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Across the United States there are Town that are remarkable for their storied namesake . From accidents to legends , each of these divers towns has one thing in common : their strange names . Places like Hot Coffee , Mississippi and Chicken , Alaska are known for their apart postal name but are full of fictitious character and biotic community because of it .

1. Normal, Illinois

The fairly unnatural name of this town of 53,000 was ingest from Illinois State Normal University , a normal schoolhouse ( or instructor training institution ) , which was located there . The school , now roll in the hay as Illinois State University , is the oldestpublic buildingteaching higher instruction in the state .

2. Dummer, New Hampshire

This northerly New Hampshire hamlet is habitation to about 300 citizen , who are probably just ascleveras folks in the palisade town . The founder , a loaded businessman from Portsmouth , clearly did n’t think things through when he named the novel town after Massachusetts Governor William Dummer ( 1677–1761 ) .

3. Hell, Michigan

Ready to go to Hell ? You ’ll detect this unincorporated village in south - central Michigan , just 20 miles from the bustling college town of Ann Arbor . The name may make out from the German Scripture hell , which means brilliant , or it could be attributed to the thick clouds ofmosquitoesand deep forest found in the area when westerly Explorer first arrived .

4. Rough and Ready, California

With about 511 mortal , this former Gold Rush town , founded in 1849 , was appoint for a Wisconsin mining company , which was in turn named for General Zachary Taylor ( dub “ Old Rough and Ready ” ) , the 12th President of the United States . The companionship ’s beginner , A.A. Townsend , had served under Taylor during the U.S.-Mexican War .

5. Chugwater, Wyoming

The Chug , a current that runs through this scenic cattle - herding valley , gives the sphere its name . The most famous citizen of the town of around 178 was a rodeo horse named Steamboat , who served as the inhalation for the bucking bronco on the Wyoming state license plate .

6. Random Lake, Wisconsin

With around 1,600 residents , this town is part of the Sheboygan metro area and sit clustered on the shores of its eponymic lake . The first surveyor in the region named thebody of water — and obviously they were feeling very uninspired that day .

7. Bigfoot, Texas

The state of Texas is rich in bizarrely cite towns . This one , a village of 685 in Frio County , was first settled in the 1860s as “ Connally ’s Store , ” but later was rename in award of Texas Ranger William A. A. “ Bigfoot ” Wallace , aformer residentof the town .

8. Choccolocco, Alabama

Located in northeastern Alabama , this townsfolk of 3,246 had its moment of celebrity in the former 2000s , when “ The Choccolocco Monster ” was repeatedly sighted at the edge of the forest , scaring motorists . The culprit was later found to be a local teenager who liked to lop up in a moo-cow ’s skull . The origin of the town ’s name remains a mystery .

9. Forks of Salmon, California

This unincorporated Northern California townsfolk was settled during the Gold Rush , and its name has nothing to do with consume a nice fish dinner . Instead , it comes from the crossroads ’s position in between the north and south forks of the Salmon River .

10. Why, Arizona

This ruraldesertspot is plate to around 65 multitude and got its name from the Y - shaped crossing of the two major highways , State Routes 85 and 86 , that originally consist the heart of town . It ’s now a T product , but the name stand by .

11. Whynot, Mississippi

David Ruffin , one of the balladeer in the Temptations , get along from this sparsely populated liquidation near Mississippi ’s eastern delimitation . No one sleep together who gave it this name , or why — but after all , why not ?

12. Boring, Oregon

This townsfolk at the foot of the Cascade Range is key out for William Harrison Boring , a former Union soldier and James Leonard Farmer who settled the sphere in 1874 . The townspeople embrace theirlow - keymoniker with humor , and have assume the tagline , “ An exciting place to live . ”

13. Bread Loaf, Vermont

14. Peculiar, Missouri

After local folk find that all their other ideas for township epithet had already been taken , the postmaster settle on this one , forecast it would be too strange to beduplicated . The city now boasts a amusing slogan—”Where the betting odds Are With You”—and about 5,847 resident physician .

15. Embarrass, Minnesota

This unincorporated settlement engender its name from its river , which French fur traders dubbed “ Rivière d’Embarras , ” or , slackly translated , “ river of obstacles . ” It may not be an embarrassing place to endure , but it probably is n’t very well-fixed — it bears the dubious distinction of being the coldest place in Minnesota .

16. Duckwater, Nevada

This high desert town gets its name from nearby Duckwater Creek , a well - watered marsh and a hospitable place for hazardous waterbird . The area is also known for its hot springs , found on the tribal lands of the Duckwater Shoshone .

17. Accident, Maryland

This minor townspeople in the mountains of far western Maryland is home to just over 300 mass . The origin of its name is the result of a mistake made during a 1751 country survey . The town name dispersed among people during the Revolutionary War when soldiers were concede raft in the area .

