Places escapementality Wants to Go

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

This 38-drawer structure claims the superlative title, but it isn't the world's only giant filing cabinet.

Where religious effigies, magic soaps, and occult candles are brought to customers at wholesale prices.

A 70,000-square-foot institution dedicated to a very literal, creationist perspective on the Book of Genesis.

This mouldering abandoned mental hospital was once a center for progressive healing.

The Grand Canyon of Texas.

This former theme park in New York's Adirondack Mountains fell into ruin before being resurrected as a state-run campground

This overgrown Illinois water park offers a whole new type of adventure.

Life-size bronzes of the Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Yertle the Turtle, Sam-I-Am, and the Lorax—and the author himself.

An abandoned asylum once on the cutting edge of lobotomies may be reborn as a Christian college.

This museum glorifies the humble potato.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

A health museum containing a 27’’½-foot intestine.

Every last book in this bookstore is signed by the author.

The palatial McDonald's that inspired Wesley Willis.

There’s a secret bunker inside the Brooklyn Bridge, but the city won’t say where.

From a neon Rapunzel to a bike traffic meter to a street fair color scheme, the most opened drawbridge in the US is a veritable art gallery.

This small-town Connecticut restaurant gives each diner a free book from its vast library.

The first spinning jail built in the United States is the only one that still turns.

More than 5,000 contemporary and "historic" mustards from around the world.

South Carolina's last remaining slavery auction house is now a museum devoted to its own tragic history.

Ever wanted to can Spam?

Trace the history of writing at this unusual North Carolina destination.

This pseudo-steampunk weapons facility is the world's largest wood and glue structure, and packs quite a wallop.