Oklahoma
These 10 sites are the strangest landmarks in Oklahoma, WorldAtlas says
Bricktown to Paseo: 5 trendy OKC districts for shopping, dining
Oklahoma City offers a number of trendy districts for shopping, dining and more. Here are five notable neighborhoods to visit in OKC.
From a large blue whale in a landlocked state to a haunted mansion, Oklahoma is home to several odd landmarks that attract visitors from all over.
WorldAtlas recently named these weird sites the 10 strangest landmarks in Oklahoma.
Blue Whale of Catoosa
Location: 2600 N State Hwy 66, Catoosa
A local celebrity resides along Route 66 year-round in northeast Oklahoma, welcoming visitors into its aquatic belly.
The Blue Whale of Catoosa was built by zoologist Hugh S. David in 1972 so that his grandchildren could play in the nearby pond, according to Travel Oklahoma. David’s friend, Harold Thomas, assisted the zoologist in building the The 20-feet-tall and 80-feet-wide mammal over a span of two years.
While swimming is no longer available, visitors can still picnic and fish with the famous Blue Whale.
World’s largest peanut
Location: 300 W Evergreen St., Durant
A small city in southeast Oklahoma is home to the world’s largest peanut commemorated with a statue outside of Durant City Hall, according to Travel Oklahoma. The statue was dedicated in 1974.
“Dedicated to the Bryan County peanut growers and processors,” inscription reads.
Circus cemetery: Mount Olivet Cemetery
Location: Trice & S 8th St., Hugo
Hugo, another small city in southeast Oklahoma, has a cemetery for rodeo greats Freckles Brown, Lane Frost, Todd Watley and L. Hammock, according to Travel Oklahoma.
Mount Olivet Cemetery is also the final resting place for Ed Ansley, also known as Buster Brown, and William H. Darrough, the founder of Hugo.
Blanchard Cemetery
Location: 2318 North Council Ave., Blanchard
Another known cemetery in Oklahoma is the Blanchard Cemetery where visitors may see a dark figure in a trench coat waving at them, according to WorldAtlas.
If they keep walking, they may spot a little girl flitting between the gravestones, or hear a small child crying or see a blue light hovering over the graves in Section 2, the website says.
Overholser Mansion
Location: 405 NW 15th St, Oklahoma City
The Overholser Mansion, the former abode of Henry and Anna Ione Overholser, is a most famous haunt in Oklahoma City. The ghost-story-filled mansion has been a museum and public venue for decades.
Some claim the ghost of Anna Ione Overholser, once the queen of Oklahoma City society, still haunts the home. She wears a pearl-decked lacy white gown, her dark hair piled gracefully around her face.
Frog Rock
Location: Frog Rd., Terlton
A large amphibian sits in Terlton on Frog Road just outside of Mannford. The six-foot-tall rock formation is painted green and white to look like a frog, according to Travel Oklahoma.
To get to it, trek over a bridge and through backwoods, but don’t worry — it can’t hop away before you reach it.
Cimmy the Dinosaur
Location: 1300 N Cimarron, Boise City
Sitting outside of the Cimarron Heritage Center in Boise City is Cimmy the Dinosaur, a metal Apatosaurus, measuring 65 feet long, 35 feet high and weighs thousands of pounds, according to Travel Oklahoma.
The dinosaur was created as a real life representation of a dinosaur that was extracted from Cimarron County in the 1930s. It’s referred to as a “Cimarronasaurus,” according to the state’s travel website.
Center of the Universe
Location: 20 E Archer St., Tulsa
Located in downtown Tulsa, the Center of the Universe if an 8-feet concrete circle described as an “acoustic anomaly” by Travel Oklahoma.
Noises made inside the brick circle is loudly echoed, but only those inside the circle can hear it. Loud sounds heard inside the circle cannot be heard from outside the perimeter of the brick structure.
Lake Hefner Lighthouse
Location: Lake Hefner Pkwy., Oklahoma City
Lake Hefter Lighthouse, officially the Lighthouse at East Wharf, in Oklahoma City is one of the finest spots in Oklahoma City to watch the setting sun.
