erchurch07's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Isle of Skye, Scotland

Fairy Pools

These fantastically named natural pools look like something out of a Scottish myth.
Portland, Oregon

The Witch's Castle

These old stone ruins in the Oregon wilderness were once bathrooms and are steeped in legends of murder.
New York, New York

Obscura Antiques and Oddities

Tucked in the back of this amazing antique store is an important piece of medical history.
New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum

A snapshot of the city's fascinating voodoo culture.
Coleford, England

Puzzlewood

The mysterious, fantastical woodland inspiration for "The Lord of the Rings."
Yachats, Oregon

Thor's Well

On the Oregon coast there is a natural hole that seems to be draining the sea.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mütter Museum

America's most famous museum of medical oddities is home to the remains of Albert Einstein's brain.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Eastern State Penitentiary

World's first "penitentiary," meant to be humane, drove men insane.
Gerlach, Nevada

Fly Geyser

A collision of human error and natural geothermal pressure created this rainbow-colored geologic wonder.
Paris, France

Museum of Vampires

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

The Winchester Mystery House

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.
Los Angeles, California

The Museum of Death

World's largest collection of serial killer artwork and other macabre exhibits.
New York, New York

The Evolution Store

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.
London, England

Leadenhall Market

This ornate Victorian marketplace was the setting for Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter films.
Los Angeles, California

Underground Tunnels of Los Angeles

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

The Wave Organ

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.
Paris, France

Catacombes de Paris

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.
Washington, D.C.

St. Elizabeths Hospital

Government testing at the asylum briefly explored using marijuana as a "truth serum" on Nazi prisoners of war.
Radford, Virginia

St. Albans Sanatorium

Paranormal investigators claim this abandoned asylum is the most haunted spot in the eastern U.S.
Staunton, Virginia

Abandoned DeJarnette Sanitarium

A former mental hospital founded in the 1930s by a eugenicist who advocated for the forced sterilization of patients.
Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia

The Rosewell Plantation Ruins

This once-palatial plantation may have been the site where a draft of the Declaration of Independence was written.
Williamsburg, Virginia

Eastern State Hospital

America's first public mental health facility.
Rock, West Virginia

Lake Shawnee Amusement Park

This abandoned amusement park was built on a site with a dark history.
Washington, D.C.

The Capitol Stones

Enormous piles of historically significant stones, dumped by Congress in a forest, and abandoned for 60 years.