Places Edited by Erin Johnson

A massive volcanic plug is now a protected area that hosts a number of bird species.

One extremely determined man's homemade universe.

Here lies Lilly E. Gray, an alleged "victim of the beast," but the reason long remained a mystery.

A castle that was built stone by stone by an eccentric journalist.

Executed in 1401, Exhumed in 1878, Stolen in 2010.

Mexican food and folk art.

Cave shrine on Monte Pellegrino.

Gift shop offering toe tags and chalk body beach towels tucked into a coroner's office.

Working mining and drilling equipment demonstrate 150 years of energy history.

Remants of foundations, streets, and streetcar tracks inhabit the cliffs where a landslide occurred in 1929.

Where NASA's satellites and rovers phone home.

North America's largest accredited model railroad museum.

"The Hoppiest Place in the World" holds the world’s largest collection of bunny memorabilia and is a singular testament of a couple's devotion to all things Leporidae.

The abandoned zoo enclosures offer a perfect place to experience the other side of the bars.

World's largest collection devoted to one fruit.

America's most famous piece of self-built architecture.

A library of rare occult books in Los Angeles.

NASA's leading space science lab started by a co-founder with deep ties to the occult.

Historic marionette theater features thousands of handmade puppets and free cups of ice cream.

Non-profit time travel mart sells goods you would need for a trip through the fourth dimension.

Church and home-museum of a 1920s female revivalist preacher with a very sordid past.

Experience a quartz crystal sound bath inside a storied, all-wood sound-chamber.

A tribute to the twin ideals of religion and patriotism, built by a Catholic priest from rocks, glass, and innumerable found items.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.