The Atlas Obscura Podcast: Recent Episodes
Witness Docs & Atlas Obscura
An audio guide to the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. Co-founder Dylan Thuras and a neighborhood of Atlas Obscura reporters explore a new wonder every day, Monday through Thursday. In under 15 minutes, they’ll take you to an incredible place, and along the way, you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Our theme and end credit music is composed by Sam Tyndall.
We will always love Dolly Parton, who installed a “dreambox” time capsule at her amusement park. In it, there’s a secret song that no one will hear until the legendary artist turns 100. Dolly Parton died this week at age 80, sparking a global outpouring of grief and tributes.
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In the 1700s, a farmer plowing his fields near the English town of Silchester uncovered a very large gold ring dating back to Roman times, inscribed with the name “Senecianus.” Seventy miles away, in the remains of an old Roman temple complex, a curse tablet was discovered targeting a man named Senecianus who made off with a ring. Coincidence?
Another possible coincidence: one of the academic experts brought in to the excavation of the Roman temple site was J.R.R. Tolkien – who later became famous as the author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” which involve, of course, a cursed ring.
Related Atlas entries:
- The Vyne, the English country house that is home to the ring https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-vyne
- Lydney Camp, the remains of the Roman temple where the curse tablet was found https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lydney-camp
- If you’re into this whole curse table thing, we recommend an older episode of the show about the Complaint Tablet of Ea-Nasir
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For decades, the sailing stones of Death Valley were a mystery. They'd show up in lists of the world's unexplained phenomena, alongside the Bermuda Triangle and ball lightning. But then, two cousins came along and decided to ruin everything by solving this mystery once and for all.
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A new dream and effort has arisen to re-envision Hogan's Alley, a predominantly Black community in Vancouver.
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We asked, you answered. Hear listener stories of near death travel experiences.
PLUS: We wanna hear from you! Tell us about your intergenerational travel stories. Who did you go with? Where did you go? What did you learn about traveling with this person of a different age? How did the trip go? What are some stories you brought back? We want to hear it all.
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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We all dream of the perfect vacation when everything goes right. This episode is about the opposite. Hear stories of people having near death travel experiences.
PLUS: We wanna hear from you! Tell us about your intergenerational travel stories. Who did you go with? Where did you go? What did you learn about traveling with this person of a different age? How did the trip go? What are some stories you brought back? We want to hear it all.
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Cal Flyn is the author of Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape. She also has a new book, called The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness. On today’s show, she and host Kelly McEvers explore the allure of places that humans have abandoned.
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Producers Amanda and Glydel bring you stories of places, spanning from the Ozark mountains to a cave in Portugal, where death is not as final as it seems.
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We visit a museum in Montana that’s a dream for dinosaur nerds, and home to bones that are the real deal, locally sourced and sustainably foraged.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/great-plains-dinosaur-museum
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We wanna hear from you! Tell us about your intergenerational travel stories. Who did you go with? Where did you go? What did you learn about traveling with this person of a different age? How did the trip go? What are some stories you brought back? We want to hear it all.
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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A race is on to save this world heritage site that straddles the border of Togo and Benin. It’s home to remarkable earth tower homes called Takienta, and the Batammariba people, whose existence is threatened by climate change and migration.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/koutammakou-batammariba
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Emily Zarka is the host of the PBS digital series Monstrum, a show that tries to figure out how monster mythology was created and shaped through oral storytelling, literature, and film.
Today she tells us about the Flatswoods monster in West Virginia, a legend that dates back to the 1950s.
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Author and Ossining town historian Caroline Curvan helps unpack the story of how a castle ended up in the upstate New York woods. And how one wealthy family’s dream home was struck by subsequent tragedies and ultimately abandoned.
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Casa Cueva was completed in 1958 by artist Juan O Gorman. But in 1969, he sold the house to artist Helen Escobedo. She set off a controversy, which still sparks passion today, after she demolished parts of the house.
Valentina Di Liscia, a journalist and senior editor at Hyperallergic, was determined to get to the truth of the matter. Read here to read more about Casa Cueva.
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Host Kelly McEvers and producers Jerome and Amanda answer your questions about traveling while sick, memorable souvenirs and their best detours.
If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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From alchemy to doomsday prophecies, we delve into the lore of Johannes Kelpius, a mystic believed to have started a cult in the Wissahickon Valley near Philadelphia.
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In 2007, excavators dug 70-odd years’ worth of trash and debris from a cave in Hoboken, New Jersey. It had once been a popular recreation spot, and home to a natural spring that was supposed to have healing properties. But then in 1841 everything changed when the body of a young woman – a beautiful young “cigar girl” well-known in Lower Manhattan – turned up by the cave. The murder shocked and fascinated the people of New York and New Jersey and activated fears about many social issues of the day. It also caught the attention of one guy you’ve definitely heard of... Edgar Allan Poe, who used the story as inspiration for one of the first detective stories ever written.
Sibyl’s Cave… a hidden wonder...and the possible birthplace of “true crime”?
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Brad Ryan has traveled to all 63 U.S National Parks. But he’s not done it alone. He traveled with his grandmother, who was in her mid-80s when they first started. Now, he’s got a book out all about it titled Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing One National Park at A Time.
Plus, we’d like to hear from you. Tell us your stories about visiting the U.S National Parks. Which ones have you been to? Which ones are you looking forward to? Did everything go as planned? Did anything surprising happen? Tell us all about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message with your story and your name. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
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We meet the robot saints – sculptures made of wood and wire, of cams and pulleys during medieval times – that might just help us understand this new AI age we all find ourselves living in.
LEARN MORE about these inventions by reading City University of New York Professor Christopher Swift’s 2015 paper about these automated figures.
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Today. we're visiting the World Erotic Art Museum in Miami, a place that shattered the line between fine art and our deeply held taboos.
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Mary Maschal set out to document women’s history, unintentionally becoming part of it herself. Learn more about the Women's Museum of History here.
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For decades, people have been addressing love letters to an oak tree deep in the Dodauer Forest in Germany called the Bridegroom’s Oak. The hope is that a passerby might find their letter, write back and form a connection. Journalist Elliot Stein visited this romantic post office box and talked to the mail carrier who used to deliver these letters and who one day, found a letter that was addressed to him.
If you would like to address your own love letter to the Bridegroom’s Oak, the mailing address is:
Bräutigamseiche,
Dodau 99 Dodauer Forst,
23701 Eutin, Germany
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“Stockholm Syndrome” is a term in pop psychology that’s come to mean situations where hostages develop emotional bonds with their captors. But it comes from an actual hostage situation back in the 1970s, when a botched bank robbery in downtown Stockholm turned into a six-day long stand-off between the would-be robbers and police. Today, the bank is a hotel – and you can still see evidence of this incident inside.
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We asked you about traveling to all 50 states, and in response got several stories about interesting quests and journeys across the U.S.
Up Next: Tell us your stories about visiting the U.S National Parks. Which ones have you been to? Which ones are you looking forward to? Did everything go as planned? Did anything surprising happen? Tell us all about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message with your story and your name. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
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In the 1980s, a group of friends on the track team at Sul Ross State University hauled a discarded dorm room desk to the top of a mountain. They left a notebook there to keep track of their run times and leave little notes for each other. Then… other people found it. And then… it started a tradition.
Visit the Atlas entry for the Sul Ross desk, and learn more about the archives containing the Sul Ross desk notebooks.
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The story of a big idea, and a big duck – and how this duck would go on to become an important architectural landmark that would influence buildings all around the world. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-duck
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Today we visit a baklava shop in Istanbul at the intersection of autocracy, violence and urban renewal. Kelly speaks with journalist Suzy Hansen, author of the book “ From Life Itself: Turkey and Istanbul in the Age of Erdogan” about a 2019 attack on a Syrian-owned sweet shop and what it says about Turkey today.
(Note: the sweet shop we discuss in this episode, El Nour, is still open today and can be found in Istanbul’s Karagümrük neighborhood, here is a link on Google Maps.)
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We visit the Louisiana town where the infamous – but often misunderstood – couple’s story came to an end.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bonnie-and-clyde-ambush-museum
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Step back in time with us at the Wagner Free Institute of Science and explore how this museum defies modernity, preserving its original mission of education and inclusivity since the 19th century.
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Besides the sky, blue is a color you don’t often see in nature. It often signals poison, something artificial. True blue is astonishingly rare. But today, producers Amanda McGowan and Glydel Go take you to two places on opposite ends of the earth, with blues that feel almost otherworldly. We begin deep inside the Grand Canyon, at the Havasupai Indian Reservation, with a waterfall that is very much real, but feels magical. Then we look wayyyyyy down at Hinatuan Enchanted River, located in Surigao del Sur, Philippines.
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A hospital and rehab center for birds in Manhattan started with a woman who just wanted to do all she could to help an injured goose. Decades later, it has become an institution.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wild-bird-fund
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On the eve of the Second World War, there was one place that was the source for all good stories — the Hotel Imperial in Vienna. It exuded luxury and power, and also was the converging spot for foreign correspondents in the 1920’s and ‘30s who were warning the world about the rise of dictatorship. Historian and author Deborah Cohen takes us back in time and into the lives of these influential journalists.
MORE Check out Deborah’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576473/last-call-at-the-hotel-imperial-by-deborah-cohen/
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Her image is just about everywhere in New York City. But her name and story is rarely known. This is the story of America’s first supermodel Audrey Munson
Plus, if you find yourself in New York City, we would love to hear from you about your encounters with Audrey Munson. Tell us your thoughts and snap a picture with her. Give us a call at 315-992-7902, and leave us a message with your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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In Hastings, Nebraska, the Kool-Aid man is a bit of a local legend. Not the anthropomorphic glass pitcher with a face who yells “Oh yeah” (though he’s part of the story too) but the original Kool-Aid man, Edwin Perkins, who invented the drink almost 100 years ago right here in Hastings.
This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Nebraska. Learn more about the Hastings Museum Kool-Aid exhibit here, and more here about the Kool-Aid Days festival which will take place this year August 14-16. We’ve also done an episode featuring Hastings before - The Goose Who Wore Nikes.
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Visitors to the Truck Yard beer garden in The Colony, Texas (outside Dallas) are treated to a very unusual art collection: a sweeping array of around 1400 hand-painted toilet seats, many of which are also collaged with objects ranging from tortoise shells to Zippo lighters to Pez dispensers. This is the life’s work of Barney Smith, a beloved Texas outsider artist who spent decades creating these “seats” of art, inspired by his day job as a plumber. James McCandless, a reporter at the San Antonio Business Journal, once visited Barney back at the original home of the collection – which was Barney’s garage. He tells us the story.
For more information about visiting the Toilet Seat Art collection today (you can event rent it out for events): https://truckyard.com/the-colony/toilet-seat-museum/
Read James McCandless’s original story for Atlas Obscura about visiting Barney: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toilet-seat-museum-barney-smith
If you can’t get enough of these seats, Roadside America also has done some delightful profiles of Barney over the years: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/6166
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We want to hear from you! Have you visited all 50 states? Or maybe you’re really close? Tell us about your 50 state journey – whether you’re a quester type, or more of an accidental type, like me. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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This tiny island off the coast of Peru is an UNESCO World Heritage site for having the finest textile art. It’s also the place where a knitted hat represents and symbolizes a man’s code of honor, marital status, and love for life.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/taquile-island
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Dean Karnazes has visited all 50 states in the U.S. But he did it in an incredible way: In 2006, he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days.
Plus: Have you visited all 50 states? Or are you trying to? We want to hear your story. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your suggestion. And don’t forget to join Atlas Obscura to connect with your fellow travelers.
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We head south of Miami to hear the story of a family that took a gamble on a humble roadside stand that blossomed into a fruit emporium and community staple.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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Co-host Kelly McEvers and producers Johanna and Amanda answer a fun hypothetical, and a classic would-you-rather question.
If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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Monterrey, Mexico is known for its mountains, its industry, and its close connection to the US. But Monterrey was also home to one of the first private radio stations, run by a man who would become known as the father of Mexican radio: Constantino de Tarnava. Historian Sonia Robles talks about early Mexican radio stations in the 1920s and 30s - the big ‘border blasters’ run by US outlaws, and the Mexican stations that were serving their local communities and Mexican immigrants in the US.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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The story of how a former nuclear missile silo in Wamego, Kansas became the site of the largest LSD bust in US history (allegedly). Fore more information, check out author Dennis McDougal’s website and Rolling Stone’s interview with Leonard Pickard.
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Beverly Gage is a Pulitzer Prize award winner and a professor of history at Yale University.
Her new book This Land Is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S History is a travelogue that takes us on the road into America's past as she travels to visit 13 key locations that she says define the country’s successes and challenges.
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In this episode, we explore Smither Park, an artistic oasis in Houston where self-taught artists transform a humble park into a mesmerizing gallery.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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Pea Island is a wildlife refuge, and one of the most untouched parts of the Outer Banks. But a century ago, this small piece of land was the site of one of the most remarkable water rescues to date. And it was thanks to a man who, just 30 years after Reconstruction, became the first Black person to lead a Life Saving Station.
There are many ways to learn more about Richard Ethridge and the Pea Island Life Saving team, including the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum and the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. You can also check out David Wright and Dave Zoby’s book, Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers.
This episode was produced in production with the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.
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Reporter Elah Feder ventures into one of her hometown’s biggest tourist attractions: A 98-room castle in the middle of Toronto that bankrupted a 19th century electricity multimillionaire.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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We visit the tower of Baa-Goat, which is inhabited by a flock of goats who speak Swiss French. Along the way we hear about 19th century architectural follies, why goats like to climb, and how sometimes household projects can take on a life of their own…
This episode is brought to you in partnership with Enjoy Illinois.
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This museum in John Day, Oregon, was once a Chinese general store and medicine shop that dates back to the 1800s. But these days it’s a perfectly preserved time capsule, down to the fruit – down to the orange its former owner left on the counter in the 1950s. Tours of the shop are offered seasonally, but you can get a virtual look inside here. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS HERE
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We follow one man’s journey down an internet rabbit hole that becomes a search for a one-of-a-kind forest and its mysterious creator.
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How did a farm in Missouri wind up with 60,000 collectible pigs? The story involves a radio DJ with a dartboard, an unsuspecting fitness-instructor-turned-farmer, and a fateful phone call.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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Kelly McEvers has visited all 50 states. But not on purpose.
Plus: we want to hear from you. Have you visited all 50 states? Or maybe you’re really close? Tell us about your 50 state journey – whether you’re a quester type, or more of an accidental type, like me. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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Today, we step onto the four acres of Seattle’s Beacon Food Forest. And we learn how what started as a neighborhood project evolved into an open-source grocery store.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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James Baldwin’s former home in the South of France is a site that many visit hoping to feel the essence of the great African-American writer. But should it be?
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Natchez, Mississippi is home to one of the largest concentrations of antebellum homes, and tourists come from far and wide to see them. But Natchez was also a center of the cotton trade, and had one of the biggest slave markets in the country. Filmmakers Suzannah Herbert and Darcy McKinnon made a documentary about this beautiful and complicated place, and how its residents wrestle with which story should be told to visitors.
The documentary, called “Natchez,” is out now. Suzannah and Darcy also put together a Visitor's Guide to the city of Natchez if you want to visit yourself.
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Today, there are only remains of what were once these massive baths constructed by self made millionaire Adolph Sutro in San Francisco.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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This experimental automotive replica of Stonehenge has become a symbol of the town of Alliance, Nebraska. But residents haven’t always been fans.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/carhenge
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Dylan tries his hand at playing a “glass armonica,” a musical instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin. Its high-pitched, eerie sounds were rumored to cure all kinds of illnesses – or even, sometimes, cause them.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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A tidy little story from Pocatello, Idaho, home to the Museum of Clean
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-of-clean
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Lionel Messi left Argentina and became a soccer superstar playing in Spain. But when he came back home to play for the Argentina National Team, he had a tough time. NPR reporter and The Last Cup podcast host Jasmine Garsd talks about Messi’s return to his home club and the bigger story immigration, identity, belonging, and the meaning of coming home after time away.
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At the Mapparium® globe in Boston, visitors can step inside a giant, three-story stained glass globe…and get a glimpse of the bigger picture.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
Learn more here about visiting the “Mapparium” globe.
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A massive California wildfire prompted author Ryan Huling to get curious about the boundaries between human civilization and a vacant wilderness. It led him on a travel quest into the world of animals, which he documented in a new book, The Hidden Nations of Animals.
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A renegade art project in Vancouver galvanized a small community, pitted residents against city government, and ultimately resulted in a new name for a chill park.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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A pay phone in Washington, D.C tells you jokes and affirmations.
This episode is part of our Weekend Road Trip Series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States, that you can see from the road. This series was produced in partnership with T-Mobile.
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Professional rainmaker Charles Hatfield was either a scientist or a con man who had a particular influence on San Diego, CA.
Curious about cloud seeding? Learn more from our earlier podcast on the Lynmouth Flood: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-lynmouth-flood-memorial-hall
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lower-otay-reservoir
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Co-host Kelly McEvers and producers Johanna and Amanda answer questions about books where the setting is transportive, travel in the Middle East right now, and how to handle sharing an Airbnb with five friends but only one bathroom.
If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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We visit an office building in Guadalajara, and learn how one man moved it – workers and all – exactly 40 feet.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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Nestled on North Carolina’s southern shoreline, the Kindred Mailbox keeps countless secrets and confessions left in the sand. This episode tells the story of mailbox and its dedicated keepers.
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Eight thousand years ago, this land’s first inhabitants built a village around a sacred spring. And today, in what is now Los Angeles, CA, their descendants still work to protect the site.
Learn more about the Gabrielino-Tongva Springs Foundation: http://gabrielinosprings.com/wpsite/
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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Today we visit the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is home to 10,000 bobbleheads inspired by sports, pop culture, politics, and even some niche viral Internet moments. Some even date back hundreds of years.
This episode is part of our Weekend Road Trip Series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States, that you can see from the road. This series was produced in partnership with T-Mobile.
Check out the museum online and note that they do accept suggestions for new bobbleheads!
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How do we determine the time? Believe it or not, there is an official clock. It’s located in Boulder, Colorado at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and we go there to visit.
LEARN MORE: NIST doesn’t give public tours. But if you want to watch the seconds go by as precisely as humanly possible, dial (303) 499-7111.
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Professional French horn player Kyra Sims tells us about a once-in-a-lifetime trip she took to Antarctica with a program called Polar STEAM, which pairs artists with scientists. She tells us about living on a research vessel, getting up close and personal with zooplankton, and where she found inspiration on the ice.
You can find Kyra Sims online at her website or on Instagram. And learn more about Polar STEAM here.
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This stone at Emory University is a marker of one millionaire's personal vendetta against gravity.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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The variety of apples we enjoy today have a common ancestor that lies in the forests of Kazakhstan, where scientists are studying the wildest version of the fruit.
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One of Mexico’s oldest shoe stores holds a collection of more than 2,000 thousand shoes in a museum called el Museo Del Calzado. From booties worn by a rescue dog to slippers owned by Queen Elizabeth II, each pair tells a story.
This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.
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It took Ross Ward more than 40 years to build Tinkertown, an indescribable array of carvings, figurines, and folk art. The project became both a source of inspiration for young artists, and an unexpected refuge for Ross himself.
This episode is part of our Weekend Road Trip Series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States, that you can see from the road. This series was produced in partnership with T-Mobile.
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We head to the Namib Desert in Africa, where the landscape is dotted with mysterious, pimple-like indents known as fairy circles. Where do these things come from? Scientist Walter Tschinkel has spent the last several years studying and experiencing a natural occurrence so enchanting, locals describe it as “The footprints of the gods.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fairy-circles-southern-africa
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The LA Central Library has always been unique. It doesn’t look like a typical big city library, many people didn’t want it to be built in the first place, and, in 1986, a fire affected more than one million of its books. But the library endured, and is now celebrating its 100th anniversary. Susan Orlean joins Kelly to talk about this storied institution.
Check out Susan’s book about the LA Central Library, called The Library Book, and her new memoir, Joyride
.
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Candy scholar Susan Benjamin brings us to her research-based historic candy shop, and introduces us to some surprising sweets that have shaped American history … from abolitionist sugars to WWI's chocolate energy bars.
Today's episode is brought to you in partnership with the West Virginia Department of Tourism.
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War of the Worlds by Orson Welles is perhaps the most famous radio play on Earth. But what’s left out of the story is where the play was set — a real, little town in New Jersey. It took decades, but the people who live in Grover’s Mill have come to embrace their part in one of the biggest media hoaxes of all time. In fact, they’ve turned it into something to be proud of.
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This sculpture in Spokane, WA was created by a"welding nun" decades ago.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/garbage-eating-goat-statue
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The Bob Baker Marionette Theater is a beloved place in Los Angeles, California. The theater almost closed down when its founder, Bob Baker, died in 2014. But it has managed to survive.
Randel Metz is the director of the Storybook Puppet Theater in Oakland, California, and the author of Enchanted Strings: Bob Baker Marionette Theater.
This episode is part of our Weekend Road Trip Series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States, that you can see from the road. This series was produced in partnership with T-Mobile.
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We visit southern Benin to hear the story of the Temple of Pythons and clear up some misconceptions about one of the world's most misunderstood spiritual systems.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-temple-of-pythons-ouidah-benin
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Isaac Fitzgerald grew up taking long walks with his father in rural Massachusetts. And on those walks, his father told him stories about legendary figures like Johnny Appleseed. As an adult, Isaac decided to retrace his path, and learn the true story behind this mythical character he’d grown up with.
Isaac is the author of American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed
.
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When armed fighters captured his workplace during Syria’s civil war, Ali Shehadeh decided to pay them a visit. He was determined to save his life’s work: a massive collection of seeds.
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We dive into the dirty history of the famed Paris sewer system, from its unorthodox cleaning methods, to a pneumatic postal service that ran via the sewer, to… a poop tax.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or a story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com
.
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Scientists in Denver, Colorado store and conduct tests on miles of ice core samples dating back hundreds of thousands of years.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-ice-core-lab
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In 1891, a knot of men murdered a 1,300-year-old tree to prove it wasn’t a "tall tale." We visit the Mark Twain Stump, a 16-foot-wide wooden stage that serves as a monument to early American hubris, the cost of disbelief, and the bittersweet birth of the conservation of the Sequoias.
This episode is part of our Weekend Road Trip Series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States, that you can see from the road. This series was produced in partnership with T-Mobile.
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We go to Wilmington, Delaware, to a 4-acre garden with characters and exhibits created using castoff materials and greenery that invites kids to drop screens and rules – and instead give in to a state of play.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/enchanted-woods-winterthur-gardens
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This amusement park in Singapore holds the Ten Courts of Hell, a series of dioramas that depict the kind of horrible fates awaiting people who behaved badly on Earth.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/haw-par-villa
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Producers Jerome and Johanna join co-host Kelly McEvers to answer questions about souvenir-buying stress, multigenerational travel, and what to listen to on a road trip when you don’t have the same taste as your driving buddy.
Our next mailbag episode will be next month. If you have a question, email us at hello@atlasobscura.com. Or call us directly and leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.
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Allen Woodall’s first lunchbox was a brown paper bag. Since then, he’s amassed a collection of over 5,000 lunchboxes, all housed in a museum in Columbus, Georgia.
The Lunchbox Museum is part of the Columbus Collective Museums. Learn more:
https://www.columbuscollectivemuseums.com/
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Producers India Rice and Morgan Johnson take you beyond this planet as they share two stories tied to the franchise Star Wars.
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In Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, there was once a revolutionary community for African Americans willing to do whatever it took to maintain their own freedom – and help others achieve theirs. Learn more about planning a trip to Smith Court via the Black Heritage Trail.
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Historians have known about the strange passageway in the Merchant’s House Museum for decades, but they never knew what it was for… until now. And now that we know, it changes everything we thought we knew about why the Merchant’s House really matters.
Learn more about the fight to save the Merchant’s House: https://merchantshouse.org/calltoarms/
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or a story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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The townspeople of Manitou Springs, Colorado do something very interesting to celebrate the legacy.of a young woman who loved, lived and died there 130 years ago.
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Co-host Kelly McEvers doesn’t usually return to places – she always wants to go somewhere new. But there’s one place that makes her break her own rule over and over again.
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A listener shares a wonder from his backyard, this time in the small town of Aztec, New Mexico.
Plus, we want to hear from you. Tell us about the wonders in your backyard. Is there a strange, unusual or surprising place in your city or town? What makes this place special to you? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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The José María Azael Franco Guerrero Cemetery in Tulcán, Ecuador is a topiary anomaly and a lush green paradise for the dead. This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with classic and new stories about unusual gardens around the world.
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Jason deCaires Taylor takes intentional art to another level with his sculptures that can be visited by humans and fish.
This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world.
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Today we visit a hidden gem of Washington, D.C.: the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, an oasis of ponds filled with lotuses and waterlilies. This unusual National Park – the only aquatic gardens that are a National Park – were first dug in the 1800s by a Civil War veteran.
This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with washington.org.
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An orchard of metal poles sits on a hill overlooking Lake Washington. And when the wind blows, this musical sculpture "sings the world into existence" with its unique sound.
This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world.
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The Alnwick Poison Garden in England is a place where stopping and smelling the flowers could actually kill you. The garden is dedicated entirely to plants that are narcotic or deadly.
This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world
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In the Soviet Union, x-rays didn’t just give you a look inside the human body. They also gave you a glimpse of the outside world, thanks to music that was imprinted onto this unassuming medical tool.
Read more in the Atlas HERE.
Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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As a young adult, Paul "Barbs" Barbato gave himself perhaps the world's biggest social studies assignment: make a profile of every single one of the 193 UN-recognized countries in the world. Ten years later, he finally finished.
Check out Paul’s project – and what he’s up to next – on YouTube @GeographyNow.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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In a storefront in Kearney, Nebraska, Morris Press Cookbooks Store houses a massive "Google of family recipes," chronicling nearly a century of American home-style cuisine. To test the archive, producer Jerome Campbell attempts to “bake his way back home” by testing an unusual make-do dessert recipe: A pinto-bean-based cake.
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We asked you to send us stories about a time you accidentally broke the rules while traveling… and some you really went there.
Plus, we want to hear stories about a place you love returning to. Where in the world is this place? What fond memories do you have about this place? Why do you return to this place? How often do you visit? Who, if anyone, have you met there? Has this place changed over time? Tell us all about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or leave us a voice memo at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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As a foreign correspondent, Kelly McEvers has found herself detained by the KGB, held up at ISIS checkpoints, and on the front line in Syria. But it was a much more mundane experience that left her feeling in over her head years later.
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This little house in New Haven, Kentucky is where Thomas Merton aka profit-poet aka the rebel monk tried to get away from the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/thomas-mertons-hermitage
Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com
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In 1971, five hippies made a trek through the Amazon looking for rare psychedelic drugs. One of them was Terence McKenna, who, along with his brother Dennis, would go on to change the way Americans thought about “magic mushrooms” forever. We talk to John O’Connor, author of “A Short, Strange Trip: An Untold Story of Magic Mushrooms, Madness, and a Search for the Meaning of Life in the Amazon.”
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Producer Manolo Morales shares a story with co-host Kelly McEvers, about a legendary place in the backyard of our Canadian northern neighbors.
Plus, we want to hear from you. Tell us about the wonders in your backyard. Is there a strange, unusual or surprising place in your city or town? What makes this place special to you? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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We visit Jerry’s Hat Museum, where a retiree has turned to an old chapel to house a collection of thousands of hats, pens, odds, ends and other artifacts from his Illinois hometown.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jerrys-hat-museum-illinois
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Co-host Kelly McEvers and producers Johanna and Jerome answer questions about whether you should experience certain places with other people, the best movies to watch on an airplane, and the delicate etiquette of traveling to places where you know people.
If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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A producer sits down with Dylan and recounts his trip to a place referred to as “The Venice of Africa.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gavie-benin
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Marina Marchese is a beekeeper and trained honey sommelier. She explains how honey tastes like the place where it’s made… and guides co-host Kelly McEvers through a taste test of some of the world’s most unique and unusual honeys.
Plus, if you’re interested in learning to taste honey like a sommelier, consider one of Marina’s classes, or check out her books
.
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Today, we are celebrating the spirit of April Fools’ Day with two stories about hoaxes. One is about a mythical creature in Fouke, Arkansas and the other about a giant sea serpent in a small town of New York.
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For one sixteenth century Austrian mayor, a long, luscious beard was both his claim to fame – and the cause of his downfall.
Read more about Hans Steininger and his deadly beard: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beard-braunau-steininger-hans
And how about a deep-dive into facial hair culture in 16th century central Europe?
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-0424.12538
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Daren Grover was on vacation near the top of New Zealand’s South Island when he got a call: some whales needed help. Hundreds of them had stranded on a spot so notorious for whale strandings, it’s cause for celebration when a year goes by without a stranding: the Farewell Spit.
Check out Project Jonah: https://www.projectjonah.org.nz/
Giant searchable database of sustainable seafood (and seafood to avoid) from Monterey Bay Aquarium: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations
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Long before Joe Exotic got the country talking about big cats, there was Joe Taft – regular guy – who began raising and rescuing these types of felines in Indiana.
MORE: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/exotic-feline-rescue-center-2
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What drives a person to live in isolation? Meet Sue Aikens, who thrives in the icy expanse of the Arctic. She shares stories of survival, self-discovery, and the wild encounters that continue to shape her life. Her memoir, "North of Ordinary," was just published.
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Todd Lerew has spent a decade visiting every single museum in Los Angeles. He chronicled his journey in his book Also on View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles.
Check out Todd’s map of the museums at Everymuseum.la. Plus, listen to our episode with Jane August who is undertaking a similar project in NYC.
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In the 1950s, a journalist doing archival research at the Staten Island Historical Society came across a collection of images that stopped him in his tracks. These photos featured women from the 1890s smoking cigarettes, dressed in men’s clothing, showing their petticoats or legs or hair. These photos were taken by a woman named Alice Austen, and Jensen decided to track her down…a trail which led him to the Staten Island poor house.
Today we learn Alice’s story, by visiting the house on Staten Island where she lived for most of her life – before she lost nearly everything – which is today a museum dedicated to her life and work.
Check out the Alice Austen House online: https://aliceausten.org/
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You may have heard the phrase 'third place' being used more often as the world started opening up post-pandemic. People were craving somewhere that was neither their home or work, but still a place to focus social connection. But the Barbican, in London, was WAY ahead of its time.
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We wanna hear your stories about the times you’ve accidentally broken the rules somewhere foreign to you.
Maybe you went into a temple with your shoes on, when you weren’t supposed to. Maybe you had a drink at a sacred place and were forbidden to enter again. Or maybe you even wound up in a brush with the local police for something minor that’s not against the rules where you live.
Tell us where you went. What happened? Why did you get in trouble? And how did you ultimately get out of it? Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or leave us a voice memo at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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A producer takes a detour for a glimpse of what some call New York’s worst kept secret – a train station that’s been shut down and sealed away for nearly a century.
MORE: Visit the New York Transit Museum’s website to learn how to become a member and book a tour of the station.
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Cultural historian Kassia St. Clair tells the stories of two highly prized colors that are linked to specific places in the world: an exquisite, extremely expensive blue that crossed the globe and upended the European art world… and a shade of purple that possibly wouldn’t have ever come to exist in a different place and time.
Learn more about color history in Kassia’s book, The Secret Lives of Color
Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Catia Lattouf has dedicated her life to nursing hummingbirds back to health – from inside her apartment in Mexico City.
Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Over the course of a century, the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan has grown to house over 26 million artifacts of innovative achievements. However, one quiet piece – prized by Ford above all others – curiously stands out among the collection: a seemingly empty sealed test tube.
In this episode, we uncover this relic’s story and how it preserves an enduring friendship within the country’s technological history.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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We asked you to send us stories about your unforgettable spring break trips. From a U2 concert to a tornado in 1974, you delivered.
Plus, we want to hear your stories about the times you’ve accidentally broken the rules somewhere foreign to you. Tell us where you went. What happened? Why did you get in trouble? And how did you ultimately get out of it? Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or leave us a voice memo at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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In the early 1900s, influential psychologist Carl Jung spent more than a decade documenting the strange images that popped up in his unconscious mind and documenting them all in a beautiful illustrated manuscript. After his death, his family thought the book was too bizarre to be made public and locked it away in a Swiss bank vault for decades.
MORE:
Learn more about the Jung House Museum (and visit the study where Jung wrote the Red Book) https://www.cgjunghaus.ch/en/
A link to the New York Times article mentioned: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/magazine/20jung-t.html
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In 1978, a team of Soviet geologists working deep in the Siberian taiga came across something they never expected to see: a house. As it turned out, they had stumbled on a family that had lived in complete isolation for decades – they weren’t even aware of World War Two.
Sophie Pinkham, author of the new book “The Oak and the Larch: A Forest History of Russia and Its Empires,” tells us the story of the Lykov family and what drove them into the forest.
Check out Sophie’s book about how Russia’s vast forests have shaped its history and culture: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324036685
There’s also Sophie’s longread about the Lykovs in The Guardian, adapted from her book: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/22/forty-years-in-the-siberian-wilderness-the-old-believers-who-time-forgot
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Co-host Kelly McEvers and producers Jerome Campbell and Manolo Morales answer questions about places they could live permanently, how to navigate travel as a Type B person when all your friends are Type A, and appropriate airplane attire.
If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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Marta Becket was an artist from New York City. Then in 1967, when she was on a road trip with her husband, she discovered an abandoned social hall in the California desert town of Death Valley Junction. She left New York and moved there to transform this hall into the Amargosa Opera House to live out her dream as an artist.
To read more about Marta Becket, you can check out her autobiography To Dance On Sands, or watch the documentary that was made about her life, called Amargosa.
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In 2007, the beloved former mayor of Suwon, Korea, demolished the home he and his wife had lived in for 30 years and built them a new house shaped like a toilet: curved walls, a toilet seat roof, and a bowl-shaped courtyard in the middle. For many spouses, this might be grounds for divorce, but the mayor had his reasons.
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We go to Deep River, Connecticut – where the story of a botched bank robbery more than 100 years ago has taken on a life of its own as an urban legend. MORE: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-grave-of-xyz-deep-river-connecticut
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There is a mirror said to reveal the truest, most precise reflection of oneself. It’s called the Aranmula Kannadi. The tradition of mirror-making has been passed down for generations by self-taught artisans in a small village in India. Journalist Eliot Stein has visited the village, and he talks about the philosophical meaning behind these mirrors – and reveals what happens when he comes face-to-face with his own reflection.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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The Dutch city of Utrecht is built around an iconic canal lined with historic homes. But for the fish of the city, the view isn’t quite so picturesque. Each spring, migrating fish get trapped in the mazelike waterways of the city. Ecologist Mark van Heukelum came up with an innovative idea to help them out – a fish doorbell.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Daylight saving time is nearly upon us. Today, we’re visiting two places with very different approaches to harnessing the sun. One imposes rules on it, wreaking havoc on residents and travelers… and the other tries to physically manipulate it.
Plus: We want to hear your unforgettable spring break stories. Where did you go? What made this trip so memorable? Did everything go as planned… or did things go wrong? Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and give it to us. At hello@atlasobscura.com.
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We look into the story behind a regionally famous – and controversial – beer tap in Des Moines, Iowa.
Read Mandy Naglich’s article about Ruthie in Vice.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Lake Karachay in Ozersk, Russia is the site of a former secret Soviet Union nuclear facility - that’s inspired art despite the little that’s publicly known of the site.
This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.
Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Dylan is joined by Marisa Scheinfeld, a photographer who has dedicated years to exploring the lost and abandoned properties of the Borscht Belt: a stretch of hundreds of hotels, resorts and summer camps where Jewish Americans would go to escape. Check out more of Marisa’s work here, including her book, The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacation Land.
This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.
Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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How far would you go to find the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the United States?
This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.
Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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This paddleboat gave some Black children a place to learn even when they were denied formal education on land.
This week, we’re bringing your stories of places that – for one reason you another – you can’t visit.
Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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The world’s biggest treehouse was inspired by a message from God.
This week, we’re bringing you stories of places that, for one reason you another, you can’t visit.
Plus: We want to hear from you! What’s a place in your life that YOU can’t visit? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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We’re willing to bet that AO listeners didn’t go on the typical spring break trips. We want to hear your off the beaten track spring break travel stories. Where did you go? What made this trip so memorable? Did everything go as planned? Or did things go wrong? We want to hear it all.
Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and give it to us. At hello@atlasobscura.com.
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The Old Cahawba Archeological Park is perhaps one of Alabama's most famous ghost towns. But it once was the center of life in this southern state. We unravel the surprising tale of this onetime capital city.
SEE IT IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-cahawba-archeological-park
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Maybe when you think of Los Angeles you think of mega highways, gridlock traffic, and urban sprawl. But our guest today argues that it is actually an underrated destination for enjoying the outdoors. Rosecrans Baldwin, author of Everything Now: Lessons from the City State of Los Angeles, shares his favorite places in the city to enjoy nature, from urban parks to mountain trails…and then he’ll also take us even further out there, to a wilderness survival course anda class on talking to plants.
More about today’s guest: https://www.rosecransbaldwin.com/
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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A giant salamander has been lurking in the rivers and streams of Appalachia for more than a hundred million years. And in just the last few years – after surviving one of the worst hurricanes in decades – they've become a local symbol of pride.
This episode was produced in partnership with Visit North Carolina.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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We go to Tallahassee and learn the incredible civil rights history of Florida's capital city.
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We asked you to send us stories about the places where you’ve stayed the night – some of you had some interesting experiences that live in your head forever.
Plus, we want to hear your stories about your unforgettable spring break travel stories. Where did you go? What made this trip so memorable? Did everything go as planned? Or did things go wrong? We want to hear it all.
Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and give it to us. At hello@atlasobscura.com.
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This museum in Kentucky is either your dream place or your nightmare, depending on how you feel about dummies. Because there are more than 500 of them there, resting in peace.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-worlds-only-ventriloquism-museum-in-northern-kentucky
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As we approach Valentine’s Day, Atlas Obscura co-host Kelly McEvers shares two stories about a state that has a special place in her heart: New Mexico.
The Chile Pepper Institute was produced by Baudelaire Ceus, and The Lightning Field was produced by Chris Naka and Manolo Morales.
Learn more about how to book a visit to the Lightning Field: https://www.diaart.org/visit/visit-our-locations-sites/walter-de-maria-the-lightning-field
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Centralia, Pennsylvania has attained a sort of cult favorite status, often discussed as a place you cannot and should not visit. But in this episode, writer and friend of the show Colin Dickey has a different take on this ghost town. He says Centralia is thriving and has a new lush chapter – despite "burning" for the past 45 years.
Read Colin's latest piece about Centralia on Atlas Obscura HERE.
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Jane August has set a goal to visit every single one of NYC’s roughly 200 museums. She’s chronicling her journey on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram at @JaneAugust.
We want to hear from you! What is your favorite, underrated museum in your area? Tell us about it, and why you love it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
Plus, check out Atlas Obscura’s own list of unusual museums in NYC: https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/new-york/museums
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In honor of Black History Month, we are bringing you two stories about people who used nature to change their environment and communities.
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Behind the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont sits a very peculiar graveyard... one dedicated to dearly departed ice cream flavors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ben-jerry-s-flavor-graveyard
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We visit a remarkable institution where people with Hansen's disease, or leprosy, learned to play music, had Mardi Gras parties, and published their own newspaper.
Check out Wendy Chin-Tanner’s novel, King of the Armadillos, based on her father’s experience at Carville.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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In 1930, the King of Thailand gifted a tree to the University of Hawaii in Manoa for developing a treatment for leprosy. For decades, the tree has stood as a symbol of the groundbreaking scientific achievement. However, the woman who created the solution was missing from the story.
Read Alice Ball’s Master’s Thesis on the Kava Plant, and Dr. Hollman’s JAMA article crediting Alice Ball. And check out The Ball Method Film.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com
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In 1912, Piltdown, England wasn’t known for much. It was a quiet rural area with farms, winding tree-lined roads, and a pub. But then, a lawyer announced he’d made an incredible discovery in a local gravel pit: a skull that was part ape, part man. England was enthralled. Was this the missing link between humans and our ancestors? Could England be the birthplace of humanity?
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This story is about a heist that took place back in 2013 – not at a museum, or a gallery, or a royal palace, but at a garden. What these thieves were after… were Venus Fly Traps. We visit the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden in Wilmington, North Carolina to learn about plants that eat meat, a venus fly trap lover with a vanity license plate, and the shocking $20,000 heist that’s still an unsolved mystery.
Learn about visiting the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden…
If you’re in the market for a Venus Fly Trap, check out this guide from the US Fish and Wildlife Service about how to avoid poached plants
.
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We're working on an episode about interesting places to lay your head -- and we'd love to hear YOUR story about the places you have stayed during your travels. Tell us why and how you picked that place, and what made the experience of staying there good, bad, funny, interesting, or impactful?
Maybe you had a terrible experience at a five star hotel after booking it months ahead of time, or maybe you got lost finding your way to a cabin We wanna hear it all. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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A one-room museum located in the basement of a church-turned-community arts center is crammed with mementos from a pretty spectacular period in history. We hang with some retired dancers who recall the time when Chinatown in San Francisco was filled with late night cabarets famed for their showgirls.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/showgirl-magic-museum-san-francisco-california
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Decades before New York City’s subway system opened to the public, an eccentric inventor set about building his own underground system – IN SECRET – beneath Broadway. It wasn’t powered by steam engine…or electrical engine…or even horses. It was powered by pneumatic tube (yes, like those tubes you occasionally see at the bank, or at cannabis dispensaries.) We chat with Matthew Algeo, author of “New York's Secret Subway: The Underground Genius of Alfred Beach and the Origins of Mass Transit.”
Find out more about New York’s Secret Subway and Matthew’s other books at his website. (And check out our previous episode about Pedestrianism to hear more.)
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com
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Toward the end of his life, the great inventor Thomas Edison became obsessed with one final project: finding a source of rubber that could grow in the United States. It would transform his Florida home into a bonafide botanical laboratory.
This episode was produced in partnership with Fort Myers – Islands, Beaches and Neighborhoods.
Find more information about the Edison and Ford estates here. If you’d like to learn more about Edison’s life in Florida check out this biography by Michele Wehrwein Albion. Find out more information about Henry Ford’s search for rubber sources in a previous episode of the Atlas Obscura podcast, “Fordlandia.”
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com
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A stranger on an overnight bus ride causes a woman to contemplate her future. This essay originally appeared in Off Assignment.
Plus, Off Assignment is offering a writing course this spring, called Writing the Mundane. Early bird pricing is on until February 9! Sign up here: https://offassignment.com/writing-the-mundane
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Co-host Kelly McEvers and producers Johanna and Amanda answer questions about places that exceeded expectations, finding yourself in dicey situations while on the road, and what to do when you have a lot of visitors but not a lot of money.
If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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Welcome to the Judith A Basset Canid Education & Conservation Center, where a California couple has dedicated their lives to showing folks man has even more best friends than previously thought.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-jab-canid-education-and-conservation-center-jabcecc
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Today, we go on a special journey told in two parts, beginning with the world’s largest conveyor belt in the Western Sahara and ending on your dinner plate.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Have you heard of the Painted Lady butterfly?
Scientists say this small speckled beauty – no more than 6 cm across – endures the longest migration path of its species.
Photographer Lucas Foglia dared to follow the path of this butterfly in his photo book, Constant Bloom, and he says the journey reveals a rich story of strength and vulnerability in our interconnected world.
Check out: Lucas Foglia book, “Constant Bloom”:
https://www.nazraeli.com/complete-catalogue/lucas-foglia-constant-bloom
Take a peek at some of the images from the bBook: https://www.lucasfoglia.com/constant-bloom/
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com
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Listeners share their travel resolutions for 2026.
Plus, we want to hear stories about interesting or unusual places where you’ve stayed the night. How did you find it? Who did you go with? What made the experience of staying there good… or bad? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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We’re taking the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But in the meantime, we want to hear from you. Tell us about the wonders in your backyard. Is there a strange, unusual or surprising place in your city or town? What makes this place special to you? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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Spring is a popular time to visit Colonial Williamsburg, not least because it’s “lambing season,” the time of year when baby lambs are born and take their first steps (which is obviously very, very cute). But small as they are, these lambs have a big baaa-ckstory (sorry) – they are part of a breed that was once guarded like a trade secret, was smuggled into the American colonies, went extinct in the US in the early 20th century, and then was brought back right here at Colonial Williamsburg. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Williamsburg.
Find out more at Visit Williamsburg
.
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The story of the Fendika Cultural Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the story of Melaku Belay and his journey from homelessness to international acclaim as a community leader.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fendika-azmari-bet
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com
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Dawn Anahid MacKeen’s grandfather survived the Armenian genocide, journeying nearly a thousand miles (much of it on foot) out of what is now Turkey and into the Syrian desert. Dawn chronicled his journey in her book The Hundred Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey – and also retraced her grandfather’s route herself to better understand what he endured.
Read Dawn’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Year-Walk-Dawn-Mackeen/dp/0544811941
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Kelly McEvers spent years living and working across the globe as a foreign correspondent, reporting from across Asia, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. Today, she shares three places that have shaped her life.
We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.
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In the collection of the Lyme Regis Museum in England is a beautiful 19th century tabletop made of delicate, inset stones. The rub is that these stones are… (spoiler alert)... coprolite, or fossilized feces. Amanda and Johanna discuss the man who had this table made, an eccentric scientist named William Buckland, who was a key figure in the early history of paleontology.
For more information about William Buckland’s table, see:
- https://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/related-article/bucklands-coprolite-table/
- https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-father-and-son-who-ate-every-animal-possible
- “The man who tried to eat everything on Earth” from the Royal Society https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-fcaKO_5sk
- https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history/unusual-diet-18th-century-geologist-william-buckland
- https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/05/19/me-and-my-monkey/
- On the Kirkdale Cave: https://scarboroughmuseumsandgalleries.org.uk/object/kirkdale-cave/
- For more on Buckland’s son, Frank, see: “The Man Who Ate the Zoo” by Richard Girling
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Caroline Mazel-Carlton has visited over 1000 Atlas Obscura Places. But the project was about more than ticking off a list – she says it helped save her life.
This episode contains discussion of suicidal thoughts. If you or someone you know is struggling, contact the Suicide Crisis Hotline by calling or texting 988.
Explore the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/all-places-in-the-atlas-on-one-map
Learn more about Caroline’s organization, the Wildflower Alliance:
https://wildfloweralliance.org/
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Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring us two charming stories of some very special canines who have been (literally) preserved for the ages.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: Learn about Sergeant Stubby here and Owney here
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In July of 2024, Greg Eskridge was released from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center after 30 years in prison. We hear what it’s like to see the Bay Area with new eyes, and what places in his life have made him feel the most free.
The Uncuffed podcast empowers people in prison to tell their own stories. Listen here: https://www.uncuffed.org/
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On December 12, 1925, the first motel in America opened its doors. It had Spanish Mission style architecture, a red roof, and an orange tree outside each door. We trace the rise and fall (and second rise) of motels over the past century: the good, the bad, and yes, the seedy.
Check out Megan McCrea’s timeline tracing the rise of the motel:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/insider/motels-history-road-trips-travel.html
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In California, a rare specimen of sequoia produces ghostly white leaves. Reporter Alexa Lim ventures into the forest to get a look at albino redwoods.
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The staff of Atlas Obscura share their new year’s travel resolutions – the things we want to change about how we travel or see the world this year.
Plus, we want to hear stories about the interesting or unusual places where you’ve stayed the night. How did you find it? Who did you go with? What made the experience of staying there good… or bad? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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One man in Brooklyn, New York - armed with a homemade boat and an artistic vision - helped transform one of the most polluted industrial waterways in the US.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/newtown-creek-nature-walk
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Today, Sea View Hospital on Staten Island is largely abandoned. But it was here, in this forgotten place, staffed by people who were shunned and segregated, where medical workers eventually found a cure for a disease that had plagued humanity for nearly 500,000 years: tuberculosis.
Learn more in Maria’s book, The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Angels-Untold-Nurses-Tuberculosis/dp/0593544927
The Staten Island Museum has an exhibit about the nurses called Taking Care: The Black Angels of Sea View Hospital: https://www.statenislandmuseum.org/exhibitions/takingcare/
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The new year is just around the corner. And the Atlas Obscura staff look back on the lessons and experiences they learned this year throughout their travels.
Plus, we want to hear about your New Year's travel resolutions. What are you hoping to change about the way you travel or move through your existing world? What inspired this resolution? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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In 1971, a paleontologist discovered an animal graveyard in northeastern Nebraska. It was crammed with species that lived in North America millions of years ago: camels, rhinos, and three-toed horses… Excavating this site, two things immediately became clear: something had drawn all these animals to this particular spot – and something very bad had happened to them.
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When a 180-year old bur oak tree collapsed during a rainstorm, a couple in Minnesota made a new life for it.
Plus: How many U.S. states have you visited? Join the AO community and create your own U.S. state tracker map here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/my-state-map
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Travel to Penobscot, Maine, where one farmer maintains the tradition of burning his crop each year to rejuvenate it the next.
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Over the course of its 200 year history, the lighthouse on Wood Island in Maine has been home to a celebrity dog, a grisly murder, some mischievous ghosts, and a monster storm that may or may not have been brought on by a pickpocket’s curse.
Learn more about Wood Island Lighthouse on their website (here’s Richard’s book.)
Want to hear more stories of mega storms, heroic sea rescues, and maybe even some more lighthouse ghosts? Here’s some information about Maine’s 60 historic lighthouses.
It's Maine Week on the show, so every day we're introducing you to someone from that great state — people who live, and work, and get inspired by Maine’s rugged beauty. This episode was produced in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism.
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A couple decades ago, Jason Williams was working at a local restaurant in Portland, Maine. One day he was driving around to farmers markets looking for ingredients, when he found a special place. And it gave him a big idea…
It's Maine Week on the show, so every day we're introducing you to someone from that great state — people who live, and work, and get inspired by Maine’s rugged beauty. This episode was produced in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism.
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Since settling down in the small town of Union, Maine, the Japanese-born ceramicist Hanako Nakazato has shaped her pieces around her endlessly surprising, largely untouched environment.
It's Maine Week on the show, so every day we're introducing you to someone from that great state — people who live, and work, and get inspired by Maine’s rugged beauty. This episode was produced in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism.
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We meet Becky Sigwright, who captains a wind-powered boat that’s been sailing around Maine since before the invention of the telephone.
It's Maine Week on the show, so every day we're introducing you to someone from that great state — people who live, and work, and get inspired by Maine’s rugged beauty. This episode was produced in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism.
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We're working on a listener-powered episode about travel resolutions and we want to hear yours!
