Places Edited by Eric Grundhauser

Piano-making empire filled with 200-year-old steam machines still churning out 1,000 instruments a year.

The one-stop shop for all of your superhero (or evil arch-nemesis) needs.

Light bulbs, scrap wood, and tinfoil comprise this homemade throne of the gods.

Once an unstoppable source of gold and silver, this town came to a grinding stop when the groundwater proved deadly.

A spooky and decrepit mental health facility is slowly being replaced with newer digs.

This collection of Japanese luck idols beckons visitors with over 2,000 waving paws.

A garden in Lisbon filled with giant porcelain creatures.

Crumbling remnants of what was once a booming town full of silver.

Stepping away from the glitz of mobsters and casinos to learn about the other history of Vegas.

Small ship votives hang from the vaulted ceiling of this port-side church with a Latin inscription on the wall.

A hospital closed seemingly in the middle of operations, leaving behind fodder for horror films and ghost hunters.

Four distinctly unique gardens commemorate the POWs who lost their lives during the Sandakan Death Marches of 1945.

This museum/fur store is devoted to educating guests on how awful opossums can be.

The resting place of 18th century German mummies.

South Korea's women of the sea have completely flipped their society's structure by becoming revered fisherwomen.

"Try not to knock anything over!"

An eccentric dictator's take on a Turkmen version of Disneyland.

An idle pastime becomes a record holder in Boys Town, Nebraska.

When the Austin Dam failed it destroyed much of Austin...and then it failed again.

The permanent home of Elektro, the celebrity automaton of the 1939 World's Fair.

This haunting tombstone comes complete with a heartbreaking story of love and loss.

These impressively detailed battle scenes depict the violence and tragedy of war in miniature.

One of the only known surviving coconut palm trees in the entire state.

This boulder stays on its mountain thanks to a huge chain and on the map due to local legend.