Machinery left over from California's once thriving mercury industry now attracts artists and explorers.

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

This former wildlife sanctuary is being transformed into an art park.

These old stone ruins in the Oregon wilderness were once bathrooms and are steeped in legends of murder.

A heavenly experience, right here on Terra Firma.

The second largest waterfall by volume in the U.S., Willamette Falls is outdone only by Niagara in the amount of water that is pushed northward.

A roaring, awe-inspiring double cascade of icy water flows through woodland Oregon like something out of a Tolkien novel.

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.

Abandoned hotel with adjacent lake and golf course.

One of the richest places in the United States has a cursed street.

The ruins of the castle that chemicals built.

A "haunted" landmark on the coast of Southern California.

This peaceful garden is hidden on the grounds of a spiritual organization founded by a pioneer yogi.

Once the central jail for Los Angeles, this building housed inmates like Al Capone, those arrested from the Zoot Suit and Watts Riots, and individuals imprisoned for their sexuality.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

The "Fun Spot of the Desert" is now a haunting ruin, and a reminder that putting a water park in a desert is a bad idea.

One of the ghostly stops along Route 66.

With its peeling paint and faded sign, this theater-turned-recycling plant is a nostalgic relic of 1950s Americana.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

A non-native grove of 241 redwoods in Southern California.

This Arizona observatory is famous for investigations into Martian life, and as the place humans first spotted Pluto.

Los Angeles's oldest cemetery allows visitors to trace the history of this proud city.

This “living museum” at UCLA exhibits thousands of plant species from all over the world.

A bright California graveyard with a decidedly dark side.