Packed with puzzling architectural oddities and boasting a backstory that's as curious as they come, the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California is hands-down one of the world's weirdest homes. Built over a 36-year period for Sarah Winchester, the troubled heiress to the eponymous gun fortune, the home was transformed from a simple two-storey farmhouse into a sprawling 24,000-square-foot mansion comprising an incredible 160 rooms.

The number 13 is avoided like the plague by many architects with countless buildings around the world omitting a 13th floor. Not so in this labyrinthine residence in Osaka, Japan, which proudly features 13 levels. Designed by Tato Architects' Yo Shimada, who like Mrs Winchester clearly has no problem at all with the number, the abode is bland and unassuming from the outside. Inside it's a different story entirely.

House in Miyamoto is an intriguing puzzle house that breaks every architectural rule in the book, taking open-concept living to its extreme and rocking a disorientating vibe reminiscent of the famous mind-bending, gravity-defying Relatively print by Dutch artist MC Escher. The clients, a family of three, wanted a space that would allow them to feel close to one another, so the architect eschewed internal walls and private areas. While starkly minimalist on first inspection, the property is actually the antithesis of Marie Kondo-esque pared-backness.

Labelled 'the strangest home in the world', Körner’s Folly in Kernerville, North Carolina gives the Winchester Mystery House a run for its money in the weirdness stakes. The oddball house was built in 1880 by artist and designer Jule Gilmer Körner aka 'the Man of a Thousand Peculiarities'. A riotous mishmash of styles, the exceedingly eclectic house has 22 rooms in total spread across three storeys and seven levels.

A home interiors' catalogue brought to life, the house has been open to the public from the get-go and features America's oldest private theatre, which is situated on the third floor. Other oddities include a mini version of the house, which functioned as an outdoor toilet. After falling into disrepair during the Second World War, the idiosyncratic property narrowly dodged demolition before it was saved during the 1990s and nowadays is one of the premier tourist attractions in the area.

An atmosphere of mystery pervades the Ukraine's Pidhirtsi Castle. Built between 1635 and 1640 for Grand Crown Hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the neo-Gothic stately home has passed through a multitude of owners and been attacked and looted numerous times throughout its chequered history.

The scene of a whole host of ghoulish goings-on, the castle was confiscated by the Soviets following the Second World War and served as a tuberculosis sanatorium until 1956 when a devastating fire ripped through the building. The stately home was abandoned not long after and lay empty until 1997 when it was converted into a museum. While the castle remains in pretty bad shape, a major restoration project is ongoing.

The basement is said to have housed an alchemical laboratory and local legend states that countless treasures lie hidden within the castle. The stately home is also purported to be haunted by a ghost dubbed the 'White Lady'. Jealous of the admiring glances his young wife elicited, former owner Severin Zhevussky reportedly buried her alive in the dungeon's walls sometime during the late 18th century. It is alleged her phantom has been sighted on more than one occasion.

The creepy Dutch Colonial house that inspired the Amityville Horror book and series of movies still stands in the town of the same name, which is located around 30 miles outside New York City. The home was the setting of a grisly mass murder on 13 November 1974 when Ronald DeFeo Jr shot and killed six members of his family. Talk about spooky!

The aptly named Villa of the Mysteries, which is located in the ancient city of Pompeii near Naples, Italy has stumped experts since its excavation in the early 20th century. An exquisitely preserved suburban villa on the outskirts of the ill-fated city, the property, which is Pompeii's most celebrated abode, derives its name from the Hall of Mysteries situated in the residential part of the building.

Clark retreated to her New York apartment in the 1950s and lived the last 20 years of her life in a hospital room until her death in 2011. Having inherited Bellosguardo in 1963, she instructed staff to keep everything in tip-top condition and under no circumstances make any changes. The house was bequeathed to a charitable foundation, but probate and tax disputes left the estate in limbo until last year. Still, the house remains empty, though plans are afoot to open the property to the public.

Along with the Winchester Mystery House and Körner’s Folly, Craig-E-Clair aka Dundas Castle, which is located deep within the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York, could be described as America's most mysterious home. The so-called 'Castle of Sorrow' hides a particularly sad history. Previously a summer lodge built by architect Bradford Lee Gilbert in the early 1880s, the building of the castle was commissioned by wealthy New Yorker Ralph Wurts-Dundas in the late 1910s but he died in 1921 before its scheduled completion.

The abandoned castle has sat empty ever since. Today, the property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is out of bounds to the public and guarded by a caretaker. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of Josephine Wurts-Dundas and if local stories are to be believed, the water in the ponds on the estate turns into blood when the Moon is full.

Australia's most mysterious house, Monte Cristo in Junee, New South Wales is also the country's most haunted, or so they say. A hotbed of paranormal activity, the property was built in 1885 by local pioneer Christopher William Crawley and belonged to the Crawley family until 1948. The house was vacant for 15 years before it was purchased by Reg and Olive Ryan, who restored it to its former glory.

Sometime during the late 19th century, a maid who was said to be pregnant with Mr Crawley's baby threw herself off the second-floor balcony. Subsequently, a young child was pushed down the stairs by a malevolent force and a stable boy was burnt alive in a horrific arson attack. Adding to the mansion's harrowing history, the then caretaker was reportedly shot dead on the property in the early 1960s. Whether the property is cursed or simply unlucky is of course open to question.

Standing out dramatically among the slick mansions of LA's Beverly Hills, this whimsical storybook home, which looks like it was transplanted from the pages of a fairytale by the Brothers Grimm, has prompted many a passing motorist or pedestrian to do a double take, and no doubt wonder exactly how it got there.

The Witch's House aka the Spadena House is the handiwork of acclaimed Hollywood art director Harry Oliver. The fantastical home was built in 1920 at the Willat film studios in Culver City, and originally served as offices, dressing rooms and a set for silent movies including an early Hansel & Gretel picture. Threatened with demolition, the charming cottage was acquired by producer Ward Lascelle and moved to Beverly Hills sometime during the mid-1920s.

Lascelle and his wife Liliane divorced not long after and Liliane, who managed to keep the house, married her former servant Lou Spadena, hence the alternative name. The cottage was sold to the Green family in 1965 but by the time it came on the market again in 1998, the property was in a sorry state and was threatened with demolition yet again. Thankfully, the house was saved from the wrecking ball by local estate agent Michael Libow, who oversaw a meticulous renovation of the property.

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