The plague quarantine island home to the alleged "Vampire of Venice."

A small island less than half a mile from Venice is a forbidden island with a dark and twisted past.

Japan's corrupt-mental-institution themed restaurant offers diners a chance to eat inside of filthy cells.

Tragic reminders of the 1945 firebombing campaign over Tokyo still haunt this bridge.

Sidle into a side alley for a taste of sumo wrestlers' traditional hot-pot soup, in a tiny restaurant founded by a former competitor.

Disaster prevention apartment blocks in Sumida Ward are designed to save as many as possible in the face of the inevitable.

The buildings are among the few Frank Lloyd Wright structures still standing in Japan.

A King Kong-like gorilla hangs from the top of this commercial building in Tokyo.

This little replica of Lady Liberty provides a bit of NYC in a Japanese city.

Japanese company creates clone dolls that reside in the "uncanny valley."

A restaurant modeled after feudal Japan, where the waitstaff are trained as ninjas.

Shrine to Japanese water-goblins, complete with their preserved body parts.

After a profound show of devotion for his master, a dog becomes the symbol of loyalty for an entire nation.

A taste of the macabre Tokyo's ritzy shopping district.

The original "capsule building" is a masterpiece of Metabolist architecture.

A small 19th-century graveyard tucked away in the middle of a suburban neighborhood.

Baltimore's classic clock tower was once topped by a rotating, 20-ton medicine bottle.

A monumental statue of RCA's mascot now sits atop a historical society roof after a life of moving around.

This free, take-a-book shop seems like a trick but isn't.

The lecture hall where Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated the long-distance phone call.

Statue in Salem of the woman who starred as the witch Samantha in the sitcom "Bewitched."

A tiny plaque marks the location of the water source that facilitated the birth of modern-day Boston.

This impressive Boston holy house is the American mecca for Christian scientists.

One of the indelible moments of the American Revolution took place at this location.