California isn’t just about sun, beaches, and celebrities. The state is filled with mysterious spots that carefully guard their secrets. Here are some unusual and unique places that are truly worth visiting
1. Bodie Ghost Town
During its heyday from 1877 to 1882, Bodie was a thriving town that brought in $38 million worth of gold and silver. In 1962, it became Bodie State Historic Park and continues to attract about 200,000 visitors annually.
The ghost town is preserved in surprisingly good condition, with the interiors of homes remaining as they were during the Gold Rush.
Bodie is open year-round, though due to its high elevation (8,375 feet), winter access is only possible by skis, snowshoes, or snowmobiles. To maintain its ghost town atmosphere, no commercial establishments are allowed in Bodie, so you won’t find food courts or gas stations here.
Address: State Route 270 / Bodie Rd., Bridgeport, CA 93517
Tickets: $8 for adults, $5 for children
Website: bodie.com
2. The Winchester Mystery House
When Sarah Winchester’s husband died in 1881, she became one of the wealthiest women in the world. However, she never enjoyed her inheritance, as she was convinced she was cursed. Sarah believed that moving was the only way to escape the spirits haunting her. In 1886, she relocated from New Haven to San Jose and bought a simple farmhouse with eight rooms. She later transformed it into a marvelous but incredibly strange and even mad mansion with 160 rooms.
What’s remarkable about this mansion isn’t just its size. For instance, while there are more than 2,000 doors, not all of them lead where you’d expect. One door opens to a steep 15-foot drop into the garden. Another leads to an eight-foot drop near the kitchen sink.
Some of the staircases are quite unusual. Instead of taking you to another floor, they go straight into the ceiling. The house is full of a vast network of secret passages. One closet door opens into a hive of 30 additional rooms.
Why did Sarah Winchester keep altering the house’s architecture until her death? Some say she believed she would die if the construction stopped. Others suggest she created a maze to confuse the spirits following her. Whatever the reason, the Winchester Mystery House will surely stay in your memory for a long time.
Address: 525 S Winchester Boulevard, San Jose, CA 95128
Tickets: 110-room house and garden tour $38.99 for adults, $17.99 for children, seniors $32.99
Website: winchestermysteryhouse.com
3. Underground Tunnels of LA
While the rest of the country was living under the restrictions of Prohibition, downtown Los Angeles was still partying, thanks to corrupt officials who maintained drinking establishments beneath the city streets. Eleven miles of service tunnels became passages to basement bars, where patrons could drink without a care, while City Hall managed the bootlegging.
Today, the tunnel system is part of municipal buildings and their utilities. Visitors can walk through the corridors accompanied by the hissing sounds of engines and pipes.
To explore the former subway of Los Angeles, you need to slip behind the Hall of Records on Temple Street and find the elevator. It will transport you to an underground passage filled with mysterious street art, rusty machinery, and iron gates that limit your exploration to areas deemed safe during earthquakes.
Address: Los Angeles County Hall of Records 222 N Hill St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA
4. Queen Mary Ship
One of the most visited places in America, the historic Queen Mary ship now serves as a floating hotel. It allows you to step back into an era when ocean liners were the most elegant way to travel. Local legends connect the Queen Mary with various ghost stories. One tells of an engineer’s ghost haunting the engine room, while another speaks of a lady in white who often scares visitors.
The most haunted spot on the ship is Cabin B340, which is no longer available for guests due to extreme paranormal activity, allegedly caused by the murder of an eight-year-old girl. It’s also said that the spirit of a little girl named Jackie Corin, who drowned in the second-class pool, haunts the ship.
Address: 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach, CA 90802
Tickets: Standard admission $45 for adults and $35 for children; paranormal ship tour $69
Website: queenmary.com
5. Bubble Gum Alley
Who would have thought that chewing gum could be used to decorate an alley? Bubblegum Alley is a strange tourist attraction in downtown San Luis Obispo, inviting people to participate in creating gum graffiti. Little is known about how it started, but every time the alley is cleaned, it quickly becomes covered in gum again.
