Places EssenceOfChaos Wants to Go

The ruins of an Estonian prison are drowning in the quarry lake where the convicts were once forced to work.

A 17th-century bezoar, dirt from an infamous site, and other curios decorate this unusual bar.

A sculptor's dream castle turned fantastical ruin.

According to local lore, this narrow passageway through two large rocks was accidentally created by the devil himself.

The wooden house where the jazz great learned to play the piano.

An annual celebration of the region's successful elk reintroduction program.

A nourishing complex of found object art, paintings, and sculptures that celebrate key figures in Black history.

The U.S. Supreme Court's secret Cold War relocation facility in the mountains of North Carolina.

Art museum based around the collections accumulated over 58 years by one eccentric thrift store owner.

A curious collection of oddities including a lock of Alexander Hamilton's hair and Harry Houdini's ouija board.

This handcrafted, old western-style town is filled with deserted cars, retired movie props, and other forms of Americana.

This woodland architectural installation acts as a camera obscura for the heavens.

In a pedestrian tunnel on North Carolina State’s campus resides an expressive and artistic free-for-all.

The replica western town of Shadowhawk was built by a former Hollywood actor in Smithfield, North Carolina.

The final resting place of the hundreds of bodies originally buried where Badin Lake sits now.

This ceremonial mound is one of the first officially recognized Native American historical sites in North Carolina.

The antique barns in Cameron are not painted with your grandfather's Mail Pouch Tobacco murals.

An abandoned village that doubled as "The Hunger Games"' post-apocalyptic wasteland is up for grabs.

A replica of where the Last Supper was held.