Every year on December 23rd, while the rest of the world is busy wrapping presents and scrambling for last-minute shopping, something wonderfully weird takes over the central square of Oaxaca City. It's called La Noche de los Rábanos — the Night of the Radishes — and it’s exactly what it sounds like… only way stranger.

Some lakes invite swimming. Some invite photography. But Lake Usori? It whispers. It beckons. It waits. Nestled in the caldera of an ancient volcano at the foot of Mount Osore in Aomori, this eerie, otherworldly lake has long been believed to be a gateway to the afterlife.