This serene oasis in an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood holds some of Gandhi's ashes and got Elvis into Eastern Philosophy.

A formerly opulent Italian village is now a crumbling ghost town that no one really knows what to do with.

The oldest house in Manhattan is now a museum that remembers the home's sordid history of scandals, vice-presidents, and ghosts.

A monument to the art of slicing people open.

This ratty natural history collection is a charming relic among a city rushing into modernity.

This centuries-old Italian chapel hangs midway down a sheer cliffside.

This medieval Italian town is a sheer (and beautiful) cliffside defense.

This ancient octopus-like tree was saved from destruction thanks to shady reporting.

According to the locals, the sands of this secluded Norway beach are infused with gemstone particles.

This massive collection of British military artifacts includes the heartbreaking personal letters of the men in the trenches of WWI.

This replica Viking village was created for a film that was never shot and is now open to visitors.

This odd Chilean waterfall-cano hotel must be entered via a rope bridge.

A former imperial sea-fortress and Soviet prison.

It houses the remains of a 17th-century version of the Titanic.

Early habitat dioramas and home of the elusive gaff, the skvader.

Sweden's "good old days" painstakingly re-created in a model village.

A dormant lightning machine equal to all the power in Russia.

A sculpture park of the tossed aside relics of the USSR, from Stalin to a massive Soviet emblem.

From Austrians to Nazis to Soviets, this historic Budapest fortress has a history as complex as the city itself.

A bizarre house filled with an astounding array of collections.

Vikings and Evangelicals have both had a hand in this replica medieval church.

A New York garbage depot holds a secret collection of weird and wonderful refuse.

The final remnant of the Arkansas zinc industry is this historically protected ghost town.

This dramatic sea spire is home to the world's rarest insect and is part of the lost continent of Zealandia.