What are you hoping to change about the way you travel or move through the world? What inspired this resolution? Maybe you wanna travel to a new continent. Maybe you are learning a new language for an upcoming trip. Maybe you are planning to be more adventurous and less organized about where you’re going. Or maybe you’re planning to travel less internationally and explore your city or town more. Whatever it is, we want to hear about it.
So give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com
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Experience the Orfield Anechoic Chamber: a room inside a concrete bunker that was once known as the quietest place on earth.
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The Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama bills itself as “the nation’s only retailer of lost luggage.” If you’ve ever lost a bag during air travel, it probably wound up there - along with many other treasures and oddities.
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We go to the Westman Islands off the southern coast of Iceland and meet the heroes who save young birds that have wandered from their nests every summer.
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We get out our passports and visit The Republic of Slowjamastan, a nation built on good vibes, good music and a dream of eliminating one very popular type of footwear.
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Hear from the caretakers of a ghost town in Bolivia that was once the world's highest ski resort.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/abandoned-chacaltaya-ski-resort
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In honor of Lucia Day on December 13, we’re diving into the origins of a Swedish holiday tradition which evolved from sinister pagan lore to a celebration of light, warmth and music.
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About 400 miles south of New Zealand, on the subantarctic Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, stands a Sitka spruce whose nearest neighbor is 170 miles away.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-loneliest-tree
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Gastro Obscura’s senior editor Sam O’Brien returns to the podcast to go deeper with us on her strange beat – recipes etched into gravestones. We probe how food can help heal and remember those we’ve lost.
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We visit the taverns of colonial America to take a frothy sip of the hot ale flip and how it helped pave the way for contemporary mixology.
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Empress Anna’s Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia was the site of an incredibly strange wedding. Was it a cruel joke? A strategic power move? Or something else?
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Mexico City is known for its museum and art scene. The collection at El Museo del Juguete Antiguo – The Antique Toy Museum – encourages visitors to lean into their imaginations – and reflect on the rich history and culture in this city.
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This is how you do Christmas in the desert. Every year, the city of Chandler, Arizona creates a Christmas Tree made entirely of the diaspore of this Western plant.
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Seltzer has been around for thousands of years. And one factory in Brooklyn, New York called the Brooklyn Seltzer Boys is preserving the history of this simple drink.
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Around 60 people live full time in the town of Helvetia, West Virginia. But once a year, the population swells to 20 times its size – when masked revelers dressed as moons, suns, monsters, possums, and everything in between descend. This is Fasnacht, a Swiss-German celebration of Fat Tuesday that was brought to the area by immigrants in the 19th century. In the 20th, Fasnacht almost died out…before being revived by two creative local women.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with West Virginia Tourism. The next Fasnacht will be celebrated on February 14, 2026 (time to plan a combo Fasnacht-Valentine’s Day trip?) For more information check out the event’s Fasnacht website and Facebook event page.
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In the early 1920s, walking around Orange, New Jersey at night, you might have seen young women coming out of a factory, with hair, skin and clothes softly glowing in the dark. Some called them “ghost girls.” Newspapers would later call them “radium girls” because the glow on these women came from radium-based paint that they used to make glow-in-the-dark watches for the US Radium Corporation. They thought it was perfectly safe to work with radium, maybe even healthy. They’d soon find out it wasn’t.
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When you think of Orlando, Florida and the area around it, a certain cartoon mouse might come to mind. But in recent decades the area has also become a destination for Latin American food and culture. Today we visit Coqui Snacks, a cozy snack shop in Kissimmee offering up classic Puerto Rican comfort foods…including a popsicle called a limber, which has a surprising connection to aviator Charles Lindberg.
Learn more about Coqui Snacks: https://www.coquisnacks.com/ and https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/coqui-snacks
If you’re looking for more places to eat in Kissimmee, check out Gastro Obscura’s Latin Culinary trail – a guide to dozens of restaurants offering up Cuban sandwiches, Dominican-Japanese fusion, and more!
https://kissimmee-latin-culinary-trail.atlasobscura.com/
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You can learn a lot about a person from their hands. In this episode, we hear the story of a doctor who made it possible for us to hold onto the stories of presidents, astronauts, musicians, artists and more… through bronze molds of their hands.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/adrian-e-flatt-m-d-hand-collection
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Gastro Obscura writer Sam O’Brien takes co-host Kelly McEvers on a tour of the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous tributes to the turkey – and makes her case for why these big, beautiful birds are worth paying attention to.
Read Sam’s article on the history of the turkey: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/history-of-the-turkey-thanksgiving
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Carpets are everyday objects we rarely stop to think about. But they’re far more than decoration or something soft to step on. Each one holds an origin story – threads that run through centuries of history, connecting small villages of master weavers to sprawling, power-hungry empires.
Historian Dorothy Armstrong, author of Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets, takes us on a journey through the surprising and global story of carpets.
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When Elliott Long’s dad started planting a forest of “bottle trees” with trunks of steel and old bottles for leaves, Elliott immediately understood that one day, it would be his job to keep his dad’s forest alive. He wanted nothing to do with it. And then his dad died, and Elliott had a decision to make.
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Atop a mountain in a picturesque Colorado town is the frozen corpse of a Norwegian grandpa. We get the tale of how this came to be, from the person who for years has trekked up and down the mountain for this unique preservation mission.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/frozen-dead-guy-days
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Today, we’re sharing an episode from The Detour: a show about going places, that actually goes places. Host Sam O’Brien and geologist Becky Nesel take a trip to the Shawangunk Mountains (aka the Gunks) just a couple hours north of New York City. And Becky shows Sam what makes these mountains unique – including an incredibly rare ecosystem that might be the only one of its kind in the world.
This episode was produced in partnership with Toyota Trucks.
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We chat with writer Alessio Perrone about what he learned from the people who hunt for Italy’s unexploded bombs, leftover from times of war.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/italy-unexploded-ordnance
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Char Adams is the author of Black Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore. She chronicles Black-owned bookstores in America – from David Ruggles, all the way to the stores that opened up in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter uprisings.
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In 1905, a Bulgarian named Stamen Grigorov made a discovery. Inspired by a wave of researchers studying the secret to long life, he decided to put under the microscope a food that he ate daily: yogurt. Today, the Bulgarian bacteria he found is memorialized in a one-of-a-kind museum in his hometown.
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Reporter Teresa de Miguel joins host Kelly McEvers to talk to her about these floating gardens called Chinapas in Xochimilco, Mexico City. Today, many of these chinampas are vanishing but efforts are being made to preserve them.
This story Teresa reported was a collaboration between the Associated Press and Mongabay
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A tiny island off the coast of Brazil is known for being a dangerous place … purely because its inhabitants are, well, snakes. But we speak to a researcher who’s seen it up close and says it’s time for this place to shed its reputation.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/snake-island-ilha-de-queimada-grande
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We visit a quaint Dutch fishing village and attempt to unravel the mystery that unfolded there… a mystery that involved strange and curious letters and a voyage to the other side of the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mr-kaors-portrait
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In the 1920s the world was small. This was an exciting time for scientists and explorers. And among these explorers were Ted and Kemit Roosevelt who traveled to China to find a rare animal back in those days, the giant panda.
Author Nathalia Holt joins us to tell this story from her new book: The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers’ Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda.
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About 100 years ago, the Great Lakes were inundated with an unwelcome visitor – the leech-like, blood-sucking, creepy-looking sea lamprey. For decades, a small governmental organization has kept the lampreys (aka Vampire Fish) in check. But now, thanks to federal budget cuts, it's not clear who will win: the Great Lakes or the sea lamprey.
Read Katie Thornton’s full story in the New Yorker: https://bit.ly/3WIEz9F
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Artist and architect Danny Shaddick and the rapper Shad have known each other since high school, and they both wound up in Toronto making art together. Now, they’ve made an unusual musical robot that incorporates drums, found objects, and field recordings from around their shared city.
Watch a short documentary about Danny and Shad, and listen to their original song in full: https://www.atlasobscura.com/hubs/toronto
This episode was produced in partnership with Destination Toronto.
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We go to Tokyo, to a particular place that is both nemesis and best friend to all those procrastinators out there. (Yes, we’re looking at you :)
LEARN MORE: The Manuscript Writing Cafe is open Saturdays and Sundays and you can reserve your seat online.
https://koenji-sankakuchitai.blog.jp/ManuscriptWritingCafe/
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This San Francisco museum, curated by a super-fan of the Beats, is a shrine to an incredibly influential cultural movement and a destination for folks keeping it alive today.
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Journalist Eliot Stein explores the tradition of the djeli – African storytellers who memorize and pass down oral histories – tracing it all the way back to the Mali Empire. Along the way, he tracked down a modern djeli, who is upholding and remixing the tradition. And he found him in an unexpected place: working in a convenience store.
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A while ago, we asked you to send us stories about your collections – and we got so many great responses, that we decided to make another episode about it.
Plus, we want to hear stories about the fictional places you wish were real. Tell us why this place lives in your imagination. What resonates with you about this place? And how did you discover it? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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On the heels of the World Series, Kelly and Amanda discuss an unusual tradition in baseball: the fact that, before each game, every single ball is rubbed with mud sourced from a secret location in the Delaware River Basin.
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Sigmund Freud’s famous psychoanalytic couch is preserved in his final office in London, England.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/freud-museum-london
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The Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki has been home to an infestation of Chilean recluse spiders for more than 50 years.
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There’s a mansion in New Orleans with a truly horrific past. Author Colin Dickey, who has joined us every Thursday this month, reveals the real life horrors that took place here, its once sadistic owner and its haunted reputation.
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When the city of Buffalo, New York invited landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to town in the late 1860s, they were hoping he’d replicate the success of his most famous design: New York City’s Central Park. But Olmsted had other ideas. Instead of creating one centralized park, he argued, why not make Buffalo a city within a system of interconnected parks? It was a plan that would change the course of urban design.
This episode was brought to you in partnership with Visit Buffalo. Learn more about Buffalo’s park system: https://www.bfloparks.org/
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From long flights to strenuous trips, listeners share stories about traveling with their kids for the first time.
Plus, we want to hear stories about the fictional places you wish were real. Tell us why this place lives in your imagination. What resonates with you about this place? And how did you discover it? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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A city in Uzbekistan used to be the site of one of the world’s largest seas. Now it’s a dusty reminder of one of the largest and most forgotten environmental disasters.
READ MORE: Visit the Stihia website here to learn more about the music festival that happens in Moynaq, including where it may be this year. And this news article is a good primer on some of the current conflicts and issues in the region.
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We go to the former estate of the Davies sisters, two unusually wealthy Welsh women who traveled the world, fell in love with art, served their country, and then dedicated their home to culture and community.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gregynog-hall
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There’s a special tree in Portland that’s full of a city’s hopes, dreams, and wishes.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/portland-wishing-tree
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The West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia was once a home to thousands of prisoners. Today, it’s a tourist attraction. But its past continues to haunt the town of Moundsville to this day.
Every Thursday this month, writer Colin Dickey joins us to talk about the cultural history behind some of our favorite spooky legends and creatures.
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Over the course of 50 years, a father and son team made exquisite glass botanical models that would transform our understanding of the natural world.
Learn more about the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants: https://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/glass-flowers
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Maybe you associate Las Vegas with slot machines more than with pinball machines. But what you might not know is that pinball, today found in every family friendly arcade in America, was once considered a form of gambling – and was the center of a culture war in the US. We go to the Las Vegas Pinball Hall of Fame to play through the history of the game.
This episode was brought to you in partnership with the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Check out the Pinball Hall of Fame online: https://pinballmuseum.org/
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This archaeological dig in Phonsovan, Laos is one of the most important and dangerous prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/plain-of-jars
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Sets from the original 1960’s Star Trek have been recreated for fans and actors alike in Ticonderoga, New York.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/star-trek-original-series-set-tour
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Colin Dickey is no stranger to dubious ghost tales. But when he went to Nevada to report at a brothel called the Mustang Ranch, he experienced something that to this day he can’t explain.
Every Thursday this month, writer Colin Dickey joins us to talk about the cultural history behind some of our favorite spooky legends and creatures.
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In the months leading up to Labor Day, a dedicated team of craftspeople and volunteers gather in the Santa Fe Plaza Mall to build…a puppet. Not just an ordinary puppet, but a gigantic, 50-foot tall marionette with moving arms, eyes, and legs. It looks kind of like a big, somewhat-scary, somewhat-cuddly ghost. This ghost will get stuffed with shredded paper, and then around 50,000 people get together to…well, set him on fire.
This…is the Burning of Zozobra.
This episode was brought to you in partnership with Visit Santa Fe. Learn more about the Burning of Zozobra and start planning your trip now - the event takes place every year the Friday before Labor Day: https://burnzozobra.com/
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In 1915, a devastating fire destroyed the Chinatown in Walnut Grove, California. In its aftermath, a group of Chinese immigrant residents founded the town of Locke – not just another Chinatown, but a self-sustaining Chinese community nestled in the California Delta. Today, Locke stands as one of the last remaining rural Chinese towns in the United States.
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The Atlas Places Team bring two stories - one from the campus of Gallaudet University and the other from Cornell University to tell us about usual traditions that take place in these universities.
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A basketball fan goes to the hall of fame – and no, it’s not the big one in Massachusetts that you may be thinking about. Hear the story behind a Midwest state’s special link to the sport.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/indiana-basketball-hall-of-fame-museum
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Deep in the Phoenix Gold Mine in Idaho Springs, Colorado, a strange noise inspires a legend.
Every Thursday this month, writer Colin Dickey joins us to talk about the cultural history behind some of our favorite spooky legends and creatures.
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Today, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk is viewed as the founder of the modern Czech state – a George Washington-like figure. When he died in the 1930s, his final words were sealed in an envelope…which then passed from his son, who died under mysterious circumstances in the 1940s, to a secretary’s flat in Scotland, to being stashed away in the National Archives, with instructions not to open the envelope until 2025.
This September, the envelope was revealed to the public for the first time. So what were Masaryk’s famous last words?
Read more about the mysterious envelope: https://english.radio.cz/masaryks-last-words-envelope-opened-insights-a-nations-founding-president-8863213 and about the re-opened investigation into Jan Masaryk’s death: https://www.rferl.org/a/czech-murder-czechoslovakia-masaryk-cold-war/33306970.html
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We learn how a small town in Missouri became a world capital for a unique instrument – and how one man would go from being a down-on-his-luck furniture builder, to being known as the “zither king of Missouri.”
To learn more, check out Zither International: https://zithers-usa.com/
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A girl and her father take a walk in the woods. This essay was written by Emily Lowe and edited by Tusshara Nalakumar Srilatha, and originally appeared in Off Assignment.
Plus: Off Assignment is offering a writing course, called The Practice of Imagination. It begins November 4, and you can use code ATLAS20 for 20% off: https://www.offassignment.com/practice-of-imagination
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A small town in Texas has embraced the story of the visit and demise of an otherworldly being from the 1800s… and what many say is America’s only alien gravesite.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/1800-s-alien-gravesite
If you can’t make it out to Texas, check out this documentary about the incident which is online.
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Probably when you think of submarine warfare, WWI or WWII comes to mind. Not… the American Civil War. But oh, they had them back then! Or rather, they had one back then, and it worked exactly one time. Dylan is joined by longtime friend of the show Caitlin Doughty, of Ask a Mortician, to talk about one of their shared obsessions: the candle-lit, hand-cranked, Civil War submarine which has one of the most gruesome undersea histories you can imagine.
Find more of Caitlin’s work: https://caitlindoughty.com/
Watch her doc about the HL Hunley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiDThvhadss
Visit the Hunley for yourself: https://www.hunley.org/
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“Founding Fathers” like Washington or Jefferson have gigantic monuments in Washington, statues galore and palatial house-museums. But what about…Thomas Paine? The author of “Common Sense,” the pamphlet that brought the idea of American independence to the masses, was considered a hero after the American Revolution. But then he experienced a remarkable fall from grace, which ended in his burial in a pauper’s grave and…well, some graverobbers disinterring his body and spreading his bones all over the world.
Feelin’ the Paine? Check out the biography “Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations” by Craig Nelson, this Library of Congress article on Paine’s bones, and a discussion of Paine’s philosophy on this episode of the BBC’s In Our Time. Or see his New Rochelle farmhouse (and…former grave) for yourself: https://www.thomaspainecottage.org/
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The Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico has a pretty unusual spiral staircase – it winds round and round like a DNA helix, and has no visible center “bar” for support. But the story of the staircase’s origins is even stranger. It was built by an itinerant carpenter who wandered in from the desert – and 200 years later, we’re still not sure who it was.
This episode was brought to you in partnership with Visit Santa Fe. Find out more about visiting the Loretto Chapel here:
https://www.lorettochapel.com/staircase?srsltid=AfmBOorVB6TCf7cxF3k4Ctc3PSgBTy40A9Zl3lzWWvz5jc3vH-AgYuu9
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Listeners share stories about their most treasured collections.
Plus: We want to hear your stories about traveling with kids! Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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We go underground in London, where there is a railway built for one purpose and one purpose only: to keep the city’s mail moving on time. All this week, we’re heading underground to discover the stories beneath our feet.
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We visit northern Italy, where a mysterious religious community founded by an insurance agent–turned–spiritual leader spent 15 years constructing an underground temple.
All this week, we’re heading underground to discover the stories beneath our feet.
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We visit an underground chamber in Upton, Massachusetts, that’s puzzled some New Englanders – while others long knew its ancient origins. All this week, we’re heading underground to discover the stories beneath our feet.
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We visit an underground oasis in Fresno, California, that’s a winding maze of rooms and passageways filled with lush citrus trees. All this week, we’re heading underground to discover the stories beneath our feet.
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Jessica Leigh Hester joins us on a deep dive into the sewer, the subject of her appropriately-titled book, Sewer. She and Dylan talk about some of the interesting (and disgusting) things she found there… like fatbergs.
All this week, we’re heading underground to discover the stories beneath our feet.
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The story of Thomalind and Priscilla is 300 years in the making and brings listeners to Bunce Island, off the coast of Sierra Leone.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bunce-island
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Inspired by the novel and movie Around the World in Eighty Days, Eleanor Hambyand Dr. Sandra Hazelip (Ellie and Sandy) ventured out and took the world by storm as they turned 81 years old.
Ellie and Sandy’s book, Here We Go: Lessons for Living Fearlessly from Two Traveling Nanas, is out now!
And if their story resonated with you about traveling at an older age, tell us about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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The International Rose Test Garden in Portland, Oregon is a rose-lover’s paradise: there’s over 10,000 bushes and 625 varieties from all over the world. And there’s a great story about how the garden came to be: During WWI, the people of Portland reached out to the gardeners of Europe offering to take care of their plants and save them from destruction. Rachel Burlington, the garden’s curator, wanted to learn more about this, so she started digging into the archives and made a surprising discovery: It wasn’t… quite… true. Rachel tells us what she’s learned about the garden’s origins, and the battle between West Coast cities to be “The City of Roses.”
Learn more about the Portland International Rose Test Garden: https://www.portland.gov/parks/washington-park-international-rose-test-garden
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Since his childhood, Nick Dawson has been fascinated by Cramond Island, a deserted tidal island off the coast of Edinburgh, Scotland, which became for him a symbol of mystery and untapped adventure. In today’s episode, he finally gets to explore the island, learning about its nature and history, as he tries to get to the heart of why the place is so special.
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As the summer travel season officially closes, we share our favorite memories of the warm months – from minor league baseball games with unique traditions, to surviving travel with kids.
Plus, we want to hear your stories about traveling with your own kids – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave us a message. Or, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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A once-blacklisted Hollywood star created a magical theater in Topanga Canyon, California, that still endures and inspires today.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/theatricum-botanicum
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In Ystad, Sweden, every night at 9pm a night watchman scans the horizon for fires from the tower of St Mary’s Church, and sounds his trumpet to let the city know it is safe. This tradition goes back to the Medieval Ages. The Night Watchman of Ystad is one of the last keeping his tradition, and today his role has taken on an even bigger significance. Author and journalist Eliot Stein takes us through the evolution of the night watchman.
Read more in Eliot’s book, Custodians of Wonder.
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Utah bookseller Ken Sanders has spent his life fighting the Glen Canyon Dam. Inspired by a band of cowboy ecoterrorists in his favorite Western novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang, Ken's used his own blend of hijinks and illegal actions to free the Colorado River. For years he thought he'd failed. But these days, he sees a glimmer of hope that something big is about to change.
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In the 1920s, Henry Ford decided to create a rubber plantation in the Amazon rainforest, and alongside it, a tidy little town for his workers: Fordlandia. With its classic American homes and yards, sidewalks and electric streetlights, Fordlandia was a Midwestern anomaly in the Brazilian jungle, one that dazzled American visitors. And it might have actually been a decent place to live – if it weren’t governed by Henry Ford’s rigid and peculiar rules for a wholesome society.
Read more in Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin.
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Dylan and producers Amanda and Johanna take listener questions. If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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We journey into New York City’s delis and bodegas, in search of a famous – and controversial – sandwich: the chopped cheese. This sandwich has become a cultural symbol and source of debate, and is so storied that some might call it a “folk sandwich.” Plus, we dig into the rich history of the corner store culture where the chopped cheese originated.
This episode was produced in partnership with NYC Tourism.
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One of the last remaining World War II Victory Gardens in the U.S is quietly growing across from Boston’s Fenway Park.
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Mary Roach is an author of several books including Stiff and Fuzz. And her newest book, Replaceable You, explores the incredible advances and tough questions prompted by the human body’s failings. Mary takes us on a tour of our own anatomy – and what it takes to replace it.
Mary’s new book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, will be out September 16 – preorder the book today!
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Here at Atlas Obscura, we’re big on collections. From rare jerseys to popular ‘90s plush toys, our staff shares the things we collect – and what they mean to us.
Plus: We want to hear about YOUR collections. What do you collect, and what does the collection mean to you? Or, maybe you have a story about someone who you know who has an outrageous collection. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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A backpacker on the Inca Trail encounters a fellow hiker who is inexplicably carrying two bags. This essay was written by Maggie Downs and edited by Aube Rey Lescure, and originally appeared in Off Assignment.
Plus: Off Assignment is offering a travel writing course, called Rethinking Travel Writing. It begins September 6, and you can use code ATLAS20 for 20% off: https://www.offassignment.com/rethinking-travel-writing
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The story of a woman who, in her 70s, inspired some of the biggest labor uprisings in American history.
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Dylan just returned from a month-long trip with his wife and two kids, ages 8 and 10. And now, he wants to hear your stories about traveling with your own kids – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave us a message with your name and story. Or, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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The story of a stork, a spear and a scientific mystery that led to breakthroughs in the way we understand bird migration.
All week, we’re featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!
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Atlas Obscura’s resident food and death reporter Sam O’Brien takes us to Smithfield, Virginia, where we meet a 120-year-old ham, and the people who love it.
All week, we’re featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!
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We visit the world’s oldest rose, which is so tough that it survived being bombed in World War II.
All week, we’re featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!
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We explore the unexpected combination of recipes and graves through the story of Naomi Odessa Miller Dawson’s spritz cookies.
All week, we’re featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!
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Dylan goes on a journey to examine the preserved middle finger of astronomer, physicist, and engineer Galileo Galilei.
All week, we’re featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at
hello@atlasobscura.com We may air your story on a future episode!
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Created by a volcanic eruption in 2015, this island in the South Pacific no longer exists… but we chat with a person who got to see it before it disappeared.
LEARN MORE about Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in this Reuters article and see it in the Atlas here
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We talk with anthropologist Manvir Singh, whose research on shamanism took him from the small island of Siberut to study current practitioners, to exploring prehistoric cave art in France. It’s the subject of his new book, “Shamanism: The Timeless Religion” – and in it he also argues that we can find elements of shamanism in our own lives.
Find out more about Manvir Singh’s work: https://www.manvir.org/
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Dylan has just returned from a month-long trip with his family, and he and the gang answer listener questions about traveling with kids and more.
Have a question for Dylan? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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Listeners share stories about how they commute to work and back home as they also reflect on how special their neighborhood is too.
Plus: We wanna hear stories about your first time traveling with your kids. Tell us about that experience - where did you and your family travel to? And why there? How did your kids adjust to traveling? Did they love it? Or did they give you a hard time traveling? What memories did you make from that trip? Was this the right place for kids? What would you recommend to other parents traveling with their kids for the first time? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
Plus: The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World is out now!
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Earlier this year a geologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science got a very unusual phone call. A construction crew ripping up the museum’s parking lot had found… dinosaur bones. We dig deeper and get a taste of what it would have been like to visit the Denver area during the Cretaceous Period.
See the parking lot dino fossil: https://www.dmns.org/science/research/parking-lot-dinosaur/
Check out the rock slab that “shows” the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event: https://coloradosprings.dmns.org/dmnshomepage/catalyst/fall-2024/recorded-in-stone-single-worst-day-for-multicellular-life-on-earth//
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For years, students at Bennington College snuck into a locked room for a glimpse of strange and magical instruments created by professor Gunnar Schonbeck. Today, we join his orchestra.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/no-experience-required
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Henry S. Rosenthal is the owner of what is likely the world’s largest collection of two-headed taxidermied calves. The collection is in San Francisco, and you can reach out to Henry at deepgort@gmail.com to make arrangements to see it.
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Ota Tofu in Portland, Oregon is the oldest tofu shop in the United States. Two brothers opened the shop in 1911 and even today their tofu is still made the old-fashioned way, using a labor-intensive process that is difficult to find (even in Japan!).
Learn more about Ota Tofu: https://www.otapdx.com/
And check out the work of guest Lauren Yoshiko: http://laurenyoshiko.com/
This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Portland.
