World's first "penitentiary," meant to be humane, drove men insane.

This elaborate towering structure was once famed for its revolutionary height.

This charming colonial alleyway is one of the oldest continuously used residential streets in the U.S.

The U.S. Supreme Court's secret Cold War relocation facility in the mountains of North Carolina.

This rare basilica nestled right in downtown Asheville is an architectural marvel, inside and out.

This giant iron playfully pays tribute to an early 20th-century architectural trend.

This Transylvania County city is home to a rare white squirrel population that is descended from an escaped carnival animal.

This historic church houses the grave of a Scottish soldier who fought in the Battle of Waterloo.

These eerie outliers of the lightning bug family glow a mysterious blue color.

The author's beautiful and historic home is also a fully functioning goat farm.

Classy up your Big Mac with bow-tied servers and chandeliers at the world's fanciest McDonald's.

The tallest monument in a historic New Orleans cemetery was prompted by romance and dash of pettiness.

High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

This walkway is so narrow it needs its own light to stop pedestrian traffic jams.

Increasingly decayed figures stand as a powerful reminder of the human costs of Czech Communism.

This Czech church doubles as something of a permanent fashion exhibition for a statue of the Infant Jesus.

This tipsy office building in downtown Prague was originally called “Fred and Ginger.”

The geographical center of Budapest is marked with a 10-foot-tall stylized zero.

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

Once the home of a hermetic monk, this cave now houses a small church.

This Slovakian statue of an emerging sewer worker might just be a bronze peeping tom.

This grubby wall is said to be one of the Earth's esoteric energy centers.

A memorial to the beloved brown bear that served in the Polish army during World War II.

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