Legend says the goddess this shrine honors curses any couples that pass by.

Haunted house kitsch meets Japanese folklore at this theme bar where patrons can “die” and have their own mock funeral.

The remains of the vast manor that once belonged to Lord Kira, villain in the 47 Ronin story, is now a shrine dedicated to the incident.

This water goblin statue represents a 19th-century urban legend about a haunted canal that became a Japanese idiom.

This shrine dedicated to a legendary swordsman has become a pilgrimage site for the ill and infirmed.

Narrow passes cut out of mountains surround the medieval capital of Japan.

This mysterious medieval grotto holds a grid of sacred wells of unknown purpose.

Access to this hidden site of a 14th-century mass suicide is prohibited, unless it is to pray for the dead.

A woodland close to England's "most haunted village" has been the site of many unexplained events and deaths.

This spooky road cut through a mound of ancient coral might be haunted by a witch.

1,001 carved statues of the Buddhist God of Mercy, each with a unique face.

Sharks, stingrays, and turtles swim in the pools at this former elementary school.

The largest volcanic caldera in Japan holds an entire city in its maw.

The oldest hotel in the world has been operated by the same family for over 1,300 years, even catering to samurai.

This active volcano's siren song to suicide jumpers forced authorities to build a fence.

A New England curiosity cabinet, one hundred years on.

This former prison now houses a lovely library devoted to Quebec's oft-maligned English-speaking history.

The library of every book lover's dreams.

A library where thousands of books explain how to avoid another Great Recession.

The oldest public library in Ireland.

Dating back almost 400 years, the oldest public collection library in the United Kingdom was once the study hall of Karl Marx.

The gorgeous library at Trinity College is home to remarkable treasures of Irish identity.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

It's not hard to see why the historic Peabody Conservatory of Music's library has been described as a "cathedral of books."