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From opera singers to strange noises emitting from air conditioners, listeners share stories about their unusual neighbors.
Plus: We want to hear stories about your commute. Are there people that you see on the train platform everyday, but still remain a stranger to you? Did you ever have a funny or strange encounter in a crowded subway car? Do you see something on your way to work that always makes your day? Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave us a message with your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
And if you have a kid in your life who loves STEM, check out our new book,The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World, for young readers.
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In ancient Athens, citizens would gather at the Agora, or marketplace, for a specific purpose: to vote people off the island – er, out of the city.
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There are thousands of varieties of citrus, many more than just the navel oranges. And they’re all being preserved in a collection at the University of California Riverside. Learn more here.
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Rolando Pujol is an executive producer at ABC, but his true passion is for roadside attractions. And he’s got a new book all about it titledThe Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana. He and Dylan nerd out about Muffler Men, mimetic architecture, and Pizza Hut Classics.
Plus: If you have a favorite roadside attraction, give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or email us a voice memo at hello@atlasobscura.com. Tell us what it is. Where is i? What memory do you have about this attraction? And why do you love it?
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Counterculture icon… artist… nun? A new art center has opened up in downtown LA dedicated to the work of Corita Kent, also known as Sister Mary Corita, a nun and art teacher whose bright, colorful, and political Pop Art prints made her famous in the 1960s…and also got her in big trouble with the church.
Pay a visit to the Corita Art Center next time you’re in LA! Or: driving through Boston? Keep your eyes peeled for Rainbow Swash.
For more on Corita and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, check out the Rebel Hearts documentary. And if you need some inspiration, here’s the art department rules Corita posted in her classroom at Immaculate Heart College.
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We remember Bill Dilworth, who took care of 280,000 pounds of dirt in an NYC loft for 35 years.
Plus: Preorder your copy of The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World today!
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Today’s show is all about unusual dating spots. And to help, Eden Dawn, co-author of The Portland Book of Datesand The Seattle Book of Dates, joins Dylan to answer some of your questions about travel and dating.
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A South Carolina ghost story is a harbinger of hurricanes and a window into history. All this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world’s most unusual beaches.
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We follow a long set of wooden stairs deep underground to a sea cave with a mysterious and colorful past, and take in a spectacular, hidden view of the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla.
Learn more about The Cave Store: https://www.cavestore.com/
All this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world’s most unusual beaches.
Plus: Pre-order your copy of our new book, The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to Inventing the World, today!
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Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town in South Africa is a destination where sunbathers, tourists, and penguins share both the beach and parts of the town.
All this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world’s most unusual beaches.
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This beautiful beach made of sand and worn down coral is covered in the wreckage of tanks once used by the U.S. military for target practice.
All this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world’s most unusual beaches.
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In 2006 a massive haul of Doritos was shipwrecked on Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks, leaving its mark on the town forever. All this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world’s most unusual beaches.
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A couple created what is perhaps the cutest and most filling micro-store to pop up during the pandemic. But to find it, you’ll have to trek through rural Vermont and look for the phone-booth sized box filled with baked goods.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiny-bread-box
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In the 1800s, people flocked to a special gravestone in New York City’s Trinity Churchyard. They left flowers and cards and even wept. But there was one strange thing about this gravestone: No one was buried beneath it.
Read more about Charlotte Temple in Allegra Rosenberg’s article.
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We share stories about our neighbors – from an unusual pet in Maryland, to an out-of-place front yard in Brooklyn, to a beekeeper with a secret.
Plus: We want to hear YOUR neighbor stories! Tell us about your neighbors’ yards, their house decor, their habits – and what you like about them. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and favorite story about your neighbors. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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An elite group of ravens live at the Tower of London, anxiously monitored and lovingly tended to by a professional ravenmaster. Because according to legend, if these ravens were ever to leave, the crown of England would fall. But it turns out this “ancient” legend is a relatively recent invention.
More on the one historian’s investigations into the legend’s origins can be found in this paper and in the book City of Ravens: The Extraordinary History of London, its Tower and Its Famous Ravens.
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Today, we’re sharing an episode from our new podcast documentary series, Charlie’s Place.
Beloved, notorious, defiant, folk hero – these are just a few ways to describe Charlie Fitzgerald, the entrepreneur who owned an integrated nightclub during Jim Crow in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What happened in Myrtle Beach at Charlie’s would come to define a community and generations to come. This is the almost forgotten history of Charlie’s Place.
Charlie's Place is a production of Atlas Obscura and Rococo Punch in partnership with Pushkin Industries and presented by Visit Myrtle Beach.
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A small cemetery in the grasslands of Kenya serves as a way to honor one of the most endangered animals in the world – the rhino – and elevate the plight of a species on the brink.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ol-pejeta-rhino-cemetery
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A French curator infiltrates a Nazi army to save masterpieces from the Jeu De Paume museum.
Read more in Michelle Young’s new book, The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland.
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A map in the archives of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland, Oregon may be the key to finding buried treasure that has yet to be found. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Portland.
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In 1975, a man in Seward, Nebraska dug a gigantic hole in his yard and made the world’s largest time capsule. On July 4, 2025, the capsule was opened.
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Dylan and producers Johanna and Amanda answer listener questions about solo travel. Have a question for Dylan? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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A Seattle restaurant pushes diners to eat beyond their borders through its embrace of global street foods.
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The Pan-American Highway is considered the longest road in the world – it stretches nearly 20,000 miles, from Alaska to Argentina. In her new docuseries Pati Jinich Explores PanAmericana, Pati talks with people along the famous route about the different ways we form our identities. And she was particularly interested in exploring this territory because of her own unique cultural background.
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Early polar explorers faced long nights and dangerous expeditions. To entertain themselves, they wrote and published niche newspapers and periodicals. Atlas Obscura’s community editor Allegra Rosenberg reads an essay exploring this unique polar tradition. Read her full essay here.
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Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe, Wisconsin is the last cheese plant left in America that makes the ultra-stinky Limburger cheese: a cheese that inspires equal parts loving and loathing, has been banned for its assaulting smell, and that once sparked a feud between two cities.
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A few weeks ago, the Atlas Obscura staff told us where they would spend their last days before the apocalypse. Now we’re sharing your stories – from a childhood home in a small town in Illinois, to a trip in Eastern Europe, to a pizzeria in Brooklyn and a cave in Utah.
Plus: We want to hear your stories about your neighbors! Tell us about your neighbors’ front yards, back yards, house decor – and what you like about them. Is there a neighbor in your block who goes all the way every holiday to have the best decorations? Or maybe there's someone who has a wacky display year round? Maybe someone has an incredible garden, or some homemade art sculptures. Did they inspire you? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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The grooves cut in this road outside Lancaster, CA play the finale of the William Tell Overture.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/civic-musical-road
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If you were to visit a cigar factory in Cuba, you’d hear something unexpected: the sound of the daily news report, or maybe a poem or a novel, being read aloud. The cigar “reader” is a tradition held by just a handful of people, and it came from a fundamentally revolutionary idea. Eliot Stein, author of Custodians of Wonder, joins Dylan to explain.
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One of the many objects that went down with the ship during the sinking of the Titanic was a beautiful, jewel-encrusted edition of a poetry book called the “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.” The Rubaiyat was probably the most famous work of poetry in the English-speaking world at that time…which was somewhat unusual, as the book was written by a Persian mathematician 800 years before.
For more information about Omar Khayyam and the Rubaiyat, check out the books “Persian Presence in Victorian Poetry” by Taher-Kermani Reza, “The Wine of Wisdom: The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar Khayyam” by Mehdi Aminrazavi, and the BBC documentary “The Genius of Omar Khayyam.”
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In Antarctica, researchers bid farewell to an iconic fixture: a big red bus named Ivan.
Want to learn more about Ivan? Read Allegra Rosenberg’s article all about him.
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To round out Pride Month, we’re sharing one of our favorite classic episodes. For decades, a one of a kind travel guide opened up the world for gay travelers. Today, historians are using them to create an interactive map of LGBTQ spaces in midcentury America.
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Let’s all go to hell. Seriously. Hell, Michigan, that is :)
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hell-michigan
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In an homage to the 1995 movie Four Rooms, Dylan talks with historian Susan Wilson about how the history of Boston – and the United States at large – was influenced by events that occurred in four different rooms of the iconic Omni Parker House Hotel.
This episode was recorded live at the WBUR Festival in Boston on May 31, 2025.
Check out Susan Wilson’s books and her other work on her website.
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A couple months ago, we asked for your stories about traveling with a significant other for the first time. We got so many responses, that we decided to make a Part II.
Plus, we want to hear your questions about travel and dating! In a few weeks, we’ll have dating expert Eden Dawn on the show to dish out answers. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and question. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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In a small rural town in Colombia, one man mounts books on the backs of donkeys and takes to the hills. This is how he operates his bookmobile, aka “Biblioburro.”
For more information about where to support Luis Soriano’s Biblioburro, visit booksforchangeusa.org
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The TV show Columbo, about a loveable schlub detective, is internationally beloved. But Hungary has an extra special relationship with the show, dating all the way back to the 1970s when the communist government banned most other American shows.
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A majestic building in Santos, Brazil used to be the center of the coffee trade.
Go deeper with professor Ian Read’s work here and read more in the Atlas here.
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For decades, the Ashley House in Sheffield, Massachusetts preserved and promoted the story of Col. John Ashley, a wealthy businessman who opened his home to those fighting against British rule on the eve of America’s war for independence. But in this episode we hear a new narrative, about an enslaved woman and true patriot who tested the rhetoric of the revolution.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ashley-house
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The National Library of Sweden is home to the largest medieval manuscript still in existence: an enormous, three-foot-tall Bible with an unusual portrait of the devil inside (along with a calendar, some spells, and a lengthy confession of the writer’s sins and temptations). Legend has it that it was created by a monk under duress over the course of one evening… with some supernatural help.
Check out more about the Codex Gigas online.
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Fifteen years ago, drones were considered toys. Today, there’s everywhere – both in the news and physically. But before the big splashy news stories like the recent New Jersey drone panic, a much quieter – and stranger – incident took place at a highly secure Air Force base.
Read more of Gordon Lubold’s reporting.
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Dylan and producers Johanna and Amanda take your questions.
For our next mailbag, we’re looking for questions about solo travel. If you have a question for Dylan about traveling by yourself, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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We want to hear about your favorite unusual local date spots. One rule: No romantic restaurants! Where are the places that you bust out when you’re really trying to impress someone with an obscure, off the beaten track spot? And, we want to hear your questions about travel and dating, cause we'll have an expert on the show soon to dish out answers. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after 3 minutes so please call back if you get disconnected. Or record and send a voice memo to Hello@AtlasObscura.Com.
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A midwest city has embraced what it means to be the namesake hometown of one very famous superhero. And at its center is a museum that holds the carefully cultivated collection of one superfan.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/super-museum-metropolis
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In the 1960s, the band the Grateful Dead became consumed by a quest that would take up 10 years, cost millions of dollars, and almost break up the band. It was the quest for audio perfection – to bring crystal clear sound from the front row to the nosebleeds and back again. It’s a story that takes us from the infamous acid tests of the 1960s to standing in front of a 60-foot tall wall of 600 speakers…and to tell it we’re joined by Brian Anderson, author of “Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection.”
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The staff here at Atlas Obscura answered an unsettling question for this episode: Where would you spend the last day before the apocalypse? Some interesting truths come out.
Plus, we want to hear from you. Tell us where YOU would spend your last day before the hypothetical apocalypse. What connection do you have with this place? Why would you spend it there? What would you do if you had the whole place to yourself? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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An ancient book contains a controversial Greek recipe, one of the earliest examples of patent law, and answers for a perennial problem: how to make conversation at a dinner party.
Learn more about Deipnosophistae.
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The Haskell Free Library and Opera House sits half in Canada, half in the United States. For over a century, it was a symbol of friendship between the two nations. Then, the library got caught in the crossfire of a much bigger struggle.
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We visit one of California’s longest-running tourist attractions: A giant stump that helped spark the movement to preserve the state’s natural places.
For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
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On a summer day in 1976, four friends had a strange experience in the Northwoods of Maine that would come back to haunt them decades later. Today, we’re exploring the hidden morbid side of the national parks system with our friends from National Park After Dark. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
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We visit a mysterious sinkhole in Arizona that has befuddled an exclusive group of divers who’ve gotten a glimpse of a strange world at its sandy bottom. For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
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A 50-square-mile patch of Yellowstone National Park in Idaho might just be the perfect place to commit a crime. For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
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In March of 2024, a park ranger and volunteer were taking their regular walk together around Big Bend National Park. They came across a teeny tiny fuzzy little plant with unusual ribbon-like flowers bursting out of the center – something neither of them had ever seen before. As it turned out, they had stumbled on a rare scientific discovery.
Learn more about the woolly devil, and check out iNaturalist.
For more unusual stories, lists, and offbeat itineraries, check out the Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide to the National Parks.
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Spring is a popular time to visit Colonial Williamsburg, not least because it’s “lambing season,” the time of year when baby lambs are born and take their first steps (which is obviously very, very cute). But small as they are, these lambs have a big baaa-ckstory (sorry) – they are part of a breed that was once guarded like a trade secret, was smuggled into the American colonies, went extinct in the US in the early 20th century, and then was brought back right here at Colonial Williamsburg. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Williamsburg.
Find out more at Visit Williamsburg.
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We will always love Dolly Parton, who’s installed a “dreambox” time capsule at her amusement park. In it, there’s a secret song that no one will hear until the legendary artist turns 100.
LEARN MORE about Dolly’s songwriting prowess in Unlikely Angel, a book by Hamilton College professor Lydia Hammesley.
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Today, we’re sharing an episode from our friends at the Sporkful. Dan Pashman goes on a tour of Los Angeles, with an Atlas Obscura guide in hand. In search of an elusive slice of coconut cake, Dan begins at the airport, takes a detour to an underground tunnel system, and pays a visit to a very unusual store: Time Travel Mart.
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Producer Luz Fleming chats with the co-founders of MoF, or the Museum of Friends, about how they managed to create one of the best contemporary art museums Colorado has to offer, in one of the least likely locations you can imagine.
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The roadside dinosaur has been part of the Americana cannon since the 1930s, and we’ve got theme parks and Sinclair gas station mascots as a result. Today, Places Editor Diana Hubbell and producer Johanna Mayer head to two spots on opposite ends of the United States to ask one question: Why is there a dinosaur here?
Learn more about Steve’s Dinosaur House, and check out his Facebook page for the most up to date visiting hours.
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It’s Memorial Day, and the unofficial start of summer! To kick off the season, we hear a sampling of listener-submitted stories of summer adventure in the wild, strange, and wonderful world in which we live. Plus: Birds!
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It’s almost Pride Month, and we want to hear your stories about places that celebrate lesser-known queer history, or that have a deep personal connection to you. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Iconic musician Fela Kuti declared his home in Lagos, Nigeria, an independent state. He called it Kalakuta - and in 1977 it was invaded by the Nigerian Army.
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In 1926, a wildly popular evangelical preacher named Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach, in front of the Ocean View Hotel. When her body wasn’t found, she was presumed to have drowned. There’s just one curious thing: Over the next few weeks, people kept on seeing her.
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Dystopian fiction is all the rage these days. But back in the 1800s one of the bestselling books in the United States was a work of utopian fiction, about a guy who falls asleep in 1887 and accidentally time travels to the year 2000. The book, called “Looking Backward” launched political parties, communal living projects, and inspired a generation of architects and city planners.
Check out the Bellamy House in Chicopee, the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles, and read Looking Backward for free on Project Gutenberg.
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In Guyana’s Square of the Revolution, a statue honors Cuffy, an Akan man from West Africa who became a legendary figure. Captured and enslaved by the Dutch in the colony of Berbice (present-day Guyana), Cuffy rose from house slave to revolutionary leader. But an act of civility would be the beginning of his downfall.
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Earlier this month, the Atlas Obscura staff shared the places we gained during the pandemic. Now, we hear your stories – from a university that is an unlikely home for a certain critter, to a private community, to an arboretum and a chance encounter.
Plus: We want to hear from you for our next compilation episode! Pride month is coming, and we want to hear your stories about the places that celebrate LGBTQ+ history, and what they mean to you. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Drawbridge operators in Chicago used to live at these specific homes nestled at the base of their bridges.
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At the height of the Incan empire, a series of 200 woven suspension bridges crisscrossed the valleys of the Andes. Today, only one remains. It’s called the Q'eswachaka, and it’s rewoven every year by a continuous line of bridge builders.
Journalist Eliot Stein traveled to Peru to meet the current bridge builder, and to witness this incredible tradition. His book, Custodians of Wonder, chronicles traditions like these across the globe, and the people preserving them.
Plus: Listen to our episode all about the the world’s rarest pasta, or “threads of god.”
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You might think of The Great Gatsby as a classic New York City novel – but the events that set off the action of the story actually take place somewhere else. In Louisville, Kentucky. It’s where Daisy and Gatsby first meet, and where Daisy marries Gatsby’s rival, Tom Buchanan (boo, hiss!) In today’s episode, we track down the footsteps of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who spent two tumultuous months of his life near Louisville while stationed at an Army camp during WWI. And we’ll try to find the places that might have inspired his most famous work…
Plus: Track down Fitzgerald’s footsteps in Louisville and find events related to the 100th birthday of the Great Gatsby.
This episode was produced in partnership with Louisville Tourism.
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For 300 years, only a handful of women in Sardinia knew how to make the “threads of God,” an exceptionally intricate pasta. But then, one woman decided to share the recipe with the outside world.
Read Diana Hubbell’s article about the quest to save the world’s rarest pasta.
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Dylan and producers Johanna and Amanda take your questions. If you have a question for Dylan, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
Plus: Listen to Dylan’s episode about how he learned to love Las Vegas.
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The history of medical clowning extends back to Ancient Greece and the time of Hippocrates and is taught in workshops throughout the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/medical-clowning-program-at-haifa-university
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In the 1870s the Midwest experienced a devastating natural disaster in the form of… an enormous cloud of extremely hungry locusts. Dylan and producer Amanda discuss what happens when a cloud of locusts twice the size of Colorado descends on your town.
If you can’t get enough of Rocky Mountain Locusts check out our episode on Grasshopper Glacier!
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We get a crash course in the Chitlin' Circuit, a network of entertainment venues for Black musicians during segregation. And we take a closer look at a special stop along the way: Club Ebony. It’s a place that still thumps with the blues of the past, even as it welcomes a new generation of musicians.
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In 1887, Greensburg, Kansas was a small town in a relatively new state. The town needed to come up with a way to attract visitors – and they chose to think big. Very, very big.
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It’s been five years since the pandemic shutdown. So often, conversations about that time revolve around places we’ve lost. But for this episode, Atlas Obscura staffers share the places they gained during the pandemic.
Plus: We want to hear from you. Tell us about the places that you gained or discovered during the pandemic. How did you discover this place? Why is it important to you? What’s it like visiting that place now vs. then? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Dylan sits down with podcaster Ashley Ray, who has more than a soft spot for her Midwest hometown. Hear why she thinks it may just be the best kept secret, despite its bad reputation.
Check out Ashley’s podcast all about TV and culture.
All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.
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As a child, Lulu Miller had a beloved dog. But one day, the dog disappeared – and in all likelihood, it was probably eaten by coyotes. Since then, Lulu has been strangely fascinated by these crepuscular creatures. Now, she heads to Graceland Cemetery in Chicago at the crack of dawn – to marvel at the urban coyotes that make the cemetery their home, and to grapple with their longstanding bad reputations.
Plus: You can check out the coyote photos of Robert Loerzel (Lulu’s coyote guide) on his Instagram.
All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.
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Toronto is home to a massive underground mall called the PATH, a labyrinth of hallways with shops, banks, and no fewer than nine Tim Hortons. At 30 kilometers long, it’s the largest underground shopping complex in the world. It's also famously dull. What wonder can be found in a dreary, underground mall? Reporter Elah Feder takes this as a challenge and descends into the PATH to see if she can wring an ounce of wonder from this godforsaken place. Along the way, she ponders the nature of boredom – and confronts some existential questions.
All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.
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Dylan has complicated feelings about rats. On one hand, they’re amazingly resourceful creatures. On the other, they caused the bubonic plague (and other harmful situations). So when Terrestrials producer and composer Alan Goffinski went on a rat reporting spree Dylan knew just who he had to talk to in order to come to terms with his feelings about the rodents. From a subterranean rat city underneath NYC to a “rat hotline,” Alan and Dylan journey down the rabbit hole – er, rat hole. Will Dylan come down pro-rat or anti-rat? Let the scorekeeping begin!
Want more rats? Listen to Alan’s episode all about these fascinating creatures.
All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.
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From laundromats to Sacramento, listeners go to bat for places with bad reputations.
All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestrials to tell stories about people, places, and animals with bad reputations – and the surprising truths behind them.
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Niles, Illinois is home to an exact replica of Italy’s leaning tower of Pisa - only it’s half the size of the original structure.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/leaning-tower-niles
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Adventurer Elise Wortley retraces the footsteps of historic female explorers – and she does it all with no modern gear, no shortcuts, and no guarantees that it is going to work out.
Learn more about Elise’s trip to the Valley of the Assassins.
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Producer Alexa Lim travels in search of the Kolache Triangle. Along the way, she visits some of the state’s Czech communities, and hears how the kolache became the gem of the Texas roadside snack.
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Two small stories about two cold nights in different parts of the world. 11:45 p.m. in Oulu was written by Anne Korkeakivi, and 2:30 a.m. in McMurdo Station was written by Elizabeth Endicott. Both essays were edited by Tusshara Nalakumar Srilatha and originally appeared in Off Assignment. Elizabeth Endicott is a writer based in Denver, and Anne Korkeakivi is the author of the novels Shining Sea and An Unexpected Guest.
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Dylan and producers Amanda and Johanna answer a listener question that leaves them deeply shaken, and slightly disturbed.
Have a question for Dylan? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.
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Thousands of kitschy lawn gnomes have taken over an Australian roundabout.
Read more in the Atlas here.
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Today, if you venture into the basement of a certain clothing store in the Soho neighborhood of NYC, you’ll find an unusual sight: an old well. This well is tied to the first recorded murder trial in the United States – it’s a story of a 22-year-old woman, her suspicious suitor, and a legal team consisting of none other than Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Author Lauren Willig joins Dylan to tell him the story. The case also inspired Lauren’s newest book: The Girl from Greenwich Street: a Novel of Hamilton, Burr, and America’s First Murder Trial.
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We head to a public bathroom in Alresford, England to hear how a toilet played a key role in flushing out an infamous Cold War espionage ring.
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The unusual-looking Price Tower, a 1-of-1 from starchitect Frank Lloyd Wright, has been the pride of Bartlesville, Oklahoma for more than 60 years. But the challenge of maintaining the skyscraper as a historic piece of art has made it difficult for the building’s owners to keep it open.
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Producer Johanna Mayer and Places editor Diana Hubbell tell us about two parts of the world where animals have invaded – and taken over.
Plus: Tell us about a place that has a bad reputation – but still, you love it. Call us at 315-992-7902 and leave a message with your name and your story. Or you can record a voice memo of any length and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Lake Natron in Tanzania can leave welts and burns on human skin but is a bit of a paradise for another animal.
Read more in the Atlas.
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Animal-human conflict expert Bethany Brookshire explains why we put cats before rats – and a lot of it has to do with where we’re encountering them.
Read an interview with Bethany in our new column, AO Wants to Know. And check out her book Pests: How Humans Create Animal
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We go on a hunt for what you might call an entomologist’s most wanted insect.
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Paul Stewart’s childhood fascination with cowboys and the Wild West turned into a museum dedicated to preserving the stories of the American West’s early Black settlers.
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Listeners share stories of leaving home for the first time – from a first apartment in San Francisco, to running away with a member of a famous band, to searching for a piece of Australia in the United States.
Plus: Have you ever visited a place with a bad reputation, and found that you actually really loved it? We want to hear about it! Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story about a place that defies its bad rap. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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We want to hear about a place you love that has defied its bad reputation. Maybe there’s a drab local mall that’s full of chain stores and overpriced frozen yogurt that strangely gives you a sense of comfort. Maybe you love eating at chain restaurants while traveling. Maybe all your high school friends dunk on your hometown, but it’s the place you want to live forever.
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Travel to the world’s oldest intact pyramid in Egypt - and learn about the genius who also influenced the fields of architecture, astronomy, medicine.
Read more in the Atlas here.
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In September 1991, eight people moved into Biosphere 2, a nearly airtight glass and steel complex in the Arizona desert. The half-acre farm at its centre would supply all their food. Plants, algae and photosynthesizing microorganisms would supply all their oxygen. If things went according to plan, they would have everything they needed to survive inside for two years – but a lot of people were betting against them.
Mark Nelson wrote a book about his time in Biosphere 2 called Pushing Our Limits. Archival footage in this episode was provide by the Institute of Ecotechnics.
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In the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, on the tiny island of Saint Helena, sits the Longwood House. It was the final home of Napoleon Bonaparte. And while there – amidst the serenity Saint Helena has to offer – the former emperor of France became a more reflective person.
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An urban explorer ventured deep below downtown Minneapolis in search of Schieks Cave. He discovered more than he bargained for.
Read more about Schieks Cave and Greg Brick.
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For a brief window in the late 1800s, America’s favorite sport was walking in circles over and over and over. The biggest sporting events in the country were “6 Day Races” – days-long tests of endurance where competitive walkers competed to see who could log the most miles.
