High atop the Washington National Cathedral sits a Sith Lord, his menacing visage exiled there by the whims of a child. And, technically, National Geographic. Yes, the helmet of Darth Vader adorns the northwestern tower of the National Cathedral. It's a weird story and not Star Wars canon whatsoever.

Entering a new exhibit in Washington, DC's Corcoran Gallery of Art is like walking into a movie mash-up of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and National Lampoon's Animal House.

The ziggurat you're looking at is John Russell Pope's 1912 design for the Lincoln Memorial. This design and plans for other kooky alternate history monuments are currently on display at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. Check out parallel universe versions of the Capitol, the White House, and other…

Popular lore suggests that the street layout of Washington, D.C., was designed so that the streets emanating from the White House would intersect with landmarks in the area to form a pentagram. The designers of the district were Freemasons, and the pentagram is one of a plethora of symbols important to the fraternity. …

Last month's earthquake in Virginia rattled the 555-foot-tall Washington Monument such that it's been closed indefinitely so engineers can assess damage. Buildings all across the Eastern Seaboard were rocked on August 23, but the Monument's security camera footage shows that people visiting the famous obelisk had a…

Cheese on crackers, has the chupacabra had a prolific summer. Now America's favorite prune-skinned mammalian cryptid is making a run for the White House. And I'm not talking about [FILL IN YOUR LEAST FAVORITE CONGRESSMAN HERE]! Political humor! Hey-yo!

Full of farms and shacks, the capitol city of the United States wasn't exactly imposing 200 years ago. Politicians lived three to a room in modest boardinghouses, and the White House was surrounded by a fence to keep out wandering cows.

In 1925, several American highway associations drafted up designs for a six-lane highway running from NYC to Washington DC. This doesn't sound controversial, but they also decided to plop down the road adjacent to the White House and Capitol.

There's something blissfully futuristic about subways. Maybe it's that these people-movers evoke space stations or arcologies. Or perhaps being shoved ass-to-shoulder together with strangers during rush hour unleashes some long-dormant pack instinct. Regardless, these metros are shiny.