You can buy gum right there on the square, make a wish, and stick it on the wall. Also, try to walk down the center of the alley, keeping your hair, scarves, and bags away from the sticky layer.
Address: Bubble Gum Alley, 733 Higuera St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401, USA
6. Badwater Basin in Death Valley
The lowest point in North America, at 282 feet below sea level, is famous for its incredible and bizarre landscape. The vast, surreal salt flats of Badwater Basin are constantly changing, and over thousands of years, enough salt has accumulated to form a white salt crust layer upon layer.
Because of the fragile nature of the salt flats and their ecosystem, driving on them is prohibited, but visitors can walk. Repeated cycles of freezing-thawing and evaporation gradually turn the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycombs. To see the honeycombs, you need to walk 1.5-2 miles round trip onto the salt flats.
Visitors to Badwater Basin should look out for Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range to the west; at 11,049 feet, this peak is more than two miles higher than Badwater Basin. Nowhere else in America can you see such an impressive vertical relief.
Be careful and follow safety rules when visiting Death Valley in the summer, as extreme temperatures are common.
Address: Death Valley National Park, Badwater, 7 miles northeast of Bennetts Well
Tickets: $15-30
Website: nps.gov
7. Museum of Death
The Museum of Death is a collection of morbidly fascinating stories. Although the space is small, the artifacts and exhibits are well arranged in each room.
Some of the most striking exhibits include severed mummified body parts, a taxidermy collection, a detailed timeline of the Manson murders, autopsy videos, and the works of John Wayne Gacy, who killed 33 people.
According to staff, the most popular items are Jeffrey Dahmer’s letters, as well as his biography, which might evoke some sympathy. It has been suggested that Dahmer may have transformed from a young, happy boy into a psychopath after undergoing childhood hernia surgery.
The overall atmosphere isn’t too gloomy, with dark humor exhibits, punk rock art, and Satanic-themed drawings scattered throughout the museum. While there are no age restrictions for entering, the museum might not be suitable for young visitors. Also, photography is prohibited inside.
Address: 6363 Selma Ave, Hollywood, CA 90028
Tickets: $20
Website: museumofdeath.net
8. Salvation Mountain
This eccentric and unique place with an amazing history is located in the Southern California desert near Slab City. It all started with a man, Leonard Knight, who moved to the area and tried to spread his message of love.
What once was a pile of dirt and broken cement became Leonard’s project and turned into a colorful desert monument dedicated to love. To create it, Knight used adobe bricks, tires, glass, car parts, and thousands of gallons of paint.
The current Salvation Mountain is the second structure. The first collapsed during a rainstorm in 1989. The site also features numerous signs with Christian sayings and Bible verses.
Address: 603 Beal Rd, Niland, CA 92257
9. Mystery Spot
This unusual tourist attraction near Santa Cruz showcases real wonders—more accurately, physical anomalies.
The owners claim that in this spot (which is about 150 feet or 45.7 meters in diameter), the laws of physics and gravity are broken and demonstrate a series of optical illusions. Visitors witness strange tilts in trees, balls rolling uphill, and people who seem to shrink or grow depending on where they stand.
Address: 465 Mystery Spot Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95065
Tickets: $10
Website: mysteryspot.com
10. The Integratron
The Integratron is a domed structure built by George Van Tassel, who was initially an aircraft mechanic and later became a ufologist and contactee. Van Tassel claimed that the building could rejuvenate, enable time travel, and extend human life.
When Van Tassel moved to the Mojave Desert, he began meditating under Giant Rock, which was considered sacred by the Native Americans of the region. In August 1953, George announced that he had been contacted telepathically, and later in person, by extraterrestrials who provided him with the technology to rejuvenate human cellular tissue. Following their instructions, Van Tassel began constructing the Integratron in 1954, funded primarily through donations, including contributions from Howard Hughes.
Originally conceived as a time machine, the Integratron is now used for “sound baths,” where visitors can relax and meditate using the building’s unique acoustics. The building is currently under renovation until August 29, after which it will be open for visits again.
Address: 2477 Belfield Blvd., Landers, CA 92285
Tickets: $55 per session for a public sound bath
Website: integratron.com
