Welcome to a place where the line between the living and the dead feels paper-thin. A place where mist clings to the rocky earth, the air stings with sulfur, and volcanic vents hiss like whispers from beneath the ground. This is Mount Osorezan, often translated as the “Mountain of Fear,” one of Japan’s most spiritual—and strangest—destinations.

High in California’s Eastern Sierra, just off Highway 395, lies a body of water so strange it might as well be from another planet. Mono Lake is a landlocked saltwater basin that’s more than 760,000 years old — one of the oldest lakes in North America. But what truly makes it a hidden wonder is what rises from its waters: towering, ghostly formations called tufa.