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Forest Grove, Oregon
World’s Tallest Barber Pole
45.5261, -123.1114
White Hall, Maryland
Gnome Hill
39.6312, -76.6400
TĂ¢y SÆ¡n, Vietnam
Quang Trung Museum
13.9206, 108.9208
AlcalĂ¡ de Henares, Spain
Laredo’s Palace
40.4879, -3.3639
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Where to See the World’s Creepiest Dolls and Toys
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172 Items Tagged
Catholic
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haunted
The Ghost Story Behind a Bucolic Catholic Retreat Center
A brief, true history of West Virginia's Priest Field and "The Legend of the Wizard Clip."
Rome, Italy
Saint Victoria's Incorruptible Body
The martyr's wax-enhanced skeletal remains lie preserved in a glass case in the Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
Dublin, Ireland
Oratory of the Sacred Heart
A nun spent 16 years painting the stunning Celtic mural that covers the interior of this WWI memorial.
Oslo, Norway
St. Hallvard's Church and Monastery
The Brutalist building harbors an unusual inverted dome that swoops down over its central sacred room.
Coventry, England
Ruins of St. Mary's Priory Cathedral
All that remains of the only English cathedral destroyed in the Protestant Reformation.
Eisenach, Germany
Wartburg Castle
The castle where Martin Luther secretly translated the New Testament from Greek to German while in hiding.
Inuvik, Northwest Territories
Our Lady of Victory Church
This house of worship in the Arctic Circle is shaped like an igloo.
Nagasaki, Japan
Head of the Virgin Mary
The statue's head is one of the few fragments of the original Urakami Cathedral to survive the atomic bomb.
festivals
An Italian Priest Brought the Virgin Mary to Beachgoers in a Paddle Boat
Literally #blessed.
Carnoët, France
Vallée des Saints (Valley of the Saints)
A remote hilltop covered in giant monoliths haunts the Brittany countryside.
sacred spaces
Salacious Convent Exposés Were the Most Popular Books in Antebellum America
Protestant authors loved to imagine the secret sins of Catholics.
Naples, Italy
Santa Maria delle Anime del Purgatorio ad Arco
The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead still cares for the skulls at this mini-Fontanelle.
Monopoli, Italy
Chiesa di Santa Maria del Suffragio detta del Purgatorio
Macabre symbols of death and mummies on display set the tone of this Italian purgatory church.
Chamula, Mexico
Iglesia de San Juan
The masses at this church incorporate enough moonshine and animal sacrifice that they are no longer recognizably Catholic.
Barcelona, Spain
Saint Joseph Oriol Plaque
Saint Joseph was said to heal the deaf and blind, but it was a much smaller miracle that got him canonized.
Permanently Closed
Tokyo, Japan
Christon Café
A Catholicism-themed restaurant where sacrilege is on the menu.
Caynton, England
Caynton Caves
This mysterious underground cave in Shropshire dates back to the 18th or 19th century.
Tomar, Portugal
Convento de Cristo
The medieval castle built as headquarters for the Pope's secretive Knights Templar.
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