Check out our guest Matthew Algeo’s book “Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America’s Favorite Sport.”
And if you’re so inclined here is a selection of 6 Day Races that you can still compete in today: The Old Six Day, Six Days in the Dome, Across the Years (and a variation on the theme, the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race).
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Producer Johanna Mayer travels to Times Square in NYC, in search of particular sound that may sometimes go overlooked.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-times-square-hum-new-york-new-york
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What to do when you have 20-foot-tall busts of nearly every U.S. President and nowhere to put them?
This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Williamsburg.
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Dylan visits a patch of Nevada desert known at times as Paradise Ranch, Dreamland Resort, or as most people know it, Area 51. His goal? To try and find out where The X-Files end, and the truth begins. And he falls deeper down the rabbit hole when he meets a man who is a German immigrant, a programmer, and possibly the premier Area 51 expert in the world: Joerg Arnu.
Check out Joerg’s website, DreamlandResort.com.
Special thanks to Ryan Broderick and the Panic World team. Panic World is a weekly podcast from Garbage Day about the moral panics, witch hunts, and viral freakouts that bubble up out of the weirdest corners of the internet. Subscribe now!
Plus: Check out Dylan’s Panic World conversation about Area 51 and the New Jersey drone panic.
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Jeremy Bentham began planning for his death at a young age. He wrote a will in 1769, at the age of 21. But how did this philosopher’s dead body wind up on display in a university student center?
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Two small stories about early morning, otherworldly encounters with animals. 7 a.m. in Kelso was written by Emma Jones, and 10:30 a.m. in Choteau, Montana was written by Annika Berry. Both essays were edited by Aube Rey Lescure and originally appeared in Off Assignment.
Plus: Order the audiobook of Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders today!
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Dylan and producer Johanna take your questions about exploring abandoned ruins, where they want to carve their initials, and whether they should feel guilt for going on multiple trips to the same location.
Have a question for Dylan? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply send your question via email.
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We want to hear your stories about the first time you left home to live somewhere else. Why did you make the move? How did you choose your new home… and how did you feel when you arrived?
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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One of the world’s tallest waterfalls is nestled in Northwestern Peru, right where the Amazon rainforest crashes into the Andes Mountains.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gocta
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Apple TV’s Severance takes a dystopian view of the middle management office space, where the sprawling corridors, overhead fluorescent lights hide the mysterious purpose of Lumen Industries. But that terrifying imagined office space is based on the real headquarters of Bell Labs – huge, incredible incubator of ideas in the 1960s with the aim of creating a corporate utopia.
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This ranch in Sanger, Texas trains people in jousting and sword-fighting with the goal of making them knights of the highest order - for the Medieval Times dinner theater chain.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/behind-the-scenes-at-medieval-times-where-knights-battle-and-pepsi-is-plentiful
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Off the southern coast of Jamaica, there are the underwater ruins of pirate city from the 1600s – a city that could be considered the Las Vegas of its time. But its days would come to an end when it faced three disasters in a single day.
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For this St. Patrick’s Day, author and friend of the show Colin Dickey joins Dylan to demystify leprechauns. Where do they come from? Is there a Leprechaunland? What’s with the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? And why are they always wearing green? Are they just drunk mischievous creatures? Or is there something deeper there – perhaps leprechauns are even an immigrant story?
If you want to learn more, check out Colin’s series called Monster of the Month.
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Green Bank, West Virginia is free of wifi and cell signals due to the massive telescope nearby that requires radio silence.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/town-for-wi-fi-refugees
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What happens when a real place becomes a reality TV set? Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker staff writer and author of “Cue The Sun: The Invention of Reality TV,” tells us about the tumultuous first season of Survivor. The island where the first season was filmed, Pulau Tiga, presented serious challenges for cast and crew alike… and then the production team added some of their own.
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The first time John Ringling and his brothers saw a circus come to town, it changed their lives forever. They’d go on to form their own circus company – which put them on top of the world. Today we trace John Ringling’s rise and fall, from his early days crisscrossing the Midwest in a wagon (dressed as a clown in wooden shoes) to his work establishing Sarasota, Florida as the circus capital of the world. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Sarasota.
If you’re curious about Florida’s Cultural Coast and want to learn more about the art and culture scene in Sarasota today, check out the podcast “Behind the Masterpiece”!
Take a closer look at John and Mabel Ringling’s mobile mansion with this cool archaeology project from the University of South Florida.
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A Black American living in Korea writes a letter to a restaurant worker, reckoning with race and the meaning of home. This essay was edited by Aube Rey Lescure and originally appeared in Off Assignment. Kat Lewis' debut novel, GOOD PEOPLE, is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in 2026.
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Diana Hubbell and Roxanne Hoorn from the Places team take us to two locations on opposite sides of the world that both evoke deep reverence – and an appreciation for an architectural style not usually associated with beauty.
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Producer Manolo Morales – a verified Little Monster, gallivants around the Lower East Side, via an immersive, performance-art walking tour dedicated to an iconic pop star.
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James Beard award winning photographer and writer Gary He tells us about traveling to more than 50 countries across six continents, all to document and photograph one of the most popular fast food chains in the world: McDonald’s.
His bookMcAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Archesis out now.
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In the 1880s, Madrid’s most famous resident was a medium-sized black and white dog called Paco who frequented cafes, parades, and even bullfights.
Check out some of our favorite episodes about charismatic dogs: Hachiko, two beloved taxidermied dogs, and Brown Dog Statue.
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In the 1960s, London Bridge was falling down – specifically, it was sinking down under the weight of modern-day traffic. London decided to put the bridge up for sale, and it attracted all kinds of buyers, from casinos to major cities to entertainers. But the winning bid came from an unexpected place: a chainsaw-manufacturing millionaire in the Arizona desert.
Learn more about London Bridge at Lake Havasu City, and check out the voodoo doll found under the bridge.
This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Arizona.
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From a once in a lifetime natural event, to two very different Olympic experiences, to a special concert, we hear listener stories of trekking someplace for the joy of being there up close and in real life.
Plus, we want to hear your stories of the first time you moved. Why did you make that move? What motivated you to leave your town? How did you choose your new home? What do you miss, and what are you glad to have left behind? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your story. Or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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The story of Chef Hamissi Mamba, whose family sought asylum in the US and years later founded an East African restaurant that serves up a small slice of Burundi in the Motor City.
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A couple years ago, Josh Foer, the co-founder of Atlas Obscura, took us to a remote patch of land in the Arizona desert, where he built (and later rebuilt) a museum in honor of the company’s former CEO, David Plotz. And just a few weeks ago, this patch of land appeared on a reality TV show. In a strange collision, Dylan talks with one of the stars of TLC’s Sister Wives about her own experience at the Plotz Plot.
Learn more about Wow in the World family tours.
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Dylan and producers Amanda and Johanna take your questions. Have a question for Dylan? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply send your question via email.
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The pools at Cuatro Ciénegas Basin are a portal into the ancient past – and they may soon disappear.
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In cool, misty forests along the coast of New South Wales Australia, a group of lyrebirds is suspected of singing human songs they learned in the 1920s. A team of researchers sets out to investigate.
Read more about Hollis Taylor et al.’s investigation here.
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We get up close and nosey about a peculiar exhibit in Copenhagen that reveals a lot about what artists and society considered beautiful throughout the years | READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nasothek-nose-collection
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Host, reporter, and podcaster Sam Sanders talks with Dylan about the places that have shaped his life – from when he was a kid in a small town in Texas secretively listening to Stevie Wonder in the bathroom, to running along the Charles River, to exploring Joshua Tree National Park with Zora Neale Hurston (kind of).
Check out Sam’s podcasts Vibe Check and the The Sam Sanders Show.
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On May 7, 1902, a man named Ludger Sylbaris was thrown in jail – and it saved his life.
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Every year, a number of snowy owls (aka Arctic owls) find their way to an unlikely haven: Boston Logan International Airport. Owl expert Norman Smith has been leading the way to study these birds and figure out why they love to land at one of the busiest airports in the country.
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Today we’re bringing you an episode from our friends at the Women Who Travel podcast.
Women make up just 7% of truckers in the United States—a number that shows no sign of increasing, even while the industry suffers from a huge shortage of workers. We hear from trucker Desiree Wood, whose job has taken her to 48 states, about the freedom of life on the road, the dangers that herself and women colleagues face, and the joys that come with the occasional return trip home.
Listen to and follow Women Who Travel from Condé Nast Traveler here: swap.fm/l/cnt-wwt-YUyg6t
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This week, we’re featuring unusual love stories – from couples who were introduced by a mule, to the world’s most loyal dog, to a post office sustained by the kindness of strangers. In today’s episode, we visit Post Office Bay, on the Galapagos Islands. The post office runs on luck and the goodwill of visitors, and has a knack for bringing strangers together.
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This week, we’re featuring unusual love stories – from couples who were introduced by a mule, to the world’s most loyal dog, to a post office sustained by the kindness of strangers. In today’s episode, Dylan talks with travel writer Susan Orlean, who is an admitted terrible tourist. But she’s an expert at getting lost – with a purpose. Today, she takes us to some of the places that have shaped her life. And she talks about throwing out the guidebook, opening herself up to these experiences, and the art of getting lost.
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This week, we’re featuring unusual love stories – from couples who were introduced by a mule, to the world’s most loyal dog, to a post office sustained by the kindness of strangers. In today’s episode, we visit a museum in Croatia that will break your heart. And that’s a good thing.
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This week, we’re featuring unusual love stories – from couples who were introduced by a mule, to the world’s most loyal dog, to a post office sustained by the kindness of strangers. In today’s episode, we visit the symbol of loyalty for an entire nation—a dog.
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This week, we’re featuring unusual love stories – from couples who were introduced by a mule, to the world’s most loyal dog, to a post office sustained by the kindness of strangers. In today’s episode, we meet back up with our pal Bernie Harberts, who trekked 19 million mule steps across the United States only to find himself, for the first time, a little homesick.
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We’re looking for questions for our next mailbag episode. Maybe you’re looking for travel advice, maybe you want to hear more about a weird thing that Dylan alluded to briefly in an episode, or maybe you want him to settle some sort of travel dispute with your partner. Anything goes!
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com. Or simply write your question in an email.
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Stories of how giant monuments built for a specific site sometimes need to go on a journey to get there.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/yakhchals
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/snowflake-bentley
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Dylan talks with actor and comedian Paul Scheer about three places that have shaped him. And to Dylan’s surprise, Paul doesn’t pick good memories. Instead he chooses three deeply embarrassing stories – because as he puts it, “trauma is the fire in which we are forged.”
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Dylan tries his hand at playing a “glass armonica,” a musical instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin. Its high-pitched, eerie sounds were rumored to cure all kinds of illnesses – or even, sometimes, cause them.
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Africville was a Black-Canadian community north of Halifax, Nova Scotia. But when the Canadian government decided it wanted the land the community sat on, Africville was forcibly removed in the 1900s. We’ve covered other stories of Black displacement on the show before, including Lake Lanier and District Six.
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Listener stories of traveling with a significant other for the first time – for better or for worse.
Plus: We want to hear your stories about traveling to see an event that you’ve been wanting to experience in person. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your story. Or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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This abandoned hospital outside Boston, Massachusetts was originally conceived as a place to help people with mental health issues. But it wound up doing a lot of harm.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/medfield-state-hospital
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Joe Magarac is a folk hero that allegedly was born from the stories of immigrant steelworkers in the early 20th century. He is the Paul Bunyan of Steel Country. But is the legend of Joe Magarac an American immigrant folk story or is he the product of the imagination of writers and the steel executives?
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Last month, we asked you for stories about your first trips abroad. That really struck a chord – we got too many great stories to fit in a single episode. So today, we’re sharing MORE of your stories from your first international trips. This time we hear about traveling abroad for the first time to Italy, Slovenia, Canada, and Norway.
Plus: We want to hear your stories about traveling to see an event that you’ve been wanting to experience in person. That could be last year’s Olympics in Paris or visiting New Orleans to experience Mardi Gras for the first time. Or something totally different, like going to a special convention with an esoteric concept. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your story. Or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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For half a century, horse diving was one of Atlantic City’s biggest attractions. One day in August 1964, a young girl attended one of these shows, and witnessed something that would change her life forever.
Read Diana Hubbell’s story about horse diving in Atlantic City.
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Dylan and producer Johanna take your questions.
Have a question for Dylan? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply send your question via email.
And if you want to listen to Dylan’s episodes about getting shipwrecked in Antarctica, check out Beechey Island Graves Part I and Part II.
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One of Australia’s greatest stories of escape and survival centers around this rock formation in Point Lonsdale.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/buckleys-cave
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In 1998, a giant drawing of an Aboriginal man mysteriously appeared in the Australian Outback. Some locals were thrilled. Others wanted it destroyed. Producer Elah Feder goes looking for the culprit, and is led to a key piece of the puzzle – but not one she expected.
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Every summer, along a 15 mile stretch of the Alabama coastline, an almost magical natural phenomenon washes up on the beaches. Hundreds of fish and sea creatures usually hidden in the deep swim towards the shore. Locals call it the Mobile Bay Jubilee – and the jubilees are hard to predict and activate a different side of these coastal communities.
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A traveler in Vang Vieng, Laos writes a letter to a fellow traveler. This essay was edited by Lenora Todaro and originally appeared in Off Assignment.
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Sasquatch is Southern. And its cultural and economic impact in Appalachia is sizable. Today, we bring you an episode of The Broadside, a podcast produced by WUNC in Durham, NC.
Appalachia is Bigfoot territory. In a big way. Today, we give you a taste of The Broadside, a podcast produced by WUNC in Durham, NC. In this episode, you'll hear about the mythical beast's legend, lore and sizable economic impact in the region. And follow one reporter’s journey through the mountains and foothills of western North Carolina in search of Sasquatch. Featuring Emily Cataneo, reporter for The Assembly. Check out Emily's story on Appalachian Bigfoot culture at The Assembly here.
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This memorial marks the life of a pup who sparked riots over animal rights issues in London.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/brown-dog-statue
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If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to run away and join the circus, this episode is for you. Dylan talks with Jack Lepiarz, also known as Jacques Ze Whipper, about how he created a life for himself on the Renaissance Festival circuit.
Learn more on Jack’s website.
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When Peter James first stumbled on the Lowfield Heath Windmill, it was falling apart. Determined to save it, he embarked on a years-long effort with the town that would lead to its complete deconstruction before being rebuilt somewhere new.
Find out how you can visit the Lowfield Heath Windmill or donate to its ongoing restoration efforts.
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In the 1980s, a team of Soviet scientists dug a hole in the Earth’s crust so deep that they reached Hell… complete with high temperatures, unexplained happenings, and even the tortured screams of damned souls. At least, that’s what a popular urban legend at the time claimed. Dylan and producer Amanda McGowan explore the origins of this legend – and the real-life scientific quest that inspired it.
We don’t know what the Kola Borehole really sounds like, but Dutch sound artist Lotte Geeven has recorded the sound of another super deep hole (in Germany). Not quite horror movie screams, but pretty cool!
Ready to go down the Kola superdeep rabbit hole? Some more links:
“The deepest hole we have ever dug” (via the BBC)
“Inside the deepest artificial hole on Earth” (via Orion magazine)
Snopes debunks the “Well to Hell” myth
On the US side of things: “How an ill-fated undersea adventure in the 1960s changed the way scientists see the Earth” (via Vox)
Some updates on the “digging to the center of the Earth” front: “Scientists drill deeper into Earth’s mantle than ever before” (via Smithsonian)
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Listener stories about traveling abroad for the first time – from a trip to Germany in 2020, to a chalet in Switzerland in 1986, to a trip to Iran just before the Shah revolution.
Plus, we want to hear your stories of traveling with a significant other for the first time. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your story. Or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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The Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Missouri was founded by zoologist and wildlife TV host Marlin Perkins and was home to an extraordinary wolf who gives us hope for the future of wolf survival.
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Zach Stafford found great career success at a very young age – he’s a writer, producer, and co-host of the news & culture podcast Vibe Check. His intense work schedule has taken him all over America, and each of the cities and towns he found himself in has shaped him in some way. And through it all, Zach has been searching for a very specific feeling.
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In the year 1329, a woman named Christine Carpenter was enclosed in a tiny cell in the walls of a church in Shere, England. She was expected to spend the rest of her life praying in almost complete isolation. But the reason we know her name is that she did something very unusual – she broke out.
Learn more about our guest Professor Diane Watt’s work about the lives of medieval women in England, and about St. James’s Church in Shere.
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Dylan and producer Gabby Gladney dive into the colorful world of art cars, from Houston’s epic parades to DIY creations in Minneapolis.
Then, Dylan talks to his own father about the multiple art cars they’ve had over the years.
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Writer Joshua Rigsby takes a very strange journey into the birthplace of Cabbage Patch Kids. After he returns, he can never look at the dolls the same way again.
Read Joshua’s essay about his trip to BabyLand General Hospital, and check out his bookstore, Pretty Good Books.
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We’re (almost) back! And we want to hear your New Year’s travel resolutions.
Send a voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com. Or, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message.
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For a brief period the small frontier city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota drew in socialites and celebrities who were desperate to end their marriages.
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Ultimate slow travel adventurer (and friend of the show) Bernie Harberts returns to tell us what happened when he spent months floating alone at sea. Bernie is also an author and filmmaker.
You can read more about Bernie's travels at his website www.riverearth.com.
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The 1980s birthed a gleaming creature that spread its wings of scrap wood and glass over the intersection of two iconic Brooklyn, NY neighborhoods for thirty years.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/broken-angel
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On the tiny Kinmen Island, a bow-tie-shape strip of land between China and Taiwan, sits a giant weaponized wall of sound that still stands--and still broadcasts--today.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beishan-broadcast-station-art
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This garden in Lynchburg, Virginia is the key to unlocking the writing and mind of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer.
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Just a little check in. Plus: We want to hear your stories of traveling with a significant other for the first time – the good, the bad, and the strange.
You can send an email or voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com. Or, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message.
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A listener in Lawrence, Kansas takes us on his journey of discovering the secrets of his hometown.
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Dylan sits down with guest Blake Pfeil about what inspired him to begin exploring abandoned spots, what those spaces have taught him about escapism, sobriety and the sometimes blurry line between real and unreal that he finds there.
MORE: Blake is an artist and adventurer. He’s also the creator and host of the podcast “Abandoned: All-American Ruins.” Check it out here.
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We visit a park in Palo Alto, California, home of the world’s most famous donkey.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-donkeys-of-barron-park-palo-alto-california
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An industrial water tank-turned-concert hall in the high deserts of Colorado is nothing less than a sonic wonder of the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-tank-rangely-colora
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These documents highlight the intellectual legacy of an ancient civilization based in Timbuktu, Mali.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/timbuktu-manuscripts-mali
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A small bit of news, and a request. To ask Dylan your question, send an email or voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com.
Or, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message.
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A map in the archives of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland, OR may be the key to finding buried treasure that has yet to be found.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/buried-treasure-portland-oregon
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Today, we’re sharing an episode from our friends at Terrestrials, a Radiolab spinoff show for families that explores strangeness on Earth. In this episode, host Lulu Miller visits some of our planet’s most magical tree stumps – which are anything but dead.
Plus: Cast your vote in Radiolab’s quasi-moon naming contest! Voting is open until January 1.
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Writer and friend of the show Colin Dickey tries to destroy Dylan’s holiday cheer with arguments about why Christmas is actually full of monsters from around the world.
(Just a note for parents listening with little ones, Dylan and Colin talk frankly about Santa and his surrounding lore.)
Check out Colin’s Atlas Obscura column, Eerie Feeling.
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Places editors Michelle Cassidy and Diana Hubbell take us on a tour of two mildly disturbing yet lovable works of art.
Plus: If you have a piece of public art that you love to hate – or if you’ve created a work of public art that’s caused a stir – we want to hear from you. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Dylans answers a slew of questions from staff and listeners.
Plus: Do you have a question for Dylan? Send us an email or voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com. Dylan may answer your question in an upcoming episode!
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Our first international trips can be hugely influential. We want to hear your stories about leaving your home country for the first time. Where did you go? How did you prepare? What memories do you have from the trip? Maybe you loved it… or maybe you hated it! Either way, we want to hear about it. And if you are about to take your first trip this coming year, we want to know how you’re feeling leading up to it.
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message, or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com
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Larry Spring’s Museum of Common Sense Physics in Fort Bragg, California begs the question: What do you do with a science museum where the science preserved inside is a kind of folk art?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/larry-spring-school-common-sense-physics
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As the winter solstice and Yule are upon us, we are celebrating these Pagan holidays by talking about the iconic image of the witch, with Pam Grossman -- friend of the show, curator, writer and host of the podcast The Witch Wave.
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How one man made someone else's trash into his own treasure ... and how it became a storied part of a New Jersey town.
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Every year, hundreds of boats circle the waterways of the eastern United States on The Great Loop. But Mike Straub took a different approach, riding over 6,000 miles alone on a JetSki.
Check out Mike’s YouTube channel and his book, Y WAIT: Experience America's Great Loop.
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Listeners share stories of memorable encounters with strangers – for better or for worse.
Plus: We want to hear your stories about your first international trip. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us about the first time you traveled abroad. Or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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This week, we’re presenting Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico.
Rising singer-songwriter Andrea Cruz shares how she fell in love with folk music as a young girl in Aibonito. We hear about how the plants, birds and animals of Puerto Rico have shaped the fabric of her work, and the profound ways in which her art connects her to the island she calls home. Hollywood film director Miguel Arteta recalls his colorful childhood in Río Piedras, shares the Puerto Rican role model who inspired him to pursue a creative career, and teases his upcoming project, which is set on the island of birth.
Subscribe to Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico wherever you get your podcasts.
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This week, we’re presenting Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter and playwright José Rivera shares with us his rich memories, both old and new, of his time in Puerto Rico: of spiders, thunderstorms and a deep sense of community in his childhood town of Espino. We hear about the joy of watching one of his plays performed in Santurce alongside the family members who inspired it, and how the island has been a constant source of inspiration that has enriched so much of his work.
Subscribe to Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico wherever you get your podcasts.
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Many people moved to Granbury, Texas for the peace and quiet. Then, a noisy neighbor moved in – and strange things began happening in town.
Read Andrew’s original reporting about the bitcoin mine and Granbury, Texas.
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The Ether Dome in Boston was once filled with the screams of patients undergoing painful surgeries. In 1846, everything changed with the first successful use of anesthesia, transforming medicine forever. Dylan explores the room where pain-free surgery began.
The Ether Dome is part of the Innovation Trail, which highlights four centuries of world-changing breakthroughs from Boston.
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Mohawk ironworkers built many of New York City’s iconic skyscrapers. But simultaneously, they were also building a lesser known neighborhood of their own in downtown Brooklyn – one that would become home to hundreds of Mohawk families.
Learn more about Reaghan Tarbell’s documentary, Little Caughnawaga: To Brooklyn and Back.
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This week and next, we’re presenting Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico.
The Río Piedras-based comedy band Los Rivera Destino talk about their musical childhoods, how making a music video in Bayamón changed their lives and careers forever, and the extremely unlikely place that has become their source of inspiration. Award-winning author Jaquira Díaz shares how salsa, bacalaítos and coquís defined her time growing up in the east coast towns of Humacoa and Fajardo. We also hear the wild story her grandmother told about aliens in El Yunque, and Jaquira describes the incredible sense of adventure she feels every time she explores the island.
Subscribe to Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico wherever you get your podcasts.
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Today and tomorrow, we’re presenting Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico.
Legendary actress, singer, dancer and EGOT winner Rita Moreno shares memories of sugar cane, coquís and parrandas during her idyllic childhood in Humacao and Juncos. We hear about her recent trips back with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and how she almost turned down West Side Story because of her loyalty to the island. Dub star innovator Pachy García (aka Pachyman) opens up about growing up in Guaynabo’s vibrant reggae scene, the integral role Puerto Rico plays in his music now that he lives in Los Angeles, and the “unmistakable breeze” that greets him every time he comes back home to the island.
Subscribe to Sound Influence: The Art and Soul of Puerto Rico wherever you get your podcasts.
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Producer Gabby Gladney sees her South Side Chicago neighborhood in a new light thanks to Mahogany Bus Tours, a local company sharing hidden histories around the city.
Read a profile of Dilla, and check out his TikTok.
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In the 1880s, an eccentric California dentist gave away free public water fountains in the hopes they would encourage people to drink less alcohol. One of them went to the small town of Rockville, Connecticut, where it was… not well received. In fact, it was torn down, thrown in a local lake, torn down again… and so on.
Check out the Atlas entry for the Cogswell Fountain.
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Listener stories about the places we’re thankful for – from a beloved neighborhood, to an odd and out-of-place house down the block, to a library that inspired one listener to become a writer herself.
Plus, we want to hear your stories of memorable encounters with strangers. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your story. Or better yet, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
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Catoosa, Oklahoma is the cite of a massive landlocked whale - and possibly the greatest anniversary gift ever.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/catoosa-whale
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Journalist and food writer Evan Rail considers himself a beer guy, but when a mysterious bright green spirit started shaking up the scene in the Czech Republic (where he lives) in the 1990s, he knew he had to learn more.
His latest book “The Absinthe Forger: A True Story of Deception, Betrayal, and The World’s Most Dangerous Spirit” looks back at the history of absinthe, why it was banned across Europe almost 100 years ago, and how its return to the market has inspired collectors, connoisseurs…and even conmen.
