The explorer Captain Cook may have named it White Island, but the Maori call it Te Puia o Whakaari – The Dramatic Volcano.

The world's only complete colossal squid specimen is on display at the Te Papa Museum.

Surprisingly aquamarine waters fill deep lakes formed at the end of the last ice age.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

Under the right circumstances, this waterfall in Yosemite briefly turns a luminescent fiery orange.

Giant, natural amphitheaters made of delicate geological formations called "hoodoos."

An eccentric playboy's astounding natural history collection.

Civil War Fort on an island in the Boston Harbor.

The final resting place of New Orleans' most famous voodoo priestess.

The oldest cemetery in New Orleans, resting peacefully for over 200 years now.

One of the longest water bridges in the world was built over a supposedly haunted swamp in Louisiana.

The world's longest known cave system.

Famously misunderstood wonder of the ancient world

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

A beautiful Victorian-era cemetery, complete with a miniature village.

From bench to vandalism to art, this silly prank seat was funny enough to become permanent.

No one messes with the Massachusetts sacred cod, not this time...

A morbid secret lies hidden within the beautiful walls of the Boston Athenaeum.

"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."