Here Are The 10 Strangest Things That Ever Happened In Iowa

Like most states do, Iowa has some pretty weird, pretty crazy stories to tell. For example, there was that one time that we went to war with Missouri, and that other time we built a 380-mile road in one hour. Didn’t know about those things? Well, you’re in for a treat, because here are 10 of the strangest things that have ever happened in Iowa…

Every year since 1900, the town of Britt has named a Hobo King (and sometimes Hobo Queen) as a part of their Hobo Days festival.

Britt Hobo Days/Facebook

Sioux City’s airport has the three letter code of SUX. When the airport petitioned to the FAA for a different code, one of the alternatives offered was GAY.

United States Geological Survey/Wikimedia Commons

In 213 years, Captain Kirk will be born in Riverside Iowa, and go on to pilot the USS Enterprise.

Peter Zillmann/Flickr

In 1910, a total of 10,000 people in Iowa constructed a 380 mile road (the River to River Road) in one hour.

BowBelle51/Flickr

In 2007, Anamosa State Penitentiary had to spend $6,000 to replace all of its locks because a retired guard auctioned off his guard keys for $12, and the locks that the keys were meant for may have still been in use.

J. Stephen Conn/Flickr

In 1969, before Sesame Street, Jim Henson had a show on Iowa Public Television teaching children how to make muppets.

Tom Simpson/Flickr

There’s a city in Iowa, Maharishi Vedic City, that has banned the sale of non-organic food and the use of cars other than electric ones.

Keithbob/Wikimedia Commons

Iowa and Missouri once went to war with each other. The Honey War was a bloodless dispute over territory which led to the militias facing each other, one Missouri sheriff being arrested for collecting taxes in Iowa, and three trees containing bee hives being cut down.

Kmusser/Wikimedia Commons

A graffiti artist named Paco Rosic bought an abandoned warehouse in Waterloo and recreated Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. Then he turned the place into a restaurant, which you can now go eat at.

Ameetav Nangrani/Flickr

After a concert at Clear Lake’s Surf Ballroom in February of 1959, Buddy Holly’s plane crashed into a field, killing him and everyone on board. After the snow melted the next spring, Holly’s iconic glasses were found in the field and turned in to the Cerro Gordo County Sherriff’s office, where they sat filed away for the next 21 years before eventually being returned to Holly’s widow. The glasses can now be seen on exhibit at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas.

Shae – not the butter!/Flickr

There are so many more strange things that have happened here in Iowa… Do you know of any more that should be on this list? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!