Off the beaten path: Quirky, fun and downright strange places to visit in Pennsylvania | The Pennsylvania Independent
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The crowd at the 2022 PA Bacon Fest in Eason, Pennsylvania. (Greater Easton Development Partnership)

Pennsylvania is well known for tourist sites that attract people from around the globe. There’s the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and  the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater is in Mill Run. Pop art fans flock to Pittsburgh for the Andy Warhol Museum, and history buffs head to Valley Forge National Park and Gettysburg.

Aside from the big-name attractions, the state is filled with quirky, off-the-beaten-path oddities: Tourists can spend the night at Buffalo Bill’s house from “Silence of the Lambs,” much of which was filmed in the Pittsburgh area; toast friends in a hidden bar; track down the Fountain of Youth; wonder what happened to the laws of physics at Gravity Hill; hang out at a zombie museum; and celebrate fungi at an annual mushroom festival.

For those who’d like to explore Pennsylvania’s monuments to the wonderfully weird, we’ve compiled some suggestions for where to go and what to do while you’re there.

Pickles, bacon and UFOs: Pennsylvania’s festivals

Each year, Pennsylvania plays host to hundreds of festivals. In July, cinephiles can head to Phoenixville for the annual Blob Fest, which pays homage to the 1958 sci-fi/horror film “The Blob.” The film, shot in Phoenixville and Downingtown, features two teenagers trying to protect their community from a gelatinous outer space creature that consumes everyone in its path. The festival will run from July 12-14 and include classic film screenings, including versions of “The Blob” from 1958 and 1988, a blob ball, and a self-guided driving tour of film locations.

Outer space will also take center stage in Kecksburg, a rural community about 30 miles southeast of Pittsburgh where in 1965 residents swore they saw a UFO fall from the sky. The community holds its annual Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department UFO Festival, which this year runs from July 19-21 and will feature a parade, a UFO hot dog-eating contest and a “UFO/Bigfoot researcher.”

In nonalien festivals, the three-day Picklesburgh will transform Pittsburgh into what its website calls “a destination for all things pickled.” You can expect Olympickles, “peculiar pickled drinks,” and a pickle-themed play area for children. The event will run from July 18-21.

The Picklesburgh festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Picklesburgh festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership)

Once Picklesburgh is over, it’s the tomato’s time to shine. Pittston, a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania, will host its annual Tomato Fest from Aug. 15-18. Hosted by a town dubbed the “tomato capital of the world” in the 1930s, the event is expected to draw more than 100,000 people to this year’s tomato soiree. There will be a tomato festival parade, a tomato contest, a spaghetti-eating competition, live music, rides and games, and, of course, a chance to eat tomatoes from Pittston.

Not to be outdone by tomatoes, mushrooms will have their day in the sun as well. The 39th annual Mushroom Festival will take place Sept. 7-8 and celebrates Chester County’s Kennett Square as the mushroom capital of the world. The borough produces 60% of all mushrooms grown in the United States, according to the American Mushroom Institute. During the fete of fungi, there will be a mushroom culinary competition and a tent where festival goers can learn about growing mushrooms.

For meat-eaters, Lehigh Valley’s Easton will hold its annual PA Bacon Fest from Nov. 2-3. What can you expect? “Two days of grease, love and happiness,” according to the event’s website. Named one of the country’s five can’t-miss bacon festivals by Parade.com, the event includes “every sort of bacon treat you can imagine,” music, cooking demos, and hopefully the bacon-suit-adorned individual shown on the festival’s website.

Houdini, zombies and the Three Stooges: PA’s unusual museums

Sure, there are world-class art and history museums in Pennsylvania, but what about when you want to do a deep dive into zombie history? Or the Three Stooges? The Keystone State has you covered.

Located in the area where George Romero’s original 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” was filmed, the Living Dead Museum in Monroeville is a salute to zombies in film as well as to horror movies in general. The museum hosts the Living Dead Weekend every year in June. If you want more horror movie history in Pennsylvania, you can head to the “Silence of the Lambs” house in Perryopolis, where the current owner gives guided tours and even allows people to sleep there.

For those who are into comedy, the Stoogeum in Ambler is a three-story, 100,000-item monument to the Three Stooges vaudeville and comedy team and includes a research library, a 16mm film storage vault and an 85-seat theater for film screenings and special events. The museum serves as the headquarters for the Three Stooges Fan Club.

The Houdini Museum in Scranton is a love letter to Harry Houdini, an escape artist and stunt performer who gained fame in vaudeville performances. A “testament to Houdini’s enduring influence on the world of magic and illusion,” the museum was founded by two magicians, Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz, and offers memorabilia from Houdini’s life and career, magic shows, and more.

Roadside oddities

Planning a road trip? There are bizarre roadside attractions in Pennsylvania for you! There’s the giant Zippo lighter in Bradford, a 20-foot-tall quarter in Everett, and an 18-foot-tall coffee pot in Bedford. Not enough oversized items for you? Head to the Haines Shoe House just east of York, where you can stay in a massive shoe overnight.

Once you’re finished with everything oversized, there’s the miniature Statue of Liberty in the middle of the Susquehanna River. Visible from Route 322 north of Harrisburg, the statue apparently began as a local prank and has turned into something of a local icon.Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium in Orrtanna has some 12,000 elephant figurines and toys. Remember the UFO in Kecksburg? You can see a replica of what residents say they saw left behind by the producers of the TV show “Unsolved Mysteries” in 1990. At Schaefer’s Auto Art in Erie, artist Richard Schaefer has created a whimsical sculpture garden filled with his creations made from discarded automobile parts, including a gigantic bumblebee, a two-headed T-Rex, and a rocketship.

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