Most visitors know all about Kansas City’s barbecue, jazz, and football success, but there are hidden gems and wild pieces of trivia around every turn in Missouri’s largest city. Is the giant Hereford bull anatomically correct? Can a seed that’s been to outer space still grow into a normal tree? And who really killed President William Henry Harrison? You’ll find answers to the questions you didn’t know you had in Secret Kansas City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. Learn why three completely unrelated groups have chosen Kansas City as the center of the world and the place you want to be when the world ends. Between these covers, you’ll also find castles, a horse buried in a cul-de-sac, a ghost who likes a good laugh, and the world’s longest snake. This is not a tour guide for outsiders; it’s a scavenger hunt—insiders only, please. Longtime Kansas Citian Anne Kniggendorf is at your service to bolster your love and boost your respect for this middle-of-the-map city. With her eye for the odd leading the way, you’ll have a great time discovering Kansas City.

How did Omaha get its nickname, “The Gateway to the West” and where can you gawk at the footsteps of the first human to walk in space? Just scratch the surface of a city best known for Warren Buffett, college baseball, and a great zoo and find far more than meets the eye. And Secret Omaha: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure is just the book you’ll need to uncover all the stories of Nebraska’s lone metropolis. Omaha rises up out of the low broken bluffs along the west bank of the Missouri River and sprawls west across what was once the prairie grasslands of the Great Plains. The buffalo wallows have been replaced by a more urban mix of grit and gentrification, with tree-lined avenues, boulevards, and varied communities that hold on to their heritage for generations. There’s a giant fork in Little Italy and stories told in stone around what was the world’s largest livestock market. There’s an old blues song by Big Joe Williams about an Omaha intersection that’s now on the National Register, and Irish Nationalists erected a grand monument to the Fenian who invaded Canada twice. Anyone in Omaha can take a gander at Goose Hollow or visit a haven for herons, but now author and Omaha enthusiast Ryan Roenfeld takes you on your own behind-the-scenes tour of the Big O. With his book as your guide, you’ll discover a whole new side to the city that’s inspired him for years.

Where in Charlotte can you… - get up-close with the “Miracle on the Hudson” plane? - indulge in conspiracy theories about occult symbols in public murals? - see a giant head sculpture by a notorious Czech artist? - eat something called burgushi? - hear a parking garage that sings? - watch a giant dragon blow smoke? - visit the grave of cojoined twin sisters who were the inspiration for a Broadway musical? Whether you’re riding at top speeds around the 24-degree bank of a NASCAR track turn, exploring the history of Charlotte’s gold rush and the 17-pound nugget that started it all, or eating ice cream at a Dairy Queen that’s a designated historic site, it’s impossible to be bored in the Queen City with a copy of Secret Charlotte: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. From delightful surprises to hair-raising theories, in these pages you’ll find answers to the questions around town you didn’t even know you had. Filled with fascinating—and often bizarre—stories about the locales that define Charlotte’s culture and history, this is the city’s ultimate scavenger hunt.

You could call Jacksonville the secret city of Florida because even many natives have a tough time pinning down its defining features and best spots. But for anyone willing to dig beneath the surface, there’s no shortage of incredible sights, hidden histories and unusual relics just waiting to be discovered. Want to see the world’s largest Native American woodcarving, chart the roots of Southern rock, or eat curly fries at the barbecue joint that claims to have invented them? Secret Jacksonville: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure is dedicated to telling the stories behind forgotten, mysterious and just plain interesting spots across Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, and the surrounding communities. Here you’ll find out where you can see a long forgotten Florida waterfall with connections to Jacksonville’s founder, and learn why there’s a tombstone in the middle of a neighborhood sidewalk. You’ll hear the stories behind local delicacies like Jacksonville-style garlic crabs, datil peppers, Mayport shrimp, and camel rider sandwiches. And of course, you’ll learn what exactly is up with that orange roadside dinosaur everyone’s always talking about. Jacksonville writer Bill Delaney has a deep passion for his hometown and a keen interest in underrepresented stories. From folklore to history and everything in between, join him to explore a side of the Bold City you can only find by leaving the welltrodden path.

Among Kansas’s many wheat fields lie secrets and hidden stories of heroes and villains that even a fiction author could never devise. It wasn’t just Dorothy Gale of the Wizard of Oz who roamed The Wheat State. Secret Kansas: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure will introduce you to a true cast of characters along with the little-known history of their inventions, deeds, and fame. Learn about the first indigenous woman to argue before the Supreme Court to save her ancestors’ graves from greedy developers. Discover how Frank Bellamy from Cherryvale wrote the Pledge of Allegiance, only to lose his claim to its authorship. Inventions abound in Kansas history such as Mentholatum which had a small role in ending World War II. From Capt. Emil Kapaun who is headed for sainthood to the fraudulent Goat Gland Doctor whose tonics started many entertainers’ careers, there’s no shortage of fascinating anecdotes to choose from. Add to that the countless examples of courageous captains, game-changing women, along with a few ne'er-do-wells whose biographies are chronicled here. Longtime Kansan Roxie Yonkey will unearth the hidden roads and secret passages to unearth the state’s buried treasures. Visitors and lifelong residents alike will find a surprise on every page.

Brief stories of Kansas City history, from the Beatles to Jesse James and Harry Houdini.

By now, many of you are well versed in the Secret side of Kansas City, all that is weird, wonderful, and obscure: the murderous museum doll, the castle just for prisoners, ill-conceived Egyptian décor, etc. But you long for more, don't you? Once you've gained a fresh perspective on familiar locales, you're also likely to develop a knack for spotting details--which is exactly what scavenging is all about. For instance, just where in Shawnee is a time capsule buried? Can you find the toilet paper holder on the exterior of a Harrisonville building? Have you stepped on the marker for the world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade in Blue Springs a hundred times but never stopped to read it? Kansas City Scavenger will have you looking way up high, way down low, and around every corner as you puzzle through each rhyme to find the features along the hunt. Local authors and sisters Anne and Leslie Kniggendorf lead you through their hometown while helping you catch some truly odd details along the way. Is every part of town included? Absolutely not! But what's for sure is that with this book in hand and some sensible shoes on your feet, you'll get to explore areas you've probably only passed through. And we want to see you hard at work! #kcscavenger to show us your adventure.