jonathancarey's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Florence, Italy

Galileo's Middle Finger

The middle finger of modernity.
Elmira, New York

Mark Twain's Study

The wooden octagon in which Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee were born can still be visited in upstate New York.
Arinj, Armenia

Levon's Divine Underground

She asked for a potato cellar and over the next 23 years he gave her a network of holy caves.
Tokyo, Japan

Sanrio Puroland

If Hello Kitty were Mickey Mouse, this would be Disneyland.
Savannah, Georgia

Dotson Runway Graves

Two flush headstones mark the only known graves to be embedded in an airport runway.
Waltham, Massachusetts

Fernald State School

Run by a eugenics advocate, this aging institution conducted secret radiation experiments sponsored by Quaker Oats.
Milton, Scotland

Overtoun Bridge

This Scottish bridge seems to compel dogs to leap to their death.
Sutton, Massachusetts

Purgatory Chasm

This evocatively named natural crevasse was created by a torrent of water that smashed right through a granite deposit.
Memphis, Tennessee

The Crystal Shrine Grotto

This head-spinningly bizarre Depression-era art cave is wall-to-wall quartz and Jesus.
Banos, Ecuador

Swing at the End of the World

A swing to dangle you off the very edge.
Hillsborough, California

The Flintstone House

A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.
Budapest, Hungary

Gyermekvasút

This quaint Hungarian railway system is operated exclusively by children between the ages of 10 and 14.
Danvers, Massachusetts

Danvers State Hospital

The inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's horror stories and Batman's Arkham Asylum is now a condominium complex.
Mexico City, Mexico

La Isla de las Muñecas (Island of the Dolls)

An island filled with hundreds of hanging, decomposing, decapitated dolls.
Kyoto, Japan

Yokai Street

This neighborhood thoroughfare is haunted by dozens of homemade monsters.
Bomarzo, Italy

The Monsters of Bomarzo

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.
Novara, Italy

The Ossuary of Bicocca

This Italian pyramid is said to hold the mingled remains of the dead from both sides of the Battle of Novara.
New York, New York

Studio of Charles Ives

The studio of influential composer Charles Ives is perfectly reconstructed, hidden in the back of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
New Haven, Connecticut

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Yale University's home for rare works, including the mysterious Voynich Manuscript.
Paris, France

World's Oldest Basketball Court

Despite being considered a thoroughly American sport, basketball's oldest surviving playing field is found in the basement of a Paris YMCA.
Bern, Switzerland

The Child Eater of Bern

A nearly 500-year-old sculpture depicts a man eating a sack of babies, and no one is sure why.
Mulgrave-et-Derry, Québec

Wallingford-Back Mine

What was once the largest mine in North America has left behind a hollow hill filled with bright blue waters.
Baltimore, Maryland

Bazaar

Crammed into a Baltimore row house is an oddities shop that sells everything from skulls to dead insects.
Chelsea, Québec

Carbide Willson Ruins

The remains of a paranoid inventor's hidden workshop lie in beautiful ruins amidst a Canadian park.