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In August 1953, airstrip operator George van Tassel claimed he was woken up in the middle of the night by an intelligent lifeform from outer space named Solganda. George says Solganda told him to build an energy rejuvenation machine – so that’s exactly what he spent the rest of his life doing…
For more information on visiting the Integratron check out their website. Plus, take a look at some photos from one of George van Tassel’s UFO conventions.
If you want to learn more, George tells his version of the “encounter with Solganda” in a 1964 interview.
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On a remote island 200 miles off the coast of Alaska, a community hunts for a single, elusive rat.
Read Daniel Wu’s original reporting on the rat strike team.
Thanks to Freesound user mmiron for the wave sounds in this episode.
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Places editors Michelle Cassidy and Diana Hubbell tell us about two real-world places that have been shaped by the internet.
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Blame it on this time of year, but we've been ruminating a lot on the places we're thankful for. And we want to hear your thoughts for a future episode. What's a place that played a pivotal role in shaping your life? It can be a place you grew up, or a place you live in now. Maybe it's a park bench, or another place of community. Tell us about it, any stories behind it, and when and why you go there. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call in again if you get disconnected. Or you can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com
The Wren’s Nest in Atlanta is both a museum and former home of journalist Joel Chandler Harris and a hub for modern storytellers.
Nate DiMeo, host and creator of The Memory Palace podcast, walks us through some of the rooms in his own personal memory palace. We visit his grandfather’s old nightclub outside Providence, a beloved family home, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Visible Storage Unit, and a one-of-a-kind collection of glass flowers at Harvard University.
Preorder a copy of Nate’s new book, The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past.
Check out the Memory Palace podcast, and listen to the episodes Nate made while he was Artist-in-Residence at the Met.
During the early 20th century, malaria was ravaging the world. We hear the story of Dr. Charles Campbell, who had a plan to cure it. But as it turns out, his big idea was… rather batty.
In the 1980s, a group of friends on the track team at Sul Ross State University hauled a discarded dorm room desk to the top of a mountain. They left a notebook there to keep track of their run times and leave little notes for each other. Then… other people found it. And then… it started a tradition.
Visit the Atlas entry for the Sul Ross desk, and learn more about the archives containing the Sul Ross desk notebooks.
San Juan Sounds is an iconic studio where musicians, engineers, and quite possibly a music-loving ghost carry on the island’s musical traditions, which date back hundreds of years.
This episode is produced in partnership with Discover Puerto Rico.
Travel to Denver Colorado and meet Steve Berke who helped found the first International Church of Cannabis in 2015.
Learn more about it here.
The San Francisco Cannabis Buyers’ Club was one of the first marijuana dispensaries in the country. Its members were people with AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses, and inside the club had stages, TV lounges, puzzles, and other things that would bring people together. Today, we meet the unexpected mix of gay rights organizers and cannabis advocates behind the club, and we hear about their unorthodox route to opening it – including why they tried to get busted by the police.
An ancient cemetery in western China may hold the answer to a question asked by many a stoner: where on Earth did humans first smoke weed to get high?
Learn more about the cemetery in this 2019 paper in Science Advances.
Keep up with Rob Spengler’s archaeobotany lab here.
In 1976, an airplane carrying 6,000 pounds of smuggled weed crashed into a remote lake in Yosemite. A group of climbers had a heyday. Read John Long’s account of the crash, and check out Greg Nichols’ reporting on the same subject.
Plus: Where is the weirdest place you’ve ever cast a vote? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and tell us about your local unusual polling location. Or, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
Cannabis is now legal in more than half of U.S. states, but it remains federally illegal – which makes doing research on the plant extremely difficult. Today, we meet a clever group of scientists who found their way around these laws… by literally driving around them.
Learn more about the CannaVan, and check out some of Rasha and Emma’s original reporting.
A South Carolina ghost story is a harbinger of hurricanes and a window into history. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/south-carolina-hurricane-ghost
In 1944, a strange spate of “gas attacks” in a small Midwestern town reveals what was really lurking in mid-century America. Read Colin Dickey’s article about the mad gasser, and check out his Monster of the Month series.
Listener stories about places that give off big creepy vibes – from an abandoned ice factory to a haunted university music building.
If you want to hear more about Luz Fleming’s ghost story, there’s a whole episode about it called Bennington Ghost Stories on a podcast called Yard Tales.
To avoid traumatizing kids, many summer camps are banning scary stories. But can a little fun with fear be a good thing?
Check out Roxanne Hoorn’s article about this fading tradition.
In 1976, a television crew filming an episode of the show “The Six Million Dollar Man” descended on a rundown funhouse in Long Beach, California. While filming, they accidentally broke the arm off a wax dummy. Except...it wasn't a wax dummy. It was a real body. The body of a notorious train robber from the early 1900s, named Elmer McCurdy. Check out the Atlas entry for Elmer McCurdy’s grave.
For more information on Elmer, we recommend Mark Svenvold’s book “Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw.”
The Smallest Mollusk Museum in New York City is part of a fleet of tiny museums that might just have a big impact on the world.
Kelly and Zach Weinersmith walk Dylan through the practicalities of making a home on the red planet.
Check out their book A City on Mars everywhere books are sold.
Outside the French Quarter lies Hidden South, an antique shop like any other. And hidden amongst the oddities is a bathroom full of secrets.
Producer Alexa Lim visits a collection of natural aromas in Berkeley, California. She gets a whiff of some of the world’s lesser known smells, and stumbles down the rabbit hole of the hidden world of scents.
In the 1930s and 1940s, a young Black woman named Bessie Stringfield decided she’d strike out on her own and hit the road – and ended up crisscrossing the United States eight times, and becoming the first Black woman to ride a motorcycle through each of the lower 48 states. If she ran out of money, she’d join a circus. If she couldn’t find a place to stay, she’d sleep out under the stars. Read more about Bessie Stringfield in this Atlas Obscura article by Natalie Zarrelli.
Check out the work of cartoonist Joel Christian Gill online.
For a brief period the small frontier city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota drew in socialites and celebrities who were desperate to end their marriages.
For more stories from the Divorce Colony, check out April White's book:The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier.
Reporter Diana Hubbell brings us to an island off the coast of Georgia, and tells Dylan the story of an eccentric heiress, a daring mission, and the fight for North America’s most unusual pig.
Read Diana’s James Beard Award-winning article called “Saving the Hogs of Ossabaw Island.”
Producer Talon Stradley takes us on a tour of three skinny houses – each with a big story inside. Do these skinny houses have you curious about spite houses?
Check out that episode here.
Comedian, actor, and podcaster Jacob Wysocki takes Dylan on a tour of a very special expo: The Reptile Super Show!
Listen to Jacob’s full experience at the Reptile Super Show (and his journey to other expos) here.
We’re bringing you stories about places that you can no longer visit – this time we have stories about a hometown hangout spot, a beloved amusement park, a mural building in Queens, and a disappearing natural wonder.
Plus: We want to know about places that give you the creeps. Places that get under your skin and give you that eerie feeling. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
We go inside a place that some paranormal investigators call the most active haunted location in the world. Before it was known as the inspiration for Stephen King...the Stanley Hotel had a reputation -- and ghosts -- of its own. Find more information about the Stanley Hotel and its events online.
This episode was produced with Visit Colorado. From culinary delights at world-class restaurants to unforgettable outdoor adventures, there's something for everyone to discover. Visit Colorado.com to start planning your getaway.
The City Hall in Lincoln, Illinois has an unusual architectural appendage with a curious history.
Read more about it here.
Traveling as a wheelchair user comes with some unique accessibility challenges, but Cory Lee has managed to visit 48 countries and all 7 continents. Cory is a travel blogger who shares his stories and tips for disabled travelers. He shares some of the most (and least) accessible destinations, hurdles he has encountered, and a few of his favorite memories from around the world. You can find Cory’s blog and group trips at CurbFreeWithCoryLee.com
The small mountain town of Spruce Pine provides nearly all of the ultra-pure quartz used to make the world’s semiconductors. When Hurricane Helene nearly wiped out the mines, it provided a stark wake-up call. Journalist Ed Conway joins Dylan to discuss what we can learn from this near-miss.
Check out more of Ed Conway’s reporting and subscribe to his Substack here. To support disaster relief efforts in North Carolina, you can donate to vetted organizations here or here.
A group of seagull lovers in Belgium wants you to sympathize with these birds… by sounding just like them.
After experiencing burn out, South Korean artist WoopsYang decides to take a rest and create an environment for others to space out… by having a competition.
We want to know about places that give you the creeps. Places that get under your skin, give you that eerie feeling. And why? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call back in if you get disconnected. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com
In Myrtle Beach, mini-golf is not so mini. They’re hosting the Mini-Golf Masters, where titans of the tiny game will compete to see who rises to the top.
This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Myrtle Beach. Whether you’re a golfer or just looking to relax, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is 60 miles where you belong. Learn more at VisitMyrtleBeach.com
We head to the cliffs of Balneario El Condor in Argentina to visit a parrot city… and the parrot suburbs. And we meet the biologist who risks his life to study them.
Learn more about the parrot colony and Juan Masello’s work.
In the late 1980s, a goose named Andy was born without webbed feet. A local Nebraskan inventor made him a pair of customized baby shoes and grew to care for the goose. But then – Andy was murdered. Twenty years later, the inventor's granddaughter picks up the pieces.
This summer we learned about a 15,000-year-old oak tree in California that was facing a potential housing development. Today, we learn its fate. Listen to our original episode about the Jurupa Oak here.
This experimental automotive replica of Stonehenge has become a symbol of the town of Alliance, Nebraska. But residents haven’t always been fans.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/carhenge
Every summer, more than 10,000 people flock to this Pennsylvania town for two weeks for the largest gathering of medieval arts and culture anywhere in the world. This episode was produced in partnership with GoUSATV based on a video series we do with them called Small Town Big Story. To see this massive battle for yourself, check out our video about Slippery Rock.
We go to a central Wyoming town, just a couple hours from Yellowstone, that's appropriately named Thermopolis. City of Heat. It’s home to one of the largest mineral hot springs in the world. But it turns out this town of less than 3,000 is also home to so much more. It’s a literal melting pot — of boiling water, rich rock formations, bath robes and dinosaur bones. This episode was produced in partnership with GoUSATV based on a video series we do with them called Small Town Big Story. To see some of the largest mineral hot springs in the world for yourself, check out our video about Thermopolis.
We’re visiting a town 150 miles west of New Orleans in the absolute heart of Cajun country, where every year, thousands of people come from across the country to march through the streets, play music, celebrate French culture, and cook up an absolutely enormous omelet. This episode was produced in partnership with GoUSATV based on a video series we do with them called Small Town Big Story. To see the giant omelet for yourself, check out our video about Abbeville.
Every October, amateurs and professionals alike gather in this small town in the Appalachian Mountains to hone their storytelling chops and share them with crowds of thousands. In this episode, host Dylan Thuras takes his turn at the mic during the National Storytelling Festival.
This episode was produced in partnership with GoUSATV based on a video series we do with them called Small Town Big Story. To check out the storytelling capital of the world for yourself, check out our video about Jonesborough.
Steve and Amy Hartbauer have turned their home in residential Denver, CO into a massive mosaic and decade’s long expression of inner inspiration.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/enchanted-hart-haus
Dylan talks with journalist and author Ed Conway about three materials that our entire civilization depends on: salt, copper, and sand. They visit the biggest man-made hole on Earth, a salt mine large enough to fit the Eiffel Tower inside it, and a single mine in North Carolina that is essential to nearly all the world’s computer chips.
If you want to learn more, check out Ed’s book: Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization.
We asked you to send us stories about places you can no longer visit – and nearly everyone wrote in about a beloved closed restaurant. So today, we hear your stories of places you can no longer EAT.
We still want to hear your stories about other places you can no longer visit (beyond restaurants). Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.
In Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, there was once a revolutionary community for African Americans willing to do whatever it took to maintain their own freedom – and help others achieve theirs.
Zahra Hankir is the author of the book Eyeliner: A Cultural History. She brings Dylan to three places across the globe where eyeliner plays a key cultural role: Egypt, Chad, and Los Angeles.
The hunt to memorialize Rhode Island’s founder created one of the state’s strangest and most enduring myths. Learn more about Roger Williams relationship to local indigenous tribes here.
Cookbook author and Sporkful host Dan Pashman sets out on a research trip across Italy in search of highly regional pasta dishes that he can’t find anywhere else. Along the way, he learns a shocking truth about Italy and pasta, and ponders innovation and authenticity in one of the world’s most popular cuisines. Check out Dan’s new cookbook, Anything's Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People.
In May 2024, tractors across the American Midwest stalled. But that was only the first piece of a much larger story. Journalist Jason Koebler takes us to Nebraska and Illinois to find out what is going on with American tractors – and what Ukrainian hackers have to do with it. Read more of Jason’s reporting on John Deere and the Right to Repair movement.
Over the course of its 200 year history, the lighthouse on Wood Island in Maine has been home to a celebrity dog, a grisly murder, some mischievous ghosts, and a monster storm that may or may not have been brought on by a pickpocket’s curse.
Learn more about Wood Island Lighthouse on their website (here’s Richard’s book.)
Want to hear more stories of mega storms, heroic sea rescues, and maybe even some more lighthouse ghosts? Here’s some information about Maine’s 60 historic lighthouses.
This episode was brought to you in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism
Producer Luz Fleming takes his son to revisit a special childhood spot that just happens to be a San Fransisco gem hiding in plain sight ... in the middle of the bay!
Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D. is a wildlife ecologist specializing in large carnivores. And in this episode she unfolds a mystery for listeners.
Producer Abbey Perrault takes a trip into the Kenyan savanna, where she meets researchers who are studying how people share space with unlikely neighbors: lions. Along the way, she learns why a researcher would possibly pull the tail of a lion, and gets extremely up close and personal with two massive lionesses.
For more information, check out Lucrecia Aguilar's website, Sam Kiuna’s Twitter and Instagram, and Lion Landscapes.
Preorder your copy of Wild Life today!
We all love to zone out to a soothing nature documentary. But what you’ll learn about them in this episode will make you watch – and listen! – a lot more carefully. Reporter Abigail Keel tells Dylan about her conversation with sound designer and mixer Graham Wild about the not-as-real-as-you-may-think sounds that bring nature documentaries to life.
Preorder your copy of our new book, Wild Life, today!
Decades after eradicating its wolves, Yellowstone National Park decided to reintroduce them. In the 1990s, the wolves were thriving—until one wolf decided to make life hell for everyone around her. Our guest in this episode, Rick McIntyre, has written several books about the wolves of Yellowstone. His latest is Thinking Like a Wolf, which will be out in late October 2024.
Preorder your copy of Wild Life today!
The natural world is weird. Dylan talks with Cara Giaimo, co-author of our forthcoming book Wild Life, about the world’s tiniest chameleon, an acrobatic fog catching beetle, and how shellfish hold the keys to Poland’s water supply.
Preorder your copy of Wild Life today, and get a free luggage tag!
These miniature mansions and luxurious homes were built for the feathered residents of Istanbul.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ottoman-bird-palaces
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is dedicated to telling the stories of the league’s greatest players, its impact on communities, and the game-changing innovations it brought to baseball.
Pegged as the “world’s greatest indoor miniature village,” Roadside America was a beloved roadside attraction in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania. The creator Laurence Gieringer and his family ran the business for 85 years until its closure in 2021. Today, the pieces of this miniature village have been auctioned off to past visitors all over the country. And there may yet be more auctions this year.
Saying farewell to summer with a lazy day in Mallorca, and a blustery night in Massachusetts. “3 p.m. in Sa Cabaneta” and “7:10 p.m. in Provincetown” were edited by Aube Rey Lescure. Both essays originally appeared in Off Assignment.
Producer Emma Morgenstern spends nearly 6 hours waiting in a famous line. Will she get into the most exclusive tennis tournament in the world – or face bigtime disappointment?
The world’s largest random, assorted key collection located outside Denver, CO, was inspired by a literary infatuation and includes keys to danger and memory.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/baldpate-inn-key-collection
In 2023, 60% of Americans chose to be cremated instead of having a traditional burial. If that trend continues, do cemeteries need to be worried about the future? Loren Rhoads, author of 222 Cemeteries To See Before You Die (which is coming out on August 27), explains how old cemeteries are working to bring in the living…and tells us about new and experimental ways to be buried and memorialized.
District Six is a neighborhood in Cape Town South Africa that was destroyed under the apartheid regime. Today, a museum stands as a monument to the people who once called the neighborhood home.
Writer Meghan Gunn meets a stranger in the jungle, and writes him a letter.
This essay was edited by Aube Rey Lescure and originally appeared in Off Assignment. It was also included in The Best American Travel Writing 2021. If you have had a memorable encounter with a stranger, we want to hear about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com
The Atlas Obscura Places team brings us to a dazzling aquarium and a small town in the heart of what was once eastern Pennsylvania’s coal country. The catch? Neither place exists anymore. Do you have a place that you love that no longer exists? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send a voice memo to Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
Maybe it was a mom and pop shop that closed down. Maybe it was a facility that you often used and shut down. Or an art space that was replaced by a housing development. We want to hear about places that YOU can no longer visit. What was there before disappearing? Why was it important to you? How were you connected to this place? What do you remember about it? What did it look like? What is left of this place NOW? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call back if you get disconnected! You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
In 1954, two groups of boys thought they were going to summer camp. But they’d been recruited for a different kind of summer experience.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-corn-palace-mitchell-south-dakota
An update on the thousands of masks from the former Kingdom of Benin. These pieces of art and culture are spread in museums across the world, but a new discussion has reignited about if they should stay put.
The story of how a former nuclear missile silo in Wamego, Kansas became the site of the largest LSD bust in US history (allegedly). Fore more information, check out author Dennis McDougal’s website and Rolling Stone’s interview with Leonard Pickard.
An evening visit to a racetrack, and a late night walk on the beach. “8:45 p.m. at the Selinsgrove Speedway” was edited by Aube Rey Lescure and “10 p.m. in Muriwai” was edited by Tusshara Nalakumar Srilatha. Both essays originally appeared in Off Assignment.
Mike O’Connor’s Cape Cod store provides supplies for birders, gives away thousands of pounds of free potatoes, and inspires April Fools’ Day-related hijinks. For more information, check out the Bird Watcher’s General Store website.
Preorder your copy our new book,Wild Life, today!
Today we hear from an Atlas Obscura user who, when he isn’t aboard an icebreaking warship for the Canadian Navy, spends weeks at a time road-tripping with his dog. Check out Steve’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puppercycle/?hl=en
Investigator Mitch Yockelson, a historian and academic turned archival bounty hunter, has a job that makes for pretty interesting dinner party discussion: tracking down the people who steal government property.
Mary Maschal set out to document women’s history, unintentionally becoming part of it herself. Learn more about the Women's Museum of History here.
A visitor in Cajicá, Colombia sees a stranger on a bicycle, and writes him a letter. This essay was edited by Carey Baraka and originally appeared in Off Assignment.
If you have had a memorable encounter with a stranger, we want to hear about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
In the early 1900s, influential psychologist Carl Jung spent more than a decade documenting the strange images that popped up in his unconscious mind and documenting them all in a beautiful illustrated manuscript. After his death, his family thought the book was too bizarre to be made public and locked it away in a Swiss bank vault for decades.
MORE:
Learn more about the Jung House Museum (and visit the study where Jung wrote the Red Book) https://www.cgjunghaus.ch/en/
A link to the New York Times article mentioned: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/magazine/20jung-t.html
This giant limestone cave outside of St. Louis, MO. is home to a combination of kitsch and world-class scenery.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/meramec-caverns
Dylan is joined by Marisa Scheinfeld, a photographer who has dedicated years to exploring the lost and abandoned properties of the Borscht Belt. A stretch of hundreds of hotels, resorts and summer camps where Jewish Americans would go to escape. Check out more of Marisa’s work here, including her book, The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacation Land.
You bring us road trip stories from all over the globe. Along the way, we hear about encounters with wild boars, a visit to a famously large ball of twine and a lifelong friendship that began on the back of motorcycles.
Strap on your hiking boots and say goodbye to your spouse. We’re pulling off the highway and going on a trek through Dinosaur National Monument with photographer Randy Fullbright. To see Randy’s photos for yourself, check out his website or stop by his shop, Fullbright Studios, in Vernal, UT.
It’s Road Trip Week! Dylan hops in a (virtual) car and embarks on a Great American Road Trip. Along the way, Atlas Obscura staffers recommend their favorite road trip stops – from a strange doll hospital, to a massive sculpture only visible during certain times of year, to a magical desert oasis.
Learn more about our recommendations:
Babyland General Hospital
Roadside America
Spiral Jetty
Drummond Basin
Step inside the Theater of Electricity in Boston and learn about the World’s Largest Air-Insulated Van De Graaff Generator.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-airinsulated-van-de-graaff-generator
Writer and journalist Walt Hickeyjoins Dylan for a conversation about the different ways film and television have impacted us and our real world surroundings, a topic that’s the subject of his new book You Are What You Watch.
The story of a stork, a spear and a scientific mystery that led to breakthroughs in the way we understand bird migration.
In the California’s Jurupa Valley, residents discovered a treasure in their backyard: a 15,000 year old tree. Now, it may disappear.
Read Shannon Osaka’s article about the Jurupa Oak.
Today we visit the ATF Fire Research Laboratory where investigators recreate arson attacks and analyze burn patterns.
Read more about John Allen and his work at the world's largest fire research laboratory.
Atlas Obscura's Gemma Tarlach shares what it's like to step inside a relic from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and to find traces of a famous lost party of explorers.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/discovery-hut
Today we're powering up our metal detectors and keeping a very close eye on the surface of the earth as we set out in the hunt for meteorites with Steve Arnold, who’s been in the game for more than three decades. If you want to learn more, check out Steve’s website, and read this profile of the meteorite hunting community.
In the basement of a Berlin hostel – in a corridor connecting their brewery to the luggage storage area – is a shrine to a pop culture icon with a surprising connection to the city’s history. (Hint: It’s David Hasselhoff.)
Plus: Atlas Obscura has a new book coming out! Pre-order your copy of Wild Life today.
Dylan takes us on a tour of three places that have shaped his life.
Listen to our episodes about the Corn Palace, House on the Rock, and Gold Medal Flour.
How a woman in her 70s inspired some of the biggest labor uprisings in American history.
This elaborate architecture throughout Iran served a very unique purpose - gathering pigeon guano.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pigeon-towers-iran
Travel writer Susan Orlean is an admitted terrible tourist. But she’s an expert at getting lost – with a purpose. Today, she takes us to some of the places that have shaped her life. And she talks about throwing out the guidebook – opening herself up to these experiences – and the art of getting lost.
Barry Enderwick has made and tasted more than 1000 sandwiches from across history. Today, he and Dylan make – and eat – three sandwiches that each tell us something about history, culture, and ourselves.
Pre-order Barry’s book, Sandwiches of History: The Cookbook, today!
For one day every July, the Assateague Channel on Virginia’s marshy eastern shore is filled with the bobbing heads of swimming ponies. These feral horses are celebrities in the area, but nobody actually knows exactly how they got there. Atlas Obscura senior editor Gemma Tarlach tells us the story and wrote about it here.
In 2008, a researcher floating in a boat in Lake Huron had an idea for how to learn more about our prehistoric ancestors. It involved sonar, a lot of patience, and some very bumbling AI caribou. Listen to Morgan Springer’s original story here. For more stories about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes, check out Points North wherever you get your podcasts.
We're working on another listener-led episode and want to know: What is your favorite unusual road trip destination? The weirdest road trip memory holed deep in your subconscious. Where was it? What did it look like? What do you remember? Maybe there is a place you have taken a friend, or your own kids and just thought. Oh man, they are going to freak out… It can be a good memory, a bad memory, or just a weird one. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send a voice memo to Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
Anna Swan had an adventurous life before settling in Seville, Ohio and building a house large enough to fit her large life.
Today we have two classic episodes to share about hidden histories of America. In one, we’ll hear the story of an unconventional Revolutionary patriot – an enslaved woman who sued her enslaver. And in the other, we’ll learn about a group of Native American veterans who developed an unbreakable secret code during World War II – and the unlikely location where their legacy is preserved.
The story of a big idea, and a big duck – and how this duck would go on to become an important architectural landmark that would influence buildings all around the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-duck
Thomas Downing, who arguably invented fine dining in New York City, had a secret going on underneath the floor of his popular oyster house. Writer Briona Lamback tells us the story. If you want to read the full article, check out the link here. And if you’re looking for an oyster experience, Briona recommends Brooklyn-based The Real Mother Shucker, the city’s only oyster cart.
Gilbert Baker’s pride flag design is now a worldwide symbol for LGBT freedom and liberation. Now, his former stomping grounds remember his efforts with a beautiful mural. But there’s more to this pride-filled house than meets the eye. SEE the mural for yourself here and learn more about the artist here.
This tiny stone cabbage has a big backstory stretching from the rich, treasure-laden halls of Beijing’s Forbidden City...through a harrowing wartime escape...to its prized place at the National palace museum in Taipei, Taiwan.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jade-cabbage
Author Doug Preston brings us back into the world of his latest book, The Lost Tomb, with a story of a remote lake in the Himalayas where hundreds of human skeletons were discovered – puzzling scientists and researchers for years.
This museum in New York is a recreated 19th century glove making workshop complete with sizing tools, cutting blocks, and irons. It’s also part studio, part exhibition space and the brainchild of a craftsman who dedicated his life to the art of glove-making.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-glove-museum
In the 1850s, one anonymous Massachusetts shoemaker became a national celebrity – all by exhibiting his “family” of captured grizzly bears.
