1.Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon, is a circle that's two feet in length, with a total area of 452 square inches. According to Guinness World Records, it's the smallest park in the world. Over time, people have left a variety of objects at the park, including planted flowers, a miniature Ferris wheel, a swimming pool for butterflies, and plastic army men during the Occupy Portland protests.
2.According to the 2000 census, Rudy and Elsie Eiler were the only two residents of Monowi, Nebraska. But in 2004, Rudy died, leaving Elsie as the sole resident of Monowi. She's the current mayor of the town, and has granted herself a liquor license.
3.The Market Theater Gum Wall is a "part interactive art exhibit, part public health hazard" in Seattle that dates back to 1993. Patrons of the theater would stick their gum on the brick wall while waiting in line to see an improv theater group. The wall was 8 feet high and 50 feet wide, and had about 150 pieces of gum per brick, some that had been around for decades. The wall was scrubbed for the first time in 2015, after sugar on the gum began eroding the bricks.
4.In Iceland, near a geothermal station in Krafla, there's a bathroom with no walls. The "Krafla Toilet" is connected to a thermal spring, which means there's always hot water running through the shower. The toilet has since been removed, but the shower and the sink are still functioning.
5.The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is a building that resides right on the border of Canada and the US (Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, to be exact). It has two entrances, one for Americans and one for Canadians, and there is a thick black line that indicates where the border exists.
6.In 1902, the UK drew up border lines for Egypt and Sudan that were different from those previously established in 1899. Because of this, two lands were in dispute: Bir Tawil and the Hala'ib Triangle. Both Egypt and Sudan claimed the Hala'ib Triangle because of its desirable natural resources. Bir Tawil, on the other hand, had nothing. So neither country claimed it. Bir Tawil is a land without a country.
7.Underneath the borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a coal mine fire broke out in 1962. At first it wasn't a big deal, until, in 1981, sinkholes started opening up in people's backyards, full of hot steam and lethal levels of carbon monoxide. The government got involved in the mid-'80s and relocated Centralia's residents. The borough that once touted a population of 2,449 in 1940 dwindled down to 7 in 2013.
The fire is expected to burn for another 250 years.
8.Spreuerhofstraße in Germany is considered the narrowest street in the world. It ranges from 31 to 50 centimeters. It was built in 1727, and it's not recommended for those who feel claustrophobic.
9.The "Mystery Coke Machine" in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle, spits out "mystery" cans of soda for 75 cents. It's been there for over three decades, but no one knows who owns it or who stocks it. According to a city spokesperson, "there are no permits on file for the machine." The mystery Coke machine also has a Facebook page.
10.The world-famous USPS Remote Encoding Facility is located in Salt Lake City. What is this place exactly? Well, it's where all the mail with terribly handwritten addresses goes. So, if YOU have terrible handwriting, your mail is sent here so someone can figure out what you were trying to write. This is the only facility of its kind in the United States, where people work day and night to decipher your shitty handwriting.
11.In 1910, the city of New York took over and demolished several properties in Greenwich Village in order to widen 7th Avenue and make room for a subway expansion. In 1922, the descendants of the Hess estate noticed a surveying error that granted them a very tiny 27 ½" x 27 ½" x 25 ½" triangle. So, they erected a small mosaic on that tiny property.
12."The world's largest freestanding chest of drawers" is located in High Point, North Carolina. The drawer stands at three and a half stories high and includes two giant socks. This giant replica of a 19th-century dresser was constructed in honor of High Point's two major industries: furniture and hosiery.
13.This "toad tunnel" in Davis, California, cost $14,000 to build and allows frogs to cross a road without injury. The tunnel also comes with a miniature town full of small buildings. And although its called the Davis Toad Tunnel, the tunnel actually serves frogs.
14.The German town of Staufen is a beautiful European getaway spot with one caveat: It's literally cracking. The ground has been swelling since 2007 due to a botched drilling job. Experts have no idea how to stop the swelling, which continues to crack many of the buildings.
15.The Paperclip Cottage Cafe in Kipling, Saskatchewan, Canada, has an interesting story. In 2005, Kyle McDonald had a red paperclip, which he traded for a pen. He then traded the pen for a doorknob. These trades continued and got bigger and better: an espresso maker, a camping stove, tickets to the Canadian Rockies, and so on. After a year of making his first trade, he eventually got a two-story house. He traded the house to a restaurant owner, who converted it into a cafe that celebrates McDonald's trade journey.