18. Humptulips, Washington

Native Americans of the Chehalis kinship group gave the nearby river the name Humptulips , which may mean “ hard to pole ” ( as in navigating with a poled canoe ) or “ parky area . ” About 250 masses live in this village near the Washington coast .

19. Nameless, Tennessee

One legend has it that when local residents inadvertently left ablank spaceon a form request a post place , the Union regime gave this position its nickname . Others believe the name was adopted in dissent after Yankee feds rejected a name chosen to honor a Confederate general . Whatever its ancestry , the Nameless name has attract attention from writer and traveller ever since .

20. Hot Coffee, Mississippi

This famous spot in Covington County got its name from a wayside inn at the central crossroad , where new - brewed coffee , made from local spring water system and dome ridicule in New Orleans , was serve to trite travelers .

21. Deadhorse, Alaska

Only 25 to 50 lasting house physician survive in this residential area on Alaska ’s North Slope , intemperately by the Arctic Ocean . But because it ’s a jumping - off point for oil worker and tourer , the population can sometimes tumefy as high as 3,000 . The town is believed to have gotten its name from the Dead Horse Haulers Truckingcompany , which used to make runs to the settlement in the 1960s and ’ 70s .

22. Zzyzx, California

This unincorporated flyspeck in the Mojave Desert was once known as Soda Springs , but a wily enterpriser , who hoped to make the land ’s mineral springs into atourist bit , changed its name into something more memorable . Now home to a desert study center run by a syndicate of California State University campuses , it ’s usually the last ledger entry in the index finger of any U.S. atlas .

23. Cookietown, Oklahoma

Another unincorporated town , Cookietown is located in Cotton County , Oklahoma . With a population less than 20 and spanning only a half - nautical mile long , you ’ll blink away and miss this hidden treasure . Legend has it that the town ’s namesake come from an honest-to-goodness roadside store that would pass out delightful cookies to travelers passing through .

24. Correctionville, Iowa

Located in Woodbury County in Northwest Iowa , the 750 house physician of Correctionville agree that their town ’ namesake is unique . This small farming residential area gets its name from the original surveying work done to plat the residential area in 1855 . The surveyor marked the “ correction line ” to stand for the Earth ’s curve , and the rest is history !

25. Santa Claus, Indiana

Nobody quite knows how this community resolve to name itself “ Santa Claus ” back in 1849 when it was founded . disregardless , this town has embraced their unique name by acquire Christmas - themed attracter year - round . The townspeople of about 2,500 rallies around the vacation and even respond to letters from small children across the commonwealth who commit their Christmas lean to the township ’s post place .

26. Chicken, Alaska

ground in 1902 , this village gathered for gold mining prospects . Over 100 years after , the town consists of a small general stock and a handful of other shops that support the 12 full - time residents . The township ’s namesake comes from the large universe of ptarmigan in the area , which is a 5 - hour drive from Fairbanks , Alaska .

27. Waterproof, Louisiana

This town of 600 has a rich story , and its namesake story is equally interesting . Louisiana steamboat would pass through the town regularly and due to the geographics of the part , flooding on the Mississippi River was normal . While a steamboat passed through the flooded river banking concern one day , an other resident sit atop a large hill . As caption goes , the steamboat captain exclaimed that the gentleman on the hill was “ waterproofed ” ; the gentleman’s gentleman like the sound of it so much , he penned the town name after this exchange .

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firehouse in rough and ready california

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

main street with movie theater in small town Normal, Illinois

Photo: Wikimediacommons.org via Willjay

landscape view of lake surrounded by trees

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

sign in hell michigan

en.wikipedia.org

gold rush themed town

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

chugwater truck and trailer in small town

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

sign for random lake wisconsin

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

water tank in bigfoot texas

Photo: flickr viaJimmy Emerson, DVM

post office in choccolocco alabama

Photo: flickr viaJimmy Emerson DVM

salmon river landscape view through mountains

Photo: flicker viaJimmy Emerson DVM

road sign for why arizona against desert road landscape

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

road sign for whynot mississippi

Photo: flickr viaOld White Truck

man with bike near sign for boring oregon with farmhouse in background

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

landscape view of hills and town covered in snow

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road sign for peculiar missouri

Photo: flickr viaScott Robinson

post office in embarrass minnesota

Photo: flickr viaJimmy Emerson, DVM

landscape view of town of duckwater in mountain valley

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

welcome sign for accident maryland

Photo: flickr viakenficara

road sign for humptulips washington

Photo: flicker viaJimmy Emerson, DVM

road sign for nameless tennessee

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

sign for hot coffee mississippi

Photo: flickr viaJimmy Emerson DVM

woman airport worker standing outside of deadhorse airport in alaska

Photo: flickr viageneralising

road sign for zzyzx california

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

sign for cookietown in small town oklahoma

Photo: flickr viacosedavadere

old painted wood sign for correctionville iowa

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

sign for santa claus indiana with large santa claus statue

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

store fronts in chicken, alaska

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

town hall in waterproof louisiana

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

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