The 36-foot lighthouse, beige with burgundy trim and a locked green door, was built in 1999 as part of a development project led by Randy Hogan. The lighthouse is modeled after the Brant Point Light Station on the north side of Nantucket Island in Massachusetts.
Gravity Hill
Location: Pioneer (Pitt) Rd., Springer
Gravity Hill, or Magnetic Hill, is another anomaly in Oklahoma near Springer. On the hill, drivers will sense that instead of their car rolling downhill with the motor turned off, it’ll actually roll uphill, according to Travel Oklahoma.
The website instructs visitors to drive to Pioneer Road, stop the car at the bottom of the hill and put it in neutral, then feel a force “pull” you and the car up the hill.
Kamden Mantooth caps wild week by leading Mustang to 6A baseball title
It was a wild week for Kamden Mantooth, who helped Mustang beat Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 for the 6A baseball title. After being forced to sit in the semifinals due to an ejection in the quarterfinals, he pitched 5 2/3 innings Saturday.
Joe Patterson was hoping it would be different this time.
The Mustang baseball coach is no stranger to state championship games.
But as Mustang headed into its Class 6A title matchup against Edmond Santa Fe in May, a state championship victory remained a goal that hadn’t been fulfilled for Patterson as a player or head coach.
“That was all together — playing and coaching — my (sixth) state championship game, and I was 0-5,” Patterson said.
Patterson can now revise that record to 1-5 as the Broncos beat defending champion Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.
An unforgettable day for Patterson.
An unforgettable season.
After leading Mustang to its third title and a 39-6 record while playing a brutally difficult schedule, Patterson is The Oklahoman’s 2026 All-State Coach of the Year.
“It was one of those years where it felt like I wasn’t working the whole year,” Patterson said. “Just a special group and everybody involved did such an amazing job and the players got along and the senior leadership was just unbelievable.”
A year after going 19-16 and falling at regionals, this season was vastly different for Patterson as Mustang dominated from beginning to end.
The Broncos won 11 of their first 12 games and ended the season the exact same way, claiming victories in 11 of their last 12 matchups.
They thrived in tight games, going 12-3 in matchups decided by two or fewer runs.
“We lost a bunch of close games last year,” Patterson said. “We didn’t have as great a season as we wanted, so we talked about trying to change the team morale and change the culture just a little bit in the fall, and we really focused on that. Just trying to make the place a more positive place for the kids and emphasize them having a little bit more fun but still working.”
Born and raised in Duncan, Patterson’s love of baseball and sports in general go back to those days.
His dad, Bill, was Duncan’s head football coach from 1997-2003 before accepting an assistant position at Owasso and serving as the Rams’ head coach from 2007-2016.
A standout in football and baseball in high school, Joe Patterson was at Duncan as a freshman and sophomore before spending his final two years at Owasso and then playing college baseball from 2007-2010. He went to Oral Roberts for one year, Seminole State for a season and Texas A&M for his final two.
Patterson was named the national junior college player of the year at Seminole State and had a successful stint at Texas A&M, hitting .362 with 21 homers and 100 RBIs with the Aggies.
He’s been at Mustang since the summer of 2019 after coaching at Westmoore.
Former OU shortstop Brandon Zaragoza played for Patterson during his senior year at Westmoore and was a Mustang assistant for the last four seasons before recently being named Westmoore’s new head coach.
Patterson has had a huge impact on Zaragoza, who will take what he’s learned from his former coach into his new gig.
“He just brought pure joy to the game for me, especially with just his ability to, one, obviously coach the game, but two, to allow his players to go out there and perform,” Zaragoza said. “The coolest thing about Pat was his ability to just pick up on player knowledge. Just kind of knowing what he has in terms of personnel and then of course his ability to just game plan, strategize, just get his guys ready to play.”
Patterson always wanted to coach at a one-high school town like Mustang.
He has his wish now, and Zaragoza says it’s a well-oiled machine.
