Where the alchemists dream of transmuting base metal into gold was actually achieved.

Travelers exchange letters with woodland creatures at this mini post office.

This mountaintop beacon is only lit three times a year but shines like some kind of all-seeing eye.

An abandoned car and strange wooden debris are among the scattered remains of the old sand and gravel quarry.

A 140-year-old castle with underground caves hidden in San Francisco.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

During prohibition, corrupt city officials ran drinking dens under the streets of Downtown Los Angeles.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

A deserted hodgepodge of experimental structures designed by nearby university students.

A hidden world of exotic succulents and cacti.

Another of California's unused Cold War missile defense complexes has become a graffiti gallery.

This old-world mansion with lush gardens is a gem in the heart of Silicon Valley.

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

Non-profit time travel mart sells goods you would need for a trip through the fourth dimension.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

Founded over a thousand years ago, this shrine is said to be built on the site of a warlord's harem prison.

The sound of swaying stalks in this stunning grove has been named a governmentally recognized sound.

Largest graveyard in all of Japan surrounds a famous mausoleum.

Despite a legend that says this highest peak in Oregon was climbed in high heels scores of people have died on its slopes.

The longest continuous lava tube in the continental U.S. offers 2.5 miles of dark explorations for the adventurous.

No one knows how this Pacific Northwest spruce tree came to have so many trunks.

100-year-old shipwreck you can walk up to at low tide.

The remains of a former logging boom town, crumbled away in the forest.

The first North American landing spot for James Cook on his third voyage of discovery in the Pacific.