Obscura Day: 5 oddities to visit this weekend

If you don't have plans for a big trip this summer, there are still plenty of hidden treasures to discover on a staycation. That's the idea behind Atlas Obscura.

It's an online catalog of odd and interesting places around the world, including dozens of sites in Minnesota: A fence made of old skis, the world's quietest room and the world's largest crow.

Saturday is Obscura Day, when a few of these sites in 39 states and 25 countries open up for special events.

5 oddities to visit this weekend

1) The House of Balls in Minneapolis

The studio of artist Allen Christian has been an underground Minneapolis icon for decades. Christian keeps the door open when he's there and welcomes visitors to wander through the space: "Rooms packed with touchable, lovingly-crafted art give way to successive recesses of reanimated plumbing parts, false teeth, pistons, headstones, typewriter guts, pianos and, of course, the eponymous bowling balls."

On Saturday, visitors can take a self-guided tour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and meet Christian.

2) Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul

The historical and haunted caves under Wabasha Street will be open for tours Saturday from noon to 12:45 p.m. You can learn more about its gangster past and former uses as mine and disco dance space. Tickets are $6.

3) Triangle house in St. Paul

The home, located on the corner of E. 3rd St. and Gotzian St., is the result of a property feud:

Gotzian does not cross 3rd St. at a right angle, creating a triangular lot on the southeast corner of the intersection. The lot sat open for many years, until the owner was ready to build. Because of local zoning ordinances regarding setback rules (i.e., how far back from the street a structure may be erected), the property owner could not build a normal house with a square or rectangular foundation without obtaining a variance to the code by seeking the permission of his neighbors.

4) Old Man of the Dalles in Taylors Falls

Along the St. Croix River, look for the Old Man of the Dalles up in the rock formations at Interstate State Park.

5) Day trip: FAST Fiberglass Yard in Sparta, Wis.

Walk through a graveyard of fiberglass creations in Wisconsin.

"FAST (Fiberglass Animals, Shapes and Trademarks) Corporation has been creating kitschy roadside statues, jolly company mascots, and rain-spraying water park attractions since 1983," wrote Ella Morton. "When no longer needed, the molds used to make these colorful sculptures end up in a yard behind the company building. Rows of figures -- elephants; giant ice cream cones; scruffy pirates; frog-shaped water slides -- litter the field, their unpainted, weathered forms looking like the remains of an odd ancient culture."

The list also includes some too-obvious locations: Spoonbridge and Cherry, S.S. William A. Irvin in Duluth and the Mall of America. View the full list at Atlas Obscura.