Indiana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and Other Offbeat Stuff (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

<DIV>"For the most part, the stuff in this book will not be advertised on billboards to draw you off the highway exits. This is a book for people who like the quirky, the offbeat, and the unusual. If you have absolutely no interest in how to astro-turf your car or where to find the John Wayne Museum, or a good frog race, you might want to buy one of those other books. . ." From the Introduction.
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From the Back Cover

Indiana Curiosities is your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things Indiana has to offer. Humor columnist and television reporter Dick Wolfsie has combed Indiana for one-of-a-kind gems that make his home state truly unique.
You'll meet a man who collects mousetraps, a woman with a front-yard rosary made of bowling balls, a guy with two million corks in his basement, and the master of ceremonies for the Celebrity Duct Tape Contest.
You'll tour a cookie cutter museum, a windmill museum, an RV museum, and the oldest continually operating hardware store in Indiana, which might as well be a museum.
And where else but in Indiana would you find the world's largest high school gymnasium?
Whether you were born and raised in Indiana or are a recent transplant, Wolfsie's home-grown humor will have you laughing out loud as he introduces you to the neighbors you never know you had and takes you to the places you never knew existed - right in your own back yard.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Globe Pequot; 1st edition (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762723513
• ISBN-13: 978-0762723515
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #846,551 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, interesting reading, May 8, 2003

By	S. Mineart (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You'll enjoy this book even if you don't live in Indiana -- and you'll definitely enjoy it if you do. Packed with the odd and unusual, this book was filled with surprises even for me, and I've lived in Indiana for almost 20 years. Strange things you'll see along the road, folks who collect or build wierd stuff, bizarre legends and history... Dick Wolfsie explains them all with both wit and respect, and turns in a first-rate book that you should have with you on any daytrip you take around the Hoosier state.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, August 8, 2005

By	Tracy "Dog Mom" (USA) - See all my reviews

This book is really intersting and funny! It offers so much information about IN--things you never knew that are great trivia! Great for planning day trips in the state, too!

5.0 out of 5 stars Wolfsie's lighthearted, witty style is perfect for this topic, January 28, 2008

By	DWD "intrepid reviewer" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Indianapolis TV personality Dick Wolfsie is well-known in Central Indiana for finding fun, interesting human-interest segments for his station's morning show. Wolfsie continues this theme by digging up oddities from all over the Hoosier state that would interest any traveler who wants to stray from the beaten path. Wolfsie provides a description of the curiousity, organized by region and alphabetized by the town in which it is located. The book covers five regions and includes a map of that region that labels every town mentioned in that section of the book, no matter how small the town.

Examples include the RV museum in Elkhart, a jar museum in Muncie and the site of John Dillinger's first official crime in Mooresville.

Wolfsie includes addresses, phone mumbers, websites, e-mail addresses and contact names (some are only available through appointments). Rough directions from Indianapolis are included.