A hospital and rehab center for birds in Manhattan started with a woman who just wanted to do all she could to help an injured goose. Decades later, it has become an institution.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wild-bird-fund
Places editors Michelle Cassidy and Jonathan Carey bring us stories about two specific languages that were created by people who gave us a glimpse into their worlds and cultures – real and imagined.
History buff Torri Yates-Orr gives us the tea on Nefertiti, Cleopatra, and Amanirenas – and explains why we often don’t hear their full stories in history class.
In Atlanta, on this historic Auburn Avenue, sits a small bookstore and reading room that’s been called “an interactive art museum of Black Thought”
LEARN MORE: https://www.forkeepsbooks.com/
James Baldwin’s former home in the South of France is a site that many visit hoping to feel the essence of the great African-American writer. But should it be?
In the early days of drinking in America, bartenders passed down drink recipes simply via word of mouth. Then, a suit-wearing, itinerant bartender decked out in diamonds changed everything.
Plus, big news! “Atlas Obscura: Wild Life” is coming soon to bookstores near you. Pre-order your copy now!
What is your favorite unusual road trip destination? Plus, Dylan wants your travel questions. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send a voice memo to Hello@Atlas Obscura.com.
Noah Purifoy was a pugilistic LA artist who eventually filled a 10 acre plot of land in Joshua Tree, CA with his off-kilter art.
Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Museum: http://www.noahpurifoy.com/joshua-tree-outdoor-museum
Learn more about Dale Davis: https://dalebdavis.com/
Listen to our episode about Leimert Park: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-leimert-park-ii
Listen to our episode about the Watts Towers Art Center: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-watts-towers
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/noah-purifoy-s-outdoor-desert-art-museum
Ultimate slow travel adventurer (and friend of the show) Bernie Harberts returns to tell us what happened when he spent months floating alone at sea. Bernie is also an author and filmmaker. You can read more about Bernie's travels at his website www.riverearth.com.
Listener stories of hitting the road, parents in tow. We’ll hear about an unexpected run-in with a group of lumberjacks, a rare road trip with parents visiting from Thailand, and a heart-pounding incident in Istanbul. If you have a suggestion about our next call out episode or a place you would like us to look into, please write us an email at hello@atlasobscura.com. Or call us and leave us a message at 315-992-7902.
We visit a London neighborhood that’s the epicenter of Caribbean culture and a place that aims to be the home for Black British history. Learn more about the Black Cultural Archives here.
During the 1970s, archaeologists and fishermen stumbled across an abandoned military weather station on the coast of Labrador. It was labeled “Canadian Meteor Service.” The problem was: the Canadian Meteor Service didn’t put it there. In fact, the Canadian Meteor Service didn’t even exist.
MORE: You can visit Weather Station Kurt at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, which is only about 980 miles from its original location!
The only remaining operational Rotary Jail, found in Crawfordsville, Indiana, shows visitors how inmates were once locked within the building’s walls.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rotary-jail-museum
This garden park in Paris, France contains the ruins of a colonial exhibition from 1907.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/le-jardin-d-agronomie-tropicale
We get a crash course in the fascinating temperature-controlled ecosystem we’ve created to keep our food fresh – and available – all year round. Our guide is Nicky Twilley, co-host of the Gastropod podcast and author of the new bookcalled Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves.
In the South Dakota badlands, a small pharmacy employed an ingenious marketing gimmick, and boomed into a business that draws millions of visitors every year. It’s a story that involves giant dinosaurs, a mythological jack rabbit, and lots and lots of donuts.
We’ve got a fun collaboration with podcasters SuChin Pak and Kulap Vilaysack, hosts of Add to Cart. Hear them chat with Dylan about traveling with kids – the good, the bad, and the vomit-y times. Pick up tips if you’re about to make your first or 10th trip with young people this summer.
We head to Florida, the wintertime refuge for many, for a glimpse of a rehabilitation effort aimed at some very distinct creatures known for being gentle giants – manatees. This episode was produced in partnership with VISIT FLORIDA.
Producer Johanna Mayer takes a trip to the last Sears in New York City, and a Brooklyn landmark, with two people whose lives were shaped by the department store.
Telescope tourist, rocket scientist and STEAM educator Summer Ash gives us the nitty gritty on the V.L.A. - a 22-mile telescope in New Mexico whose formal name is literally “Very Large Array.” We talk about how this observatory works and what cosmic wonders it’s detected.
CANADALAND host Jesse Brown introduces Dylan to a strange and decaying Quebecois fast food institution… housed inside a giant orange sphere. Today, the orange is a relic of a bygone era. But decades ago, this odd establishment was on track to become the McDonalds of Canada. We hear about the rise and fall of Montreal’s Orange Julep, and how its eccentric founder envisioned a Canada scattered with glowing orange spheres.
This week, we’re celebrating Canada’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. This is the third story in our collaboration with CANADALAND. If you want to hear more stories from their great show, we recommend starting here:
- Crimes Against Nature
- The True Story of Sasquatch
This episode was produced by Kevin Sexton.
Host Dylan Thuras brings us to a remote island off the coast of Nova Scotia. On Sable Island, we learn how – against all odds – a group of beloved feral horses have not only survived, but thrived. There’s only one problem: Some people want them gone.
This week, we’re celebrating Canada’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. This is the second story in our collaboration with CANADALAND. If you want to hear more stories from their great show, we recommend starting here:
The Truth About Polkaroo
WTF, Marc Maron is Moving to Canada?
CANADALAND host Jesse Brown tells Dylan the story of a Canadian man who adopted a black bear in the woods of Winnipeg – and how that bear became the inspiration for one of the most beloved children’s characters of all time.
This week, we’re celebrating Canada’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places. This is the first story in our collaboration with CANADALAND. If you want to hear more stories from their great show, we recommend starting here:
An Oral History of Just for Laughs Gags
The Newfoundlander
Who's Behind a Fake Trudeau Sex Scandal
This mechanical boy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was a mystery - until it began to write.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maillardets-automaton
Historian and author Edda L. Fields-Black tells us the fascinating and action-packed story of one of the most daring spy operations and raids of the entire Civil War – led by the Harriet Tubman.
We catch up with Amir Siraj – friend of the show, scientist and world wanderer – who visited a new observatory in a Chilean desert that could help his search for rogue planets
Check out other episodes we’ve done Amir here and here.
Earlier this spring we shared the story of the city of Melbourne’s program to track trees, which morphed into a love fest. In this episode, we hear from YOU and your love letters to trees that play a special role in your life.
MORE: Want to be in an upcoming Atlas Obscura episode? We’re collecting listener stories right now about traveling with your parents. Tell us about a place you went with your parents that was special to you. Maybe it was the annual trip to Niagara Falls or a national park. Or maybe it was just a one time thing but had an outsized impact. Call and tell us at 315-992-7902 or email us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
The Ludlow colony in southern Colorado was once a bustling tent city and haven for miners and their families. But it was also the site of one of the country’s most monumental –and violent – clashes of the labor movement.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ludlow-massacre-site
In 2006 a massive haul of Doritos was shipwrecked on Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks, leaving its mark on the town forever.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shipwrecked-doritos
Author Colin Dickey tells us the story of a Kentucky family who, in 1955, claimed to be in a wild gunfight with unidentified creatures who may or may not have been aliens. And we learn how this event had a mysterious, surprising, and shockingly long legacy that eventually inspired one of Hollywood's greatest movie makers to create multiple films about aliens and monsters and family.
MORE: Check out Colin’s column on Atlas Obscura, or check out his website here.
Jason deCaires Taylor takes intentional art to another level with his sculptures that can be visited by humans and fish.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/underwater-sculpture-garden
From a rubber duck contest to hypnotizing chickens, listeners share stories about annual customs, events and practices that set their hometowns apart from others.
MORE: We're going to be bringing you more listener-led stories this year, and we need your help. Tell us about a place you went with your parents that was special to you. Maybe it was the annual trip to Niagara Falls or a national park. Or maybe it was just a one-time thing but had an outsized impact. Call and tell us at 315-992-7902 or email us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
We visit the Louisiana town where the infamous – but often misunderstood – couple’s story came to an end.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bonnie-and-clyde-ambush-museum
We're going to be bringing you more listener-led stories this year, and we need your help. Tell us about a place you went with your parents that was special to you. Maybe it was the annual trip to Niagara Falls or national park. Or maybe it was just a one time thing but had an outsized impact. Call and tell us at 315-992-7902 or email us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
The pigs once plopped on an uninhabited Auckland Island known for capturing castaways now play an important role in modern medical research.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-lives-on-auckland-islands
Science writer and journalist Rebecca Boyle has a new book about all about the ways in which the moon has impacted nearly every aspect of human life – including our conception and invention of time.
MORE IN THE ATLAS: Rebecca is a regular contributor to Atlas Obscura and you can find more about her work here and check out her book here.
We empty out our change purse and visit Dan Zelinsky - the owner and head mechanic of the Musée Mécanique - one of the few remaining vintage arcades in the country.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/musee-mecanique-san-francisco
A gnarly looking elm tree rumored to be older than Britain itself was the anchor in a community – until beetles got to it and it was suddenly gone one day. Thanks to the magic of technology, you can see a 3D scan of the Beauly Elm here.
READ IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wych-elm-of-beauly-priory
We go to Haiti, and visit a royal residence once called the Versailles of the Caribbean. But though Sans-Souci Palace, once home to Haiti’s only king, is now ruins and rubble, it remains a large symbol – just as its creator intended. | Read about this in the Atlas HERE
Farmers in Yorkshire, England take years to coax their rhubarb plants into a world-renowned delicacy using a century-old technique.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fords-folly-water-dam
On the eve of the Second World War, there was one place that was the source for all good stories — the Hotel Imperial in Vienna. It exuded luxury and power, and also was the converging spot for foreign correspondents in the 1920’s and ‘30s who were warning the world about the rise of dictatorship. Historian and author Deborah Cohen takes us back in time and into the lives of these influential journalists.
MORE Check out Deborah’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576473/last-call-at-the-hotel-imperial-by-deborah-cohen/
Long before Joe Exotic got the country talking about big cats, there was Joe Taft – regular guy – who began raising and rescuing these types of felines in Indiana.
MORE: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/exotic-feline-rescue-center-2
The Old Cahawba Archeological Park is perhaps one of Alabama's most famous ghost towns. But it once was the center of life in this southern state. We unravel the surprising tale of this onetime capitol city.
SEE IT IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/old-cahawba-archeological-park
Today’s episode comes from Twenty Thousand Hertz, a podcast that reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. On their show, they’ve explored topics like the sounds of other planets, the mind blowing ways that insects communicate, and secret spy messages that are broadcast on the radio.
In this episode, they take you to the US-Canadian border, where, in 2011, residents of Windsor, Ontario started experiencing a strange rumbling hum that rattled dishes and kept people awake at night. Then, after years of getting nowhere, the mystery of the Windsor Hum was finally solved... Or was it?
The Tree of 40 fruits in San Jose California is an horticultural marvel of 40 types of stone fruit trees grafted together to form a living work of art.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tree-of-40-fruit
We promise, this is not another sappy (pardon the pun) story about trees. Instead, author and science writer Mary Roach takes us deep into an ancient forest grove on Vancouver Island, in search of the danger trees and the people who seek them out.
Learn more about danger trees in Mary’s book, Fuzz.
We spend some time with some celebrity trees – one in Washington, DC and one in Berlin – that have left an impact on all who visit them. Today’s stories are brought to you by Michelle Cassidy and Diana Hubbell, of the Atlas Obscura Places Team.
In 2012, the city of Melbourne gave every tree a barcode and email address so people could report when it needed maintenance or attention. But, a funny thing started happening. Instead of reporting problems, people began emailing love letters to the trees.
MORE: Is there a special tree in your life? One worthy of a love letter? Let us know! Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and your love letter to a tree. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call again if that happens!
Meyer lemons are so special that restaurants go out of their way to call them out on menus. Martha Stewart loves to bake with them. And yet, Meyer lemons also have a fascinating and kinda tragic backstory. Tune in for a very fun episode about this very particular fruit. Our guest in this episode is Mandy Naglich, professional taster and author of “How To Taste.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/meyer-lemon
The Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska aims to domesticate a species that used to roam the earth at the same time as the wooly mammoth.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/musk-ox-farm
IN THIS EPISODE OF THE ATLAS OBSCURA PODCAST, Dylan sits down with “How To” creator and narrator John Wilson about his travels, his favorite places and his HBO series that is part documentary, part memoir, part essay — and unlike any other show on TV.
MORE: In their conversation, a few places come up that we’ve made episodes about. So if you want to hear about the Chrysler Building eagles, the House on the Rock or Organ Stop Pizza, click here, here and here.
Just outside of Myrtle Beach sits a medieval castle that would feel out of place if not for its charm. We tell the story of the eccentric couple who, nearly a hundred years ago, built this fortress — which was turned into a popular part of the state park system. This episode was produced in partnership with Discover South Carolina.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/atalaya
A one-room museum located in the basement of a church-turned-community arts center is crammed with mementos from a pretty spectacular period in history. We hang with some retired dancers who recall the time when Chinatown in San Francisco was filled with late night cabarets famed for their showgirls.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/showgirl-magic-museum-san-francisco-california
From Tractor Day to an Italian style wedding to the streets of New York City to throwing water into the air in negative 20 degree weather, we take a tour of some quirky hometown traditions.
Does the place you grew up have any unique traditions? We would love to hear from you!
Tell us about your hometown’s weird or unique local tradition. Walk us through what goes down—who’s there and what’s happening? Is there an interesting history behind it? What was your relationship to this tradition like when you were growing up—did you partake? What’s your relationship to it now? Did/does it play a role in how you think about the world, or the corner of it you come from?
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
This week wasn't special only because of the eclipse. We also recorded our first live show, during the Atlas Obscura Ecliptic Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In this episode, hear host Dylan Thuras try to stump guests -- astrobiologist Dr. Graham Lau and science writer Rebecca Boyle -- and get them to guess which strange, incredible place is real or fake. Then, the tables are turned and Dylan has to guess. Special thanks to everyone who made this possible!
Rick Steves has seen a lot of strange, incredible and wondrous places over his decades-long career as the leading authority on European travel. And today he is going to guide us through three places that helped shape his life.
We’re heading to the mountains of western North Carolina, where for more than a century, people have witnessed unusual displays of shimmering and sometimes even exploding lights. And we hang with a skeptical scientist who’s spent years trying to solve the mystery. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit North Carolina.
The world’s biggest treehouse was inspired by a message from God.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ministers-tree-house
Today, millions of people across North America donned solar glasses, and looked up. And since our show is all about wonder and curiosity and incredible places — a moment like the Great American Eclipse is something we take very seriously. If you missed it, or weren’t in the path of totality when the moon passed in front of the sun, we have you covered. Listen to this and sink into our shared once-in-a-generation experience, powered by voices across the continent.
Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this episode, especially those who joined us at the Atlas Obscura Ecliptic Festival.
Enjoy.
Millions of people will be getting in their cars, breaking out the cardboard glasses and looking to the sky for today's Great North American Eclipse… which won’t occur again for another TWENTY years. Host Dylan Thuras will be smack dab in the path of totality in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where Atlas Obscura’s Ecliptic festival has been in full swing for the past few days. And for the first time ever, our podcast team will be marking this monoculture event by making and releasing an episode all in one day. Come back to your feed tonight for a very special episode!
At The Martin, family-style dining is rooted in a very specific history and cultural experience that began with Basque sheepherders in the 1800s and has been carried on and celebrated ever since. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Nevada and is part of Nevada Week, where we bring you stories all week from the Silver State.
LEARN MORE about The Martin and Travel Nevada
A spectacular art installation is hidden inside an all-luxury shopping mall in Las Vegas. As of April 2024, the exhibit appears to be closed.
This episode is part of Nevada Week, where we bring you stories all week from the Silver State. Find out more about cool things to see, do and experience in the state by visiting Travel Nevada.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/akhob
Las Vegas was once the preferred tourist destination for watching weapons of mass destruction explode. This episode is part of Nevada Week, where we bring you stories all week from the Silver State. Find out more about cool things to see, do and experience in the state by visiting Travel Nevada.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-atomic-testing-museum
Jessica Oreck has spent the last 30 years collecting odd and forgotten objects. Now, they’re all beautifully curated and on display in the Office of Collecting and Design in Las Vegas. This episode is part of Nevada Week, where we bring you stories from the Silver State. Find out more about cool things to see, do and experience in the state by visiting Travel Nevada.
LEARN MORE about The Office of Collecting and Design
This micronation about an hour outside of Reno draws visitors from all over the world. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Nevada and is part of Nevada Week, where we bring you stories all week from the Silver State.
LEARN MORE about Molossia and Travel Nevada
Friend of the show Joanna Ebenstein tells us about her enduring fascination with death, how it led her to create the Morbid Anatomy Museum and, after some setbacks, why she eventually settled on her new home of Mexico City.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: If you are interested in mortality and death and medical images and anatomical presentations, check out Morbid Anatomy. Joanna is also working on a new book called Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life. Pre-order it here.
For one year, this journalist had the coolest assignment – as the New York Times “52 Places” reporter. Its charms and challenges were more than he ever imagined.
There are two miles of abandoned tunnels beneath the streets of Cincinnati, OH. A relic of an attempt to establish underground transportation in the city.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-cincinnati-subway-cincinnati-ohio
A producer sits down with Dylan and recounts his trip to a place referred to as “The Venice of Africa.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gavie-benin
This museum in Kentucky is either your dream place or your nightmare, depending on how you feel about dummies. Because there are more than 500 of them there, resting in peace.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-worlds-only-ventriloquism-museum-in-northern-kentucky
The Great North American Eclipse will be April 8, 2024. Where will you be watching it? Who will you be with? And why is it important to you to see this marvelous event? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send a voice memo to Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
An adventurous couple sets out to document and unearth the arrow’s of America’s past, once used to help pilots find their way across the skies.
GET MORE You can learn more about Charlotte and Brian’s journey – and see photos of the arrows they’ve documented – at their website: dreamsmithphotos.com
WATCH THE ECLIPSE WITH US! The Great North American eclipse is April 8, and we're throwing a festival to celebrate. This is the last one in the U.S. for 20 years! So, we're inviting you to Hot Springs, Arkansas (which will be in the path of totality) from April 5th to April 8th. There will be bands, stargazing, panels and more. For information and tickets, click here.
Author, astrophysicist, folklorist, and science communicator Dr. Moiya McTier guides Dylan through the galaxy, and along the way reveals why she loves space so much, how folklore helps people understand things bigger than themselves, and the origins of her award-winning book, Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy.
MORE: If this conversation really got you into thinking about space and mythology, Moiya will be teaching a facts-based fictional worldbuilding course online with us starting May 14. Use code GALAXY20 at signup to get 20% off the class when you sign up here.
This site, and the enormous telescope that sits on it, is loved and lost to both scientists and everyday Puerto Ricans.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/arecibo-observatory
Friend of the show Amir Siraj tells us the wild tale of his search for an interstellar object – a journey that led the astrophysicist to the bottom of the ocean floor.
Today the story of how a street lamp, a tangle with municipal government, and a love of the stars led a man to Goblin Valley, Utah a “dark sky certified” place for lovers of the night sky.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/goblin-valley-state-park
Take a trip to a hostel in Iceland to visit the country’s last Big Mac, where the burger’s existence unfolds a story about economics and national identity.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iceland-mcdonalds
Atlas Obscura writer Roxanne Hoorn brings us the story of an extraordinary relationship between people and killer whales. And, through conversation with Dylan, we learn how to better cohabitate as species on this planet.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/killer-whales-work-with-humans
LeVar Burton presents SOUND DETECTIVES – a funny, engaging, and thought provoking podcast that invites elementary school-aged kids to explore the magic and mystery of sound.
Equal parts fun and informative, SOUND DETECTIVES encourages listeners to engage with the sound mysteries that surround us, while unlocking the door to people and cultures around the globe. Join the team on this semi-improvised comedy caper, and help return the mystery sounds before the world falls silent!
Listen to SOUND DETECTIVES on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
We go to Fayerweather Island, off the coast of Connecticut, and get the story of Kate Moore, one of the first recorded woman lighthouse keepers. Over several decades, she poured her heart and soul into a task and defied common expectations of what a keeper should be.
We go to Deep River, Connecticut – where the story of a botched bank robbery more than 100 years ago has taken on a life of its own as an urban legend.
MORE: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-grave-of-xyz-deep-river-connecticut
The largest theater pipe organ in the world lives in a restaurant in Mesa, Arizona. Phenomenal musicians play requests while diners feast on pizza.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/organ-stop-pizza
Dylan sits down with guest Blake Pfeil about what inspired him to begin exploring abandoned spots, what those spaces have taught him about escapism, sobriety and the sometimes blurry line between real and unreal that he finds there.
MORE: Blake is an artist and adventurer. He’s also the creator and host of the podcast “Abandoned: All-American Ruins.” Check it out here.
We visit a quaint Dutch fishing village and attempt to unravel the mystery that unfolded there… a mystery that involved strange and curious letters and a voyage to the other side of the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mr-kaors-portrait
On our second day with Sporkful senior producer Andres O’Hara, we see what happens when invasive creatures that have made their way to the US refuse to leave… even when they’re slow and slimy.
MORE: If you like these episodes, and are looking for more surprising and fascinating food stories, check out The Sporkful, which just released a new series called Deep Dish, which looks at the surprising history of dishes like bagels, tacos al pastor, and tamales.
With the help from a podcast friend (Andres O’Hara of The Sporkful), we go inside one of the busiest airports on earth. And we find out the fate of all the food that gets confiscated by customs. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t get eaten.
If you like these episodes, and are looking for more surprising and fascinating food stories, check out The Sporkful, which just released a new series called Deep Dish, which looks at the surprising history of dishes like bagels, tacos al pastor, and tamales.
Dylan braves one of New York’s most touristy sites to bring listeners the lesser-known history of Madame Tussaud’s origins.
For years, contributions from Black Americans to public spaces like beaches and museums have been hard to detect. Places Editors Jonathan and Michelle Cassidy take us to New Jersey’s Chicken Bone Beach and Chicago’s Field Museum to highlight a couple of these stories.
We visit Jerry’s Hat Museum, where a retiree has turned to an old chapel to house a collection of thousands of hats, pens, odds, ends and other artifacts from his Illinois hometown.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jerrys-hat-museum-illinois
Listeners share their stories of places that made them feel at home, from the beaches of Australia to a ubiquitous coffee shop.
WE WANT YOUR STORIES! We’re working on a new slate of episodes that will feature listener stories, and want to hear yours.
Tell us about your hometown’s weird or unique local tradition. Walk us through what goes down—who’s there and what’s happening? Is there an interesting history behind it? What was your relationship to this tradition like when you were growing up—did you partake? What’s your relationship to it now? Did/does it play a role in how you think about the world, or the corner of it you come from?
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call in if you get disconnected. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
The Hotel Theresa in Harlem, New York played a pivotal role in the influential neighborhood’s cultural identity.
The founders of this prison in Philadelphia aimed to revolutionize incarceration for the better - and unintentionally created new horrors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eastern-state-penitentiary
A producer revisits her hometown (Houston) and goes to the Buffalo Soldiers Museum, learning about the contributions of Black members of the armed forces and one man in particular, who started the collection years ago in his garage.
This giant rock has been used in the coronation of every English monarch since the 1300s, but is it authentic? Or could the real one be in a Scottish bar? We parse through the evidence and debate!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/glasgows-stone-of-destiny
We visit the misnamed “world’s loneliest house” and visit the flocks of puffins who live there. Some people want to eat them, some want to protect them. And these two groups collide here.
If you want to learn more about the puffin situation in the Westman Islands, check out our episode called Puffin Patrol – about a community that sweeps the streets each night looking for lost pufflings and helping them find their way back to the beach.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ellidaey-island-lodge
We take a hike up Great Blue Hill in Boston and get more than a stunning view of the city. A visit to the peak reveals the story of a weather observatory with the longest continuous daily weather record in the United States.
A public health crisis plagued the Midwest until a simple solution was introduced to a ubiquitous cooking ingredient.
A mysterious religious community founded by an insurance agent-turned spiritual leader in northern Italy spent 15 years constructing an underground temple covered in intricate paintings, mosaics, trippy colors and images inspired by Roman, Greek and Egyptian mythology.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/temple-of-damanhur
Award-winning chef Sean Sherman, aka the Sioux Chef, has dedicated his Minneapolis restaurant to decolonized food and honoring indigenous meal traditions
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/owamni
Mexico City is known for its museum and art scene. The collection at El Museo del Juguete Antiguo – The Antique Toy Museum – encourages visitors to lean into their imaginations – and reflect on the rich history and culture in this city.
We go to south Florida and hear the story of a family that took a gamble on a humble roadside stand that blossomed into a fruit emporium and community staple.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/robert-is-here
This collection, preserved by the United States Library of Congress, features locks of hair from cultural icons from Beethoven to General Ulysses S. Grant.
This museum in John Day, Oregon, was once a Chinese general store and medicine shop that dates back to the 1800s. But these days it’s a perfectly preserved time capsule, down to the fruit – down to the orange its former owner left on the counter in the 1950s. Tours of the shop are offered seasonally, but you can get a virtual look inside here.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS HERE
Hear staff stories about places in the world that made them instantly feel at home, from the Big Easy to the Magic Kingdom.
WE WANT YOUR STORIES: We’re working on a new slate of episodes that will feature listener stories, and want to hear yours.
Tell us about a place that makes you feel at home. What made it special? Have you returned there? What sticks out about this place that makes it unique to you? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after 2 minutes so please call in again if you get disconnected. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@atlasobscura.com.