“That’s kind of how I describe it a lot to people,” Zaragoza said. “Just a well-oiled machine in terms of just the coaches that are over there and the attention to detail and the preparation. There’s no loose ends at Mustang. And given how big the school is, you can always get kind of lost in personnel or all that stuff, but just the way that Mustang operates, it’s top tier.”
Mustang didn’t necessarily have big names this season like some teams in the state, but the Broncos had several guys who shined.
Outfielder and Northern Oklahoma College-Enid signee Nate Sutton hit .449 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs.
Fellow senior Kamden Mantooth was second on the team with a .442 batting average. A shortstop, Mantooth started at pitcher in the title game and held Edmond Santa Fe to eight hits and four runs — three earned — over 5 2/3 innings.
“It means everything for us,” Mantooth said after the championship win. “We’ve been working for this since we were in seventh grade. We’ve been working for this, and we finally achieved our goal that we wanted.”
For Patterson, it’ll forever be a special moment as he had his 6-year-old son with him in the dugout and his dad watching from the stands.
Patterson had lost two title games as a player at Owasso and three as a head coach — two at Westmoore and one at Mustang.
The outcome was different this time, and it was well worth the wait.
“It was just a feeling of relief and happiness,” Patterson said.
Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
Crews responded to a fireworks stand after it caught fire in Broken Arrow Saturday night.
Authorities urged people to avoid E. Kanosha Street near S. 236th E. Avenue as the road is closed and fireworks could spread in the area due to the fire.
Broken Arrow Fire Department released a statement confirming no injuries were sustained as a result of the explosions or fire.
Fire crews quickly controlled the fire in about 20 minutes according to Broken Arrow Fire Department.
The initial cause of the fire is under investigation.
Viewer Leslie Maxey, who lives close to the fireworks stand, sent in video of the ongoing fire.
“We were putting our daughter to bed with a book when we heard an explosion that was gradually getting louder and louder,” Maxey said.
This is a developing story.
What you need to know about Oklahoma ahead of the College World Series
North Carolina will face a dangerous Oklahoma team that is on a roll.
Oklahoma (41-22) has been just as dominant. The Sooners, making their 13th College World Series appearance and first since 2022, surged through the postseason as road warriors. They won the Atlanta Regional by upsetting No. 2 seed and ACC champion Georgia Tech in the final, then swept Big 12 champion and No. 15 seed Kansas by a combined score of 21-3 in the Lawrence Regional.
The Sooners, who are 3-0 in Omaha after beating No. 7 seed Alabama and knocking off No. 3 seed and SEC champion Georgia twice, are seeking their third national championship. Oklahoma won titles in 1951 and 1994 and finished as runner-up to Ole Miss in 2022.
Here are a few things to know about Oklahoma:
Best player: Catcher Deiten LaChance
LaChance is Oklahoma’s most powerful hitter. He is batting .333 with 12 doubles, two triples and team highs of 16 home runs and 65 RBIs.
Throughout the postseason, he is hitting .326 with four home runs and 15 RBIs. In Omaha, he is 5-for-14 (.357) with one home run and five RBIs.
Strengths
Like North Carolina, Oklahoma is a balanced team that is good at a little bit of everything and is built to frustrate opponents.
Oklahoma is a balanced hitting team like UNC, but the Sooners have hit a few more homers with 91, compared to the Tar Heels’ 82. That is largely due to the Sooners smashing 26 home runs in their 10 postseason games. In Omaha, OU has homered eight times, including five homers in its win over Georgia in its previous game.
The Sooners have stolen 129 bases this season. That is good for 24th nationally and second in the SEC.
Pitching-wise, OU is 18th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings and leads the SEC in shutouts.
Weaknesses
The most glaring weakness is the pitching staff, despite its ability to strike out opposing batters and record shutouts.
The Sooners have a 4.98 ERA as a staff. Only one pitcher with 10 or more appearances has an ERA under 3.60.
They also allow 4.51 walks per nine innings, which ranks 138th nationally.
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