An artist built a castle in the middle of nowhere using printing plates from newspapers, creating walls that shimmer like dragon scales in the Florida sun. Howard Solomon spent decades constructing this three-story monument to creativity and recycling before his death in 2016.
Every inch of the place showcases his quirky sense of humor, from the moat (actually a dry ditch) to the drawbridge (not functional) to the aluminum siding that makes the whole thing look like a giant art project gone wonderfully wrong.
Inside, you’ll find Howard’s sculptures made from junk transformed into jokes. A boat in a bottle made from a real boat, stained glass windows created from beer bottles, and puns everywhere you look.
His daughter now runs the castle and restaurant, keeping her father’s weird vision alive for visitors who appreciate art that doesn’t take itself seriously.
The Boat in the Moat restaurant serves lunch in a replica Portuguese galleon because why not add another layer of absurdity. Getting to Solomon’s Castle requires driving down rural roads where you’ll wonder if your GPS has lost its mind.
But finding this aluminum palace in the middle of Florida ranch country makes the journey part of the adventure.
8. Monkey Jungle – Miami
Humans walk through cages while monkeys roam free in this completely backward zoo experience. The tagline says it all: Where Humans Are Caged and Monkeys Run Wild.
You’ll stroll through enclosed pathways while primates swing overhead, occasionally dropping things on unsuspecting visitors below. It’s exactly as weird and slightly unnerving as it sounds.
Joseph DuMond established this place in 1933 as a research facility for South American monkeys. Nearly a century later, it remains one of the only protected habitats for endangered primates in North America.
The monkeys live in a semi-natural environment spanning 30 acres of subtropical forest. They’ve never been taught tricks or forced to perform, which makes watching their natural behaviors even more fascinating.
The daily shows demonstrate natural monkey talents like swimming and diving, which most people don’t realize primates can do. Watching a monkey cannonball into a pool beats any trained animal act you’ll see elsewhere.
The whole experience flips the traditional zoo dynamic, making humans the exhibits while animals maintain their freedom and dignity. You’ll leave with a new appreciation for primate intelligence and probably some monkey spit in your hair.
That’s just part of the Monkey Jungle experience.
9. The Bubble Room – Captiva
Christmas exploded inside a toy store and somehow became a restaurant serving massive slices of cake. Every surface of the Bubble Room is covered with vintage toys, trains running on ceiling tracks, twinkling lights, and enough holiday decorations to make Santa’s workshop look minimalist.
Servers dress in scout uniforms and have goofy names like Bubble Scout and Bubble Rouzer, fully committing to the absurdist theme.
The menu features dishes with ridiculous names, but the real stars are the desserts. Slices of cake arrive at your table roughly the size of a small child’s head, stacked so tall they defy structural engineering.
The Orange Crunch Cake and Red Velvet Cake have achieved legendary status among visitors who Instagram these towering sugar mountains before attempting to consume them.
Eating here feels like dining inside someone’s fever dream about childhood nostalgia. Your eyes don’t know where to focus because every inch of wall space screams for attention with some new weird trinket or decoration.
The food is surprisingly good despite the sensory overload happening around you. Families love it, kids go bonkers, and adults leave wondering what exactly just happened to their eyeballs and stomachs.
It’s uniquely, unapologetically, wonderfully strange.
10. Key West Cemetery (humorous epitaphs) – Key West
Dead people tell jokes in this cemetery where tombstones feature some of the funniest epitaphs you’ll ever read. One grave marker famously reads “I Told You I Was Sick,” while another states “At Least I Know Where He’s Sleeping Tonight.” The residents of Key West maintain their irreverent sense of humor even after death, turning a cemetery into a tourist attraction that makes people laugh instead of cry.
The above-ground vaults exist because Key West’s coral bedrock makes digging graves nearly impossible. This practical solution created a city of the dead that looks like miniature houses stacked in neat rows.
Some families decorated their vaults with elaborate statues, while others kept things simple with just a sarcastic final message for the living.
Walking through these paths feels less creepy than most cemeteries because the humor cuts through any morbid atmosphere. You’ll find yourself taking photos of tombstones and texting them to friends, which seems inappropriate until you realize that’s exactly what these Key West characters wanted.
They refused to take death seriously, and their final resting place reflects that stubborn individualism. It’s the perfect ending to a weird Florida adventure, reminding you that life’s too short not to have fun, even in a graveyard.
