thinkingoutsidetheborders's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Cougar, Washington

The Ape Cave

The longest continuous lava tube in the continental U.S. offers 2.5 miles of dark explorations for the adventurous.
Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake

The deepest lake in the United States, and once the site of epic destruction that lives on in legends.
Los Angeles, California

Velaslavasay Panorama

Panorama exhibition hall in old silent theater with a beautiful backyard garden.
Orchard Park, New York

Eternal Flame Falls at Chestnut Ridge County Park

A natural gas leak provides a flickering flame beneath a waterfall.
Los Angeles, California

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Resting place of Hollywood's immortals is also site of summer film screenings.
Nagasaki, Japan

Gunkanjima Island

Once the most densely populated place in the world, this island is now a ghost town.
Los Angeles, California

Rustic Canyon's Murphy Ranch

World War II-era Nazi compound nestled in the Santa Monica hills.
Holywood, Scotland

Garden of Cosmic Speculation

A 30-acre garden inspired by the principles of modern physics.
Edinburgh, Scotland

Mary King's Close

17th century streets hidden under Edinburgh were once a breeding ground for the black death.
Ercolano, Italy

Herculaneum

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.
San Francisco, California

Defenestration

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.
San Luis Obispo, California

Madonna Inn

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.
London, England

Leadenhall Market

This ornate Victorian marketplace was the setting for Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter films.
Winslow, Arizona

Meteor Crater

This 4,000-foot-diameter hole is touted as "the most well known, best preserved meteorite crater on Earth."
Casa Grande, Arizona

The Domes

An abandoned facility that has become a place of ritualistic satanic worship, or so rumor has it.
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Mesa Verde National Park

The ancient dwellings of the Puebloans, located in the cliffs of majestic mesas.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mount Moriah Cemetery

An abandoned cemetery lies in ruins as the surrounding forest swallows it whole.
Lee Vining, California

Mono Lake

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.
Naucalpan, Mexico

El Nido de Quetzalcóatl

An Aztec snake god has taken the material form of an apartment complex.
Isle of Skye, Scotland

Fairy Pools

These fantastically named natural pools look like something out of a Scottish myth.
Los Angeles, California

Phantasma Gloria

One man's homage to the sun continues to grow like a glass fractal.
Clackamas County, Oregon

Bagby Hot Springs

Hollowed out cedar log tubs set in an ancient towering forest.
Lohmen, Germany

The Bastei

Ruins of a German Castle on top of a towering stone pillar.
Aksaray, Turkey

Cappadocia

In this historic region, homes and churches are carved into ancient volcanic rock formations.