Legend says a primate-like cryptid prowls this otherworldy sliver of the Louisiana bayou.

This float factory takes the mask off of Mardi Gras and lets visitors see where the magic happens.

The state's oldest continuously operating museum houses more than 5,000 Civil War artifacts.

The South's nickname was supposedly born at a former bank in New Orleans' French Quarter.

This distinctive Crescent City tradition dates back to the days of horse-drawn carriages.

Once the site of a Native American harvest festival, this humble clearing later played an invaluable role in the birth of jazz.

Memorial to one of the most fatal fires in both circus and U.S. history.

This Connecticut chapel is a starkly modern, and surprisingly colorful, architectural rebel.

The former home of Samuel Clemens and family remembers the happiest period of the author's life.

A historic Civil War estate-turned-museum looks back on the Confederate States of America.

This knobby, drooping New Orleans oak is a favorite place both for climbing and for meeting giraffes.

A 19th-century Gothic, castle-like statehouse by the Mississippi River.

This symbolic piece of New Orleans architecture is also home to a few ghastly stories.

An old-timey wax exhibition campily depicting New Orleans legends and scandals.

This relatively recently abandoned brewery is a tragic reminder of the continuing effects of Hurricane Katrina.

The LSU mascot lived on the college campus in one of the most impressive tiger habitats in the country.

One of the longest water bridges in the world was built over a supposedly haunted swamp in Louisiana.

The stone labyrinth in this New Orleans city park was laid to symbolize healing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Made of giant chains and hung with shackles, this iron cross honors those unknowns who perished under American slavery.

This "second" cemetery represents New Orleans' attempt to keep cholera at bay.

By day this New Orleans square is for pedestrians, but by night it is a kingdom of kittens.

New Orleans' famous cemetery, located on the site of a former race track.

The second oldest continuously operating bar in Louisiana.

This historic "City of the Dead" lies prominently in the center of New Orleans' famous Garden District.