Places Edited by Samir S. Patel

A Dutch clog company in the town of Zaandam loves the wooden shoes so much it made a museum for them.

This log cabin gallery is one man's gnarly, hand-carved tribute to his favorite trees.

This cubist Vienna church building looks like some sort of alien stonehenge.

This giant roadside goose has been hailing travelers into a small Ontario town for over 50 years.

This fairy-tale castle would make Dracula (who is said to have been imprisoned there) jealous.

This glass-stain Mary attracted thousands of pilgrims until her head was shattered by a vandal with a slingshot.

There's a mini version of Iguazu Falls hidden in the Balkans, and it's got a rope swing.

What's that on the side of that building? Va Va Voom, it's Bettie!

Like Stonehenge, but with boats and oodles more charm.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

Dr. Strangelove-esque tours reveal the inside a bunker once reserved for Stalin himself.

The Nobel-Prize-winning author of The Stranger is buried beneath a simple gravestone in a sleepy French village.

An 18th-century Catholic church converted into an eccentric temple of music and bacchanalia.

James Turrell's total color immersion art installation, hidden on the top floor of a luxury handbag shop.

A four-hour holy-rolling, Hallelujah-shouting, Southern gospel service, rendered as a country market where "All Is Welcome, Jews, and Gentiles."

Created by four famous men, the beautifully designed Buffalo State Asylum was resurrected as a hotel and art center, but still boasts a ghost story or two.

This simple convenience store sits on the location where the Ouija board was named—and has a plaque to prove it.

These mysterious petroglyphs in Vermont reflect a troubled history in the treatment of Native American culture.

This little museum has an exhibit devoted to the elusive forest denizens.

A site of natural wonder and flying coconuts in Samoa.

This forlorn park is the result of a failed investment turned tax dodge.

One of the final grand railway depot hotel complexes is slowly being restored to its former glory.

The King is honored by an elaborate grotto on a continent he never visited.

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