This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

Inspired by a music box, a small town Vietnam vet carved an entire carousel full of animals by hand.

A vast, otherworldly collection of Buddhist stupas.

This skeleton-filled altar piece served as a backdrop to one of the most iconic scenes in "The Sound of Music."

It should come as no surprise that the world's largest artichoke lies in the town that calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World."

These blingy, baubled skeletons lie in glass boxes inside a baroque Bavarian church.

Shaped like a big top tent, this memorial honors the victims of a terrible train wreck.

Hand-made memorials and a wish-granting murderer lie within this seaside pauper's cemetery.

This Vietnamese hell cave lets visitors take a walk through a devilish underworld full of demons.

The United States’s oldest funicular railway glides up and down a steep Pittsburgh street.

Like something out of a bad acid trip, this Ukraine hallway has been covered in hallucinatory phantasmagoria.

Beneath Kraków Old Town's main square lies a hologram-filled medieval market vampire graveyard wonderland.

This grave marks the passing of a historic Jane Doe whose identity remains a mystery to this day.

This historic collection of Native Alaskan artifacts was resurrected through a partnership between the WPA and tribal artisans.

Manhattan’s Battery Park has a whimsical carousel full of spinning, glowing fish.

This portion of a lovely Belize beach is infested with (harmless) sharks and rays.

Vietnam's feral abandoned water park offers access to a post-apocalyptic funscape, now with fewer crocodiles.

In the middle of the desert, miles from any human life, sat an anomalous pay phone that still magically answers your calls.

This enormous Hindu temple in Queens serves incredible dosas in its basement canteen.

This ancient Hindu temple is covered in thousands of colorful statues and has a long mythological history.

You can still ride this 100-year-old work of art in Brooklyn's largest public park.

This Tang Dynasty behemoth is the biggest Buddha in the world.

A golden temple atop a sacred mountain, known for its giant effigy of the revered Pu Xian.

The world's largest reclining Buddha, the Giant Buddha of Mudon.