The oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia has survived centuries of invasions, political shifts, and religious purges.

A hermit's tiny cell built into the cliffside that saved him in South Pembrokeshire.

Drinkslinger is an unlikely vocation for a Buddhist monk, but at this Tokyo bar the enlightenment is served in a martini glass.

The birthplace of an eccentric alchemist and possible inspiration for the fictional reanimator of monsters.

Natural time capsule containing an alien ecosystem.

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.

An acoustic anomaly with a mysterious cause.

This scalding hot river was thought to be a myth until one geoscientist made it his quest to study the mystical waters.

The macabre collection of Jacques Sirgent, an expert scholar on the undead and all of their trappings.

This little museum in the town where zombies were born celebrates the living dead.

Once the most densely populated place in the world, this island is now a ghost town.

The magical, mossy forest that inspired Princess Mononoke.

This folk art compound was built by a fortune teller on the advice of three people from the future.

A once-booming Mississippi River town with a history of racial violence is now eerie and mostly abandoned.

These termites have an large and deadly abode—impressive by day, dazzling by night.

Over 300 wood sculptures depicting characters from Slavic, Greek and Western folk tales fill this magical garden.

Philadelphia boasts one of the best — and most often overlooked — traditional Japanese gardens in North America.

Perched on a spindly rock spire in a Greek archipelago, this lighthouse would make a perfect wizard's tower.

A marble Lucifer hides behind the pulpit of this Gothic cathedral.

Sparkling, calcite-covered skeletons of children who may have been sacrificed to appease an angry god.

This Vietnamese hell cave lets visitors take a walk through a devilish underworld full of demons.

This German version of Universal Studios holds a vault of treasures from the NeverEnding Story.

After hundreds of years of settlement, this once-bustling fishing village sunk into the Chesapeake Bay.

This abandoned mining village was predicted to resist decay longer than any other modern human settlement.