The sci-fi villain is a little-known inhabitant of the U.S. capital's largest cathedral.

These abandoned waterworks are crumbling into the Potomac River.

This ambitious father and son team reigned supreme over the North End, and witches, for many years.

Radical Bookstore and Community Space.

Ralph Waldo Emerson spent two years living here decades before it became a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park.

One of the oldest used bookstores in the U.S. has been selling antiquarian treasures since 1825.

This upscale streetwear store is hidden behind a fake Snapple machine in the back of a deli.

A beautiful Victorian-era cemetery, complete with a miniature village.

One part antique store, one part curiosities hodge-podge.

A book collector's dream, this Toronto bookstore has the world's first "Biblio-Mat," a random book vending machine.

An Australian lake whose pink hue defies scientific explanation.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

This New Orleans tree is filled with hidden chimes that produce a carefully tuned melody.

Mysterious rocks that ring musically when struck.

A tiny theater hidden in an alley plays a constant stream of short silent films for anyone willing to peer through the peephole.

An Amsterdam street lined with antique shops each one dedicated to a different obscure collection.

Medical and zoological curiosities for sale.

This faux-seedy Japanese arcade is made up to look like a maze of alleys straight out of a cyberpunk dystopia.

A giant Troll lurks under one of Seattle's oldest bridges.

For two weeks every June, fireflies in the Smoky Mountains perform an astonishing light show.

A layered tribute to the work of mosaicist Isaiah Zagar.

A magical place that lets you play in and explore the world of Studio Ghibli.

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

Dodge prohibitionists and slide through the telephone booth in Crif Dogs.