Catalonia Tradition: Beating the hollow Christmas log until it defecates in your fireplace.

William Blake claimed to have painted this gothic masterpiece after encountering this nightmarish being in a vision.

"the sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta, drink at my well . . . The pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the Ganges."

Granting the right of way to ships over surface traffic since 1917.

Statue of Lenin, from Cold War era Czechoslovakia, now in a neighborhood of Seattle.

Residents of Fremont in Seattle have considered it the center of the universe since the 1970s.

From a neon Rapunzel to a bike traffic meter to a street fair color scheme, the most opened drawbridge in the US is a veritable art gallery.

A museum dedicated to the history and exploration of both popular music and science fiction.

A giant Troll lurks under one of Seattle's oldest bridges.

A 100-year-old purveyor of curiosities, curios, and kitsch featuring mummies, shrunken heads, and a Fiji Mermaid.

A walk through the historic city center, under the streets of Seattle.

The Underground Railroad passed right through this historic Brooklyn Heights church.

A museum devoted to bringing to light forgotten or neglected histories through exhibitions, education and public programming.

Walk into the 19th century without leaving Brooklyn.

A room in New York City that contains 250 cubic yards of dirt worth a million dollars.

A dark, dank room in subterranean Manhattan was the site of a ghastly murder.

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

Thousands of narrow alleyways in an ancient medieval city make up what's believed to be the world's largest car-free urban zone.

A king's pet, a pope's gift, an artist's inspiration, and a tragic shipwreck.

A 16th century chapel decorated with bones, skulls, and entire bodies hanging from the wall.

Clap your hands at the base of the pyramid, and the song of a sacred Mayan bird will echo through the air.

An emporium for the weird, creepy, rare, and just plain gross.

A 200-year-old bar with a cheeky name claims to have served Edgar Allan Poe his final drink.

Traditional 11th-century outdoor tannery.