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

Two thousand artifacts from around the world collected by one woman who loved to travel.

This upscale streetwear store is hidden behind a fake Snapple machine in the back of a deli.

A beautiful Victorian-era cemetery, complete with a miniature village.

This Boston medical museum features the skull of the famous medical case of Phineas Gage.

The only structure left with direct ties to the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692.

An enormous, inside-out glass globe built in 1935.

Two hula hoops appeared on the tree after a storm, and the collection kept growing.

This hand-carved wooden carousel in the Story City North Park was built in 1913.

This tiny site in Iowa, part of a patchwork national wildlife refuge, is home to ancient flora and fauna.

Chilly air billows out from the entrance of an abandoned mine on a steep hillside, providing a refuge for Ice Age fauna and flora.

This massive railroad spike celebrates the 1939 premiere of the movie “Union Pacific.”

One of just a few cities in the world to base their center of government on an island. Others: Paris and Osaka.

Remnants of a quarry company town still stand on the banks of the Wapsipinicon River.

Largest gathering of hobos in the country has been meeting annually since 1900.

Elaborate hand-carved wooden clocks two brothers made in their spare time are on display at this handsome little museum.

Most comprehensive museum in America devoted to one ethnic group.

The highest point in Iowa, while not that impressive to mountain states, has earned its own monuments.

No one knows the origin of this small town’s unique name.

An unlikely Transcendental Meditation haven in the American Heartland built around the ancient Vedic principles of balance and harmony.

This long unused shot tower on the Mississippi remains a point of pride for a small city in Iowa.

In rural Iowa, an imported 19th-century windmill overlooks an unlikely enclave of Danish culture.

An Iowa town celebrates its heritage with the tallest working Dutch windmill in North America.

A small burial plot formerly stranded in the middle of a road.