Weird Minnesota: Your Travel Guide to Minnesota's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

Weird Travel Guides

by Eric Dregni, Mark Moran (Editor), Mark Sceurman (Editor)

Hail Minnesota for its strange sites, bizarre history, and peculiar folks! Come along and climb the Witch's Tower, sit down in a two-story outhouse, and spend a night in the Drunk Tank at the JailHouse Historic Inn. Then go gape at the country's largest collection of underwear. After all that, relax at the Bowling Hall of Fame. This new paperback version of Weird Minnesota is a wild and wacky trip you'll never forget.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Humor, Ghosts, Supernatural, Paranormal

252 pages, Hardcover

First published August 25, 2006

About the author

Eric Dregni has written nine books including Midwest Marvels, The Scooter Bible, Ads that Put America on Wheels, and Grazie a Dio non Sono Bolognese. As a 2004 Fulbright Fellow to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Eric researched Scandinavian culture and roots for a forthcoming book. His time is divided between Italy, Norway, and Minneapolis where he is the curator for El Dorado Conquistador Museum and guitarist for the mock-rock trio Vinnie & the Stardüsters.

Reviews

[Chris]

I live in MN and did not know all these weird things about my state! Written with a light and humorous twist.

[Nicole]

Lived my whole life in Minnesota not knowing many of these stories. It also brought back memories of vacations growing up that I had forgotten about. Definitely 5/5 stars and has created a whole new Minnesota bucket list for me.

[Heather]

So many interesting and neat things to learn about Minnesota. I learned a lot of new things about our state despite living most of my life here, and was able to add a few places to visit and explore as well!

[Astrid]

Those Minnesotans sure seem to like their big statues. Have seen a couple of them, might go see a few more on our next trip.

[Terry]

I was aware of many of the oddities and stories in this work, but it truly was a hoot. And tragic. Great photos too.

[Debbie]

Weird is a great description of this book. While it made me chuckle, it did not propel my desire to visit any of these strange venues.

[Tom]

A fun catalog of weird things in Minnesota. It's broken into three or four page chunks, so its something easy to pick up when you have five or ten minutes to spare.

"Weird" in Minnesota is kind of a "safe" weird, and by that I mean goofy, but harmless. Huge balls of twine, giant statutes of ducks, Paul Bunyan, fish, ice castles, goofy Governors... For the record, Jesse Ventura wasn't "Minnesota" weird, he was "California" weird. California weird is pumped full of ego... Look at me! I'm in-your-face, with a feathered boa! I'm putting it out there, so you all better accept it and tell me how great I am!

Real Minnesota weird is like putting a mailbox on the top of a telephone pole and writing "Air Mail" on it. Look or don't look, we don't care... non-confrontational, anonymous, dry, disconnected, a little mysterious.

Local residents will enjoy the coverage of burial mounds, rune stones, buried giants, haunted houses, lake monsters, secret caves. I think when you live in a place where you might be stuck inside several months out of the year, you have to devise a lot of distractions... and some of those get pretty weird.

There's plenty of local history and non-weird stuff here too.

[James]

an enjoyable read about the state with apparently the greatest number of roadside attractions per capita, with unfortunately not enough coverage of them. i was also a little disappointed with the perceived lack of paranormal, that seems to go hand in hand with the more author-narrated approach this book in the weird series takes over most of the other books. that said, that also allowed for other things to be covered that might not have had space, otherwise.

[Anne Hennessey]

Minnesota is a weird place and now it has a book to prove it. If you enjoy traveling to different places, either by car, plane or via armchair, and like the unusual, then this is a book for you. Learn all about the weird in Minnesota and not just about the people. Some stories aren't weird, just not common. All in all, an interesting read.
Students will be introduced to places in their home state that they did not know. This book is perfect first step prior to starting Minnesota history.

[Kelly]

I actually enjoyed this book more than Weird Wisconsin even though I grew up in wisconsin and have since returned to the state. Perhaps because most of my adult life was spent in Minnesota, I've heard of quite a few of the legends, places, and people in this book.

[Kirsten]

There wasn't much "weird"-ness in the book. but I think that's because Minnesota's a whole different kind of weird.

[angrykitty]

after reading the weird california book, i totally had to get and read the weird minnesota book....let's hope it doesn't disappoint!

this was good, but california is definitely weirder.....

[B.B.]

Being a Minnesotan, it was pretty cool to read. I actually learned a lot about our state here... Makes me want to go see everything now. Maybe I will.

[Kiessa]

Great idea for a book: A state's oddities, myths, unique personas, roadside attractions etc. This book has some fun pictures, but it was a book I will forget as quickly as I read it.

[Becky]

What's not to love about weird stuff in Minnesota? Some of this overlaps with his Vikings in the Attic, but I suppose that just goes to show there's weirdness with your vikings in the attic, too.

[Jessica]

My cousin is mentioned in this book...sadly they have his name as Robert Burns when it should be Bruns. Entertaining book.

[Anna]

Interesting material poorly written about.

[Andrea]

Being from MN I didn't know about all the roadside attractions. I hope to explore some of the sites myself.

[Marilyn]

What a HOOT!
Who knew there were so many iconic roadside icons in the land of 10,000 lakes! I may have to take a road trip and explore some of the sites depicted in Weird Minnesota, don'cha know.