Hidden within an idyllic suburban garden is a memorial dedicated to the victims of a terrifying spree of killings committed on U.S. soil.

A girls' boarding school inspired by the Chicago World's Fair, once abandoned, now restored to strange and scenic glory.

The headquarters of the Audubon Naturalist Society is a small slice of heaven for nature lovers.

This whimsical seashell-shaped place of worship was designed to blend into its surroundings.

These towering spires and glowing walls are carefully crafted from hundreds of thousands of icicles.

Here, visitors can swing with the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

A local dialect born in the late 19th century is only spoken in this isolated California valley.

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

Eclectic collection of dark and macabre antiques.

Once the largest town in eastern Yuba County now sits abandoned.

This graffiti-covered bridge is the quintessential vision of a place for disillusioned youth to escape the complexities of burgeoning adulthood.

A huge collection of rocks, gems, and crystals.

Location of the most powerful laser in the world, and the potential birthplace of tiny stars.

A ruined hotel with an unlucky history and an eerie present.

A sparse, solitary sequoia still stands as a living tribute to the famous conservationist who planted it—but it's dying.

This 14th-century temple is also known as the "Temple of the Golden Pavilion" for its gorgeous gilded reliquary hall.

With over 12,000 different species of plants, this botanical garden is Japan's oldest and most diverse.

Japan's largest and oldest annual procession of floats, begun in 869.

A shrine contains nearly 200 statues of the Buddhist deity Jizo, dressed in bibs by parents who have lost a child.

The “bridge of return” is haunted by a myriad of legends, from ghosts to demons to nuptial superstitions.

One of the world's largest ancient burial mounds.

An abandoned giant glass dome sits in the bay in “the Venice of the East.”