Places Rosa Elliott Wants to Go

A wunderkammer of gold and silver reliquaries and ancient saintly bones.

A diverse collection of wax, bone, papier-maché and mummified relics.

The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.

Statue of a decomposing prince that once held his heart in its hand.

A church filled with the bones of hundreds of virgins martyrs—or so they say.

A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.

The ghost town left by the worst nuclear disaster of all time is being taken over by nature and urban explorers.

A former Latvian headquarters of the brutal KGB secret police is now open as a grim reminder of their atrocities.

The preserved arm of a third-century sorcerer is believed to have the power to lift curses and spells.

Macabre museum devoted to historical Viennese murders.

The townhouse where the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Báthory started her murderous career.

The only gulag ever to exist in socialist Yugoslavia.

Ever hear of the Milazzo Cage?

The location of the last witch trials of Italy, known as "The Salem of Europe."

Museum preserving torture methods from the past.

Medieval torture techniques with a modern conscience.

A 200-year-old prison that now houses a peculiar crime museum.

The crypt of the imposing Stephensdom holds royal intestines and thousands of skeletons.

A museum in the childhood house of a medical pioneer.

One man's personal kunstkammer, museum and shop.

One of the world's largest collections of pharmaceutical artifacts.

Each time a baby is born in Ghent, these streetlights flash in silent celebration.

A Museum of Psychiatry in a still-operating mental institution.

A former plague hospital turned medical museum.