A city in Uzbekistan used to be the site of one of the world’s largest seas. Now it’s a dusty reminder of one of the largest and most forgotten environmental disasters.
READ MORE: Visit the Stihia website here to learn more about the music festival that happens in Moynaq, including where it may be this year. And this news article is a good primer on some of the current conflicts and issues in the region.
This tiny island off the coast of Peru is an UNESCO World Heritage site for having the finest textile art. It’s also the place where a knitted hat represents and symbolizes a man’s code of honor, marital status, and love for life.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/taquile-island
Producer Baudelaire Ceus searches for the resting place of famed author Richard Wright among the graves of other cultural icons like Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Sadegh Hedayat.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pere-lachaise-cemetery
We pick up the ball from internet sleuths and journalists and find the mysterious maker of a Minnesota-shaped forest, who’s never spoken about his secret project – until now.
We follow one man’s journey down an internet rabbit hole that becomes a search for a one-of-a-kind forest and its mysterious creator.
At one time, sea otters had an enormous historical range—from Baja California, up the West Coast, through Alaska, Russia, and Japan. But these days, their levels are low. In this episode, we get an inside look at a groundbreaking program at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is helping to reverse that by getting rescued sea otter pups back to the wild.
We produced this episode in partnership with the aquarium. To learn more about the program or get info on visiting, click here.
We follow a man’s quest to find the remains of a shipwrecked slave ship off the coast of the Florida Keys, and learn about its forgotten history, mysterious remains, and vital legacy.
LEARN MORE: Check out a documentary Karuna Eberl made about the ship – called “ The Guerrero Project.” She wrote an article about it. A local Florida historian named Gail Swanson wrote a book about the ship, called Slave Ship Guerrero. And of course, you can always get involved with Ken’s organization, Diving With a Purpose.
These trees sprang from seeds that were brought to outer space.
Moon Tree Website: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/moon-trees
We go to New Hampshire – but not for politics. Instead, we visit Goffstown, the pumpkin boat capital of New England, and meet the man who came up with an annual, improbable regatta.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: See a video of the annual pumpkin boat race here
We go to Houston, where a gigantic underground vessel that used to be a water source is now an enchanting – and echo-filled – part of the downtown park system.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/buffalo-bayou-park-cistern
We get out our passports and visit The Republic of Slowjamastan, a nation built on good vibes, good music and a dream of eliminating one very popular type of footwear.
We go to Safety Harbor, Florida – where two artists have made their house into a magnet for creativity and culture, and where Troll Dolls, Jello molds, and bowling balls reign. This episode was produced in partnership with Visit St. Pete/Clearwater.
LEARN MORE: Visit kiaralinda.com to see pictures of some of the art at Whimzeyland and for information about getting a tour. And go to visitstpeteclearwater.com to learn about other fun and artsy things to do in the Tampa Bay region.
This forest in Oslo, Norway will provide the trees for paper as part of a century long art project featuring famed contemporary authors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forest-of-the-future-library
Forty-two school buses have been buried in Horning’s Mills, Ontario - covered in concrete, they can house up to 500 people in case of nuclear fallout.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ark-two-shelter
Congo Square in New Orleans is the heart of where African drumming found its way into American music and the birth of Jazz.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/congo-square
Turns out, complaining about bad service really is as old as time. Hear the story of an ancient Babylonian clay tablet that has launched a slew of modern memes. Click here for more.
An archeological site in the country of Georgia, which features the oldest, human skull fossils found outside of Africa, challenges what we think we know about our deep past.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dmanisi-hominins-brain-shape
An island off the coast of Puerto Rico is home to more than 1500 imported monkeys, which have been studied by researchers for decades.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cayo-santiago-monkey-island
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea has become an accidental bird sanctuary for one of the world’s most endangered crane species. Learn more about the International Crane Foundation at savingcranes.org.
A grand library in Portugal has some unexpected nighttime caretakers -- tiny bats.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mafra-palace-library-bats
Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki has had an infestation of Chilean recluse spiders for more than 50 years.
Take a trip to Micropia, the world’s only museum dedicated to microscopic organisms and learn about our invisible life companions.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/micropia
Join host Dylan Thuras, a satellite scientist, and a ship captain in search of gigantic swaths of bioluminescence that radiate up from the surface of the sea over thousands of square miles.
A toxic lake high in the Andes mountains in Argentina is home to microbes that provide a window to our planet’s past — and a key to securing its future.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/laguna-del-diamante
There’s an everlasting lightning storm in Northwestern Venezuela that appears in the night sky nearly every night.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/relampago-del-catatumbo
Science writer Peter Brannen takes listeners on a tour of the world’s five major mass extinctions.
Where does space stuff go after it dies? To this spot deep, deep in the Pacific ocean.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spacecraft-cemetery
Author Mary Roach takes us into the hidden corners of the scientific world. From training to poop in space to the surprisingly pleasant Common Cold Unit, all the way to the inside of Elvis’s colon. If you want to check out her work, we recommend starting with Packing for Mars.
Visitors leave bananas on the grave of “America’s First Lady of Space,” an early astronaut whose incredible life was forgotten.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-grave-of-miss-baker-huntsville-alabama
We head to a remote region of Russia, to the epicenter of what would become known as the Tunguska Event. An event that may seem unfathomable… except we have firsthand accounts from people who witnessed it.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tunguska-event-epicenter
Amir Siraj was a sophomore in college when he discovered what may be the first documented interstellar object to hit Earth.
Chandler, Arizona creates a Christmas Tree made entirely of the diaspore of this Western plant.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tumbleweed-christmas-tree
Over the last two and a half years, the Atlas Obscura podcast has published well over 500 original episodes. For the next few weeks, we're taking a holiday break -- but not leaving you without wonder. Over the course of 20 episodes, host Dylan Thuras is going to take you on a journey starting in the cosmic reaches of space, to the earliest days of life on earth, through a tour of our fellow earthly creatures, and finally arrive at us, the great apes who record podcasts. We'll be back in late January with brand new episodes.
42 giant busts of U.S. presidents are slowly crumbling in a field in Virginia.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/president-heads
Specific smells have been linked to specific geographies, cultures, and mythologies for THOUSANDS of years. Today, we hear from Saskia Wilson-Brown about fragrance, power, and the power of scent.
MORE: Saskia is the founder of the Institute of Art and Olfaction, a nonprofit to expand access and education around scent. She also teaches a 3-part online class with us here at Atlas Obscura, and it runs a couple of times a year. Head to the online courses page on our website, and you can use code AMBERGRIS to get 15% off your registration.
We learn about an age-old practice of nightwalking, with the help of two women who took it on as an experiment in the early chaotic days of the pandemic. Joining the conversation is Bianca Giaever, creator of one of our favorite podcasts of the year, Constellation Prize.
MORE: To hear Constellation Prize for yourself, you can head to thebeliever.net or anywhere podcasts are available. And if you want to learn more about nightwalking, check out this article Bianca wrote.
Gastro Obscura’s senior editor Sam O’Brien returns to the podcast to go deeper with us on her strange beat – recipes etched into gravestones. We probe how food can help heal and remember those we’ve lost.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: Sam has written a bunch about recipe gravestones, and has even been on the podcast before. Read and listen to more of her work at these links:
The Family Recipes That Live On in Cemeteries
Podcast: The Spritz Cookie Gravestone
Podcast: Grandma Ida’s Nut Rolls Gravestone
A producer takes a detour for a glimpse of what some call New York’s worst kept secret – a train station that’s been shut down and sealed away for nearly a century.
MORE: Visit the New York Transit Museum’s website to learn how to become a member and book a tour of the station.
Fishlake National Forest is home to the biggest organism by mass on the planet - but this giant is shrinking and an usual group has banded together to help defend it.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pando-the-trembling-giant
This magical wonderland in Ithaca, New York is devoted entirely—almost spiritually—to this unusual and versatile fruit. It's also the brainchild of Graham Ottoson, who is teaching an Atlas Obscura course on gourds. Listeners get 15% off by using code GOURDLOVE during registration. End credit music in this episode is from Alexander Fals (ngoni + vocals), Hayley Dayis (vocals), and Manuel Solarte (percussion). If you like what you heard, you can listen to more of their songs here.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gourdlandia
An oozing whale skeleton isn't the only attraction at this Massachusetts museum. Hear how a producer’s visit revealed some surprising facts about an industry that helped enrich a city and was inclusive well before diversity became a buzzword.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-oozing-whale-skeleton-of-new-bedford-new-bedford-massachusetts
Back in the day, people were so hungry for info about the weather that they would stand in line all day to get a glimpse of a series of kiosks placed in towns across the country. We go to Tennessee to hear the story of one.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/knoxville-weather-kiosk
A small cemetery in the grasslands of Kenya serves as a way to honor one of the most endangered animals in the world – the rhino – and elevate the plight of a species on the brink.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ol-pejeta-rhino-cemetery
A midwest city has embraced what it means to be the namesake hometown of one very famous superhero. And at its center is a museum that holds the carefully cultivated collection of one superfan.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/super-museum-metropolis
We follow a long set of wooden stairs deep underground to a sea cave with a mysterious and colorful past, and take in a spectacular, hidden view of the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla.
Learn more about The Cave Store: https://www.cavestore.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sunny-jim-cave-store
The Luray Caverns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia are home to an instrument that draws out the secret sounds of millenia-old stone.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-great-stalacpipe-organ-luray-virginia
Professional Adventurer George Kourounis knew he needed to visit the Cave of the Crystals, located nearly a 1000 feet beneath northern Mexico, the moment he saw a photograph from inside the cave.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/giant-crystals-naica
We got so many responses to our question about listener experiences with animal encounters that we made a second episode. Experiences include a woman who touches a tiger’s tail, a man who plays peek-a-boo with a bear and a chance meeting of a herd of elk.
WE WANT YOUR STORIES: We’re working on a new slate of episodes that will feature listener stories, and want to hear yours.
Tell us about a place you’ve been to that made you instantly feel at home. What made it special? Have you returned there? What sticks out about this place that makes it unique to you? Why does it remind you of home? How does it connect to you?
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes, so you may need to call multiple times if your story is long.
You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com
This episode will break your heart. And that’s a good thing.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-of-broken-relationships
A small town in Texas has embraced the story of the visit and demise of an otherworldly being from the 1800s… and what many say is America’s only alien gravesite.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/1800-s-alien-gravesite
If you can’t make it out to Texas, check out this documentary about the incident which is online.
A few weeks ago, our staff here at Atlas Obscura put out an episode about our traveling expectations – places that either blew us away… or were a major letdown. And today - we are hearing YOUR stories.
WE WANT YOUR STORIES: We’re working on a new slate of episodes that will feature listener stories, and we want to hear yours.
Tell us about a place you’ve been that made you instantly feel at home. What made it special? Have you returned there? What sticks out about this place that makes it unique to you? Why does it remind you of home? How does it connect to you?
Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes, so you may need to call multiple times if your story is long.
You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com
An art gallery in Kansas celebrates the losers of presidential elections.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/they-also-ran-gallery-norton-kansas
A Seattle restaurant pushes diners to eat beyond their borders through its embrace of global street foods.
The Elephant Clock, a replica of an ancient invention, sits in Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, surrounded by stores like The Gap and H&M.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/elephant-clock
A listener’s voicemail sent us searching for the story of a very special -- and giant -- oak tree in Peoria, Illinois, and the family of arborists who cared for it.
For decades, rumors and conspiracy theories swirled after nine people disappeared in the Ural mountains of the Soviet Union in 1959. But just a few years ago, the case was solved – even though many don’t accept the explanation. Journalist and author Doug Preston guides us through the second half of the story.
MORE: The mountain where the people disappeared has since been renamed Dyatlov Pass and is today a popular hiking destination. If you’re into this case and want to learn more – check out Doug’s new book The Lost Tomb, which will be released Dec 5.
Journalist and author Doug Preston guides us through the first half of a cliffhanger story about the mysterious disappearance of a group of hikers in the Soviet Union... and the myriad conspiracy theories that sprouted up afterward.
Producer Manolo Morales, a devoted Little Monster, gallivants around the Lower East Side via an immersive performance-art walking tour dedicated to an iconic pop star.
Places editors Jonathan and Michelle are back again with a few new standout entries to the Atlas … including a spot in Antarctica that’s home to the oldest Martian meteorite and a column in Greece that symbolizes the fear and ritual past generations embraced when faced with their own plague.
For art nerds, the Lightning Field installation in the New Mexico desert is a bucket-list destination. It’s also a testament to the extraordinary control the artist who created it was able to exert, even after death. To reserve your spot to stay at the Lightning Field, sign up at the Dia Foundation's website.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lightning-field
A couple created what is perhaps the cutest and most filling micro-store to pop up during the pandemic. But to find it, you’ll have to trek through rural Vermont and look for the phone-booth sized box filled with baked goods.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiny-bread-box
A mysterious sinkhole in Arizona has befuddled an exclusive group of divers who’ve gotten a glimpse of a strange world underneath its sandy bottom.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/montezuma-well-arizona
We’re in Amsterdam, learning about a bad-ass woman who championed queer folx and provided a safe haven throughout World War II via her quirky bar in the red light district.
MORE: Schedule a visit of Cafe Mandje with Badass Tours, which runs tours in Amsterdam focusing on women’s history, LGBTQ+ history, BIPOC history, Jewish history, or one tour tailored to your interests.
A listener tells us about a treasure buried in his literal backyard, and the two strange men who showed up on his doorstep and asked to dig it up.
We will always love Dolly Parton, who’s installed a “dreambox” time capsule at her amusement park. In it, there’s a secret song that no one will hear until the legendary artist turns 100.
LEARN MORE about Dolly’s songwriting prowess in Unlikely Angel, a book by Hamilton College professor Lydia Hamessley.
We meet back up with our pal Bernie Harberts, the beast whisperer, who trekked 19 million mule steps across the United States only to find himself, for the first time, a little homesick.
MORE: To keep up with Bernie and to hear more about his travels, be sure to sign up for his newsletter – you can do that at his website: riverearth.com.
We go to the former estate of the Davies sisters, two unusually wealthy Welsh women who traveled the world, fell in love with art, served their country, and then dedicated their home to culture and community.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gregynog-hall
In a place where multiple world religions intersect, this unassuming little ladder is a symbol of the very delicate balance that keeps a church in Jerusalem running.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/immovable-ladder-church-holy-sepulchre
Reporter Eric Grundhauser recounts a memorable visit to an unusual museum in Iceland, where he explored the ancient lore of the occult, learned how to steal milk from his neighbors, and laid his eyes upon a pair of pants… made of human flesh.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-museum-of-icelandic-sorcery-witchcraft-holmavik-iceland
Photographer and author Paul Koudonaris brings listeners to this Ethiopian Church and explores ossuaries, jeweled skeletons, and death practices throughout the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/yemrehana-krestos-church
Atlas contributors bring listeners stories from spooky locations they’ve visited, and which continue to haunt them.
With Halloween just around the corner Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring you two spooky legends of The Mothman from Point Pleasant, West Virginia and a potentially ghoulish forest in the Transylvanian Region of Romania.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mothman-museum-2 and https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hoia-baciu-forest
This island between Missouri and Illinois was a preferred meeting place for duels to the death in the early 1900’s.
Hear from the caretakers of a ghost town in Bolivia that was once the world's highest ski resort.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/abandoned-chacaltaya-ski-resort
We chat with one of the leading experts on art theft – professor and author Noah Charney, who unpacks the cultural fascination with this type of crime. Charney also tells us the story of one of the most notorious real life art thieves.
MORE: Charney is teaching a course in art crime that begins Nov 7, 2023. To enroll, visit the courses page on our website and use code ARTCRIMEPOD for 15% off.
We visit a museum in Montana that’s a dream for dinosaur nerds, and home to bones that are the real deal, locally sourced and sustainably foraged.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/great-plains-dinosaur-museum
Journalist Susan Casey takes us to the deep deep ocean, where she explores the relationship between humans and this mysterious underworld.
READ MORE: Find out more about Susan’s work here, including her new book.
A basketball fan goes to the hall of fame – and no, it’s not the big one in Massachusetts that you may be thinking about. Hear the story behind a Midwest state’s special link to the sport.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/indiana-basketball-hall-of-fame-museum
Host Dylan Thuras riffs on a subject that has long fascinated him: The world’s longest-running science experiments.
There’s a special tree in Portland that’s full of a city’s hopes, dreams, and wishes.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/portland-wishing-tree
We peek into the life and work of the oft-understood artist Niki de Saint Phalle, who was behind a strange and wildly popular playground sculpture in Jerusalem.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-mifletzet-jerusalem-israel
We meet the robot saints – sculptures made of wood and wire, of cams and pulleys during medieval times – that might just help us understand this new AI age we all find ourselves living in.
LEARN MORE about these inventions by reading City University of New York Professor Christopher Swift’s 2015 paper about these automated figures.
We get up close and nosey about a peculiar exhibit in Copenhagen that reveals a lot about what artists and society considered beautiful throughout the years
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nasothek-nose-collection
Josh Foer, the co-founder of Atlas Obscura, takes us to a remote patch of land in the Arizona desert, where he built (and later rebuilt) a museum in honor of the company’s former CEO, David Plotz.
The Plotz Plot is accessible from Adamana Road, off of I-40 exit 300, at 35.025639, -109.8195. The lock code is 4444.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/plotz-plot
We go inside a place that some paranormal investigators call the most active haunted location in the world. Before it was known as the inspiration for Stephen King...the Stanley Hotel had a reputation -- and ghosts -- of its own. This episode was produced with Visit Colorado. Find more information about the Stanley Hotel and its ghost tours online.
Travel is sometimes like a box of chocolates – never know what you’re going to get. In this episode, we share stories of places that blew us away, and those that didn't live up to the hype.
We want to hear YOUR stories about the places you've visited that far exceeded--or failed to meet your expectations. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. (Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call again if you get disconnected) You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.
We head to a remote region of Russia, to the epicenter of what would become known as the Tunguska Event. An event that may seem unfathomable… except we have firsthand accounts from people who witnessed it.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tunguska-event-epicenter
This fall marks 50 years since JRR Tolkien’s death. In honor of the writer’s life and legacy, we want to take you back to the places where it all began.
A huge rock, teetering on the edge of a hill for thousands of years, brought tourism, fame, and what’s said to be a 100-year curse to the town of Tandil, Argentina.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-piedra-movediza
We go to Bonaventure Cemetery in Georgia to the grave of one Charles F. Mills to learn about a distinct – but at one time widespread – phobia – and the hope to be saved by a bell.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/charles-f-mills-grave-bell
The story of Chef Hamissi Mamba, whose family sought asylum in the US and years later founded an East African restaurant that serves up a small slice of Burundi in the Motor City. Find out more here.
We go to Wilmington, Delaware, to a 4-acre garden with characters and exhibits created using castoff materials and greenery that invites kids to drop screens and rules – and instead give in to a state of play.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/enchanted-woods-winterthur-gardens
We go on a journey through the depths of the ocean, meeting a different squid deity at each stop along the way. Our guide is cephalopod expert, biologist and science educator, Dr. Sarah McAnulty.
LEARN MORE: Sarah is teaching a course this fall about the creatures that live in the deep sea. It starts October 3, 2023 and you can find more information here. If you want to sign up, you can use promo code CEPHALOPODCAST to take 15% off!
Podcaster Ashley Ray has more than a soft spot for her Midwest hometown. Hear why she thinks it may just be the best kept secret.
HEAR MORE FROM OUR GUEST: Ashley has her own podcast all about TV and culture. Check it out here: https://www.stitcher.com/show/tv-i-say-w-ashley-ray
GREAT NEWS: We’re up for an award - and you can help us win! Our podcast has been named a finalist for the Signal Awards! Go to vote.signalaward.com and vote for us in the best commute podcast category through Oct 5!
A listener takes us to a town on the edge of the longest undefended border in the world.
Note: US-Canada border regulations have been updated since this episode first aired.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/uscanada-border-slash
GREAT NEWS: We’re up for an award - and you can help us win! Our podcast has been named a finalist for the Signal Awards! Go to vote.signalaward.com and vote for us in the best commute podcast category through Oct 5!
Lake Karachay in Ozersk, Russia is the site of a former secret Soviet Union nuclear facility - that’s inspired art despite the little that’s publicly known of the site.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-karachay
GREAT NEWS: We’re up for an award - and you can help us win! Our podcast has been named a finalist for the Signal Awards! Go to vote.signalaward.com and vote for us in the best commute podcast category through Oct 5!
The Dedan Kimathi Post Office played a notable role in Kenya’s struggle for Independence.
GREAT NEWS: We’re up for an award - and you can help us win! Our podcast has been named a finalist for the Signal Awards! Go to vote.signalaward.com and vote for us in the best commute podcast category through Oct 5!
An intentional community in rural central Virginia has been testing an interesting premise for decades — that maybe three, or four, or more parental figures are even better than two. This episode is part of a collaboration we did with Freakonomics. You can find a larger episode on this topic here.
Urban planner, Moses Gates, shares his unlikely experience with the residents of the 61st floor of one of New York City’s most iconic buildings..
At Denmark’s largest haunted house attraction, it’s not just about the screams. Researchers are studying the effects – good and bad – that fear has on humans
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-science-of-horror-fear
There are thousands of varieties of citrus, many more than just the navel oranges. And they’re all being preserved in a collection at the University of California Riverside. Learn more here.
Many of us rely on digital maps and GPS to get anywhere these days. Hear what happens when Producer Amanda McGowan finds herself lost in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for a sport you may have never heard of – orienteering – which forces participants to navigate checkpoints with old fashioned maps and compasses.
MORE: If you think you might want to try orienteering, find a local group here.
We chat with writer Alessio Perrone about what he learned from the people who hunt for Italy’s unexploded bombs, leftover from times of war.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/italy-unexploded-ordnance
How an MIT fraternity pledge instituted a new, unique unit of measurement.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/harvard-bridge-smoot-measurements
How do we determine the time? Believe it or not, there is an official clock. It’s located in Boulder, Colorado at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and we go there to visit.
LEARN MORE: NIST doesn’t give public tours. But if you want to watch the seconds go by as precisely as humanly possible, dial (303) 499-7111.
We go to the Alleghany territory of the Onödowá'ga people to learn about "The Creator's Game” – which evolved into the sport now known as lacrosse – and their constant fight to be recognized.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/onohsagwe-de-cultural-center
We explore the power of myth and folklore through the story of an Irish woman, whose husband murdered her because he believed she’d become a fairy.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/bridget-cleary-changeling-murder-ireland
One of the last remaining World War II Victory Gardens in the U.S is quietly growing across from Boston’s Fenway Park.
School is back in session. So for this episode, Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring two stories - one from the campus of Gallaudet University and the other from Cornell University to tell us about usual traditions that take place in these universities.
In Myrtle Beach, mini golf is not so mini. It’s over the top! This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Myrtle Beach, and to find a list of all mini golf courses, go to VisitMyrtleBeach.com
Our team has shared memorable encounters they’ve had with animals, some were very unexpected. So this time we asked YOU about those experiences – and some of them are wild!
TELL US YOUR STORY We want to hear your stories too! Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave a message telling us your name, and about the places you've visited that far exceeded--or failed to meet your expectations. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Just an hour west of Philadelphia, there’s a charming town in Pennsylvania that produces about two thirds of all the mushrooms sold in the US. We visit during the town’s annual festival and check out the mycelium madness. This Small Town, Big Story episode is produced in partnership with Go USA TV. Check out our video series featuring Kennett Square here.
A music box given to Scott Harrison while he served in Vietnam inspired him to hand-carve all the animals for the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland, Colorado.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/carousel-of-happiness
We go back in time to another era of travel and take a trip on the oldest commercial sailing vessel in the United States. Click here to learn more about windjammers and here to book a trip with Captain Becky. This episode was made in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism.
The story of the white deer on Mount Madonna, the two robber barons who put them there, and the last survivor of the herd.
Back in 2020, a lot of people moved to faraway places to escape urban life amid a global pandemic. Brent Underwood bought and moved to an abandoned town. We check in, three years later. To learn more about Brent Underwood and Cerro Gordo, you can check out their instagram @brentunderwood and their youtube channel named Ghost Town Living.
Let’s all go to hell. Seriously. Hell, Michigan, that is :)
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hell-michigan
An abandoned mansion in Italy has become the source of rumors about ghost activity that some believe is justified by its very real gothic past.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/villa-de-vecchi
We nearly stump host Dylan Thuras with a seemingly simple question: Who are the top five dead people he would like to go on a road trip with?
The New Deal is known for ushering a string of social safety net programs. But in this episode, we tell the saga of an ambitious, government-backed homestead project in West Virginia that never quite lived up to its hype.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS; https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/arthurdale-historic-district-west-virginia
One family’s regular day of exploring some sand dunes at the edge of Lake Michigan turned into a wild tale of a little boy being sucked into a sinkhole, and the discovery of underground tunnels.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mysterious-sinkholes-of-mt-baldy
A tiny town in West Virginia takes “living lift to the fullest” to a different level, with its embrace of extreme adventure activities. Like, for instance, a day where people sign up to jump off a bridge. This Small Town, Big Story episode is produced in partnership with Go USA TV. Learn more about Bridge Day here.
We chat with writer Daniel Kraus, who let his imagination run deep into the ocean after hearing a wild news story about an encounter between kayakers and a whale. And we get the backstory to Kraus’ new novel Whalefall, about a man who finds himself in the belly of a sperm whale.
Where does space stuff go after it dies? To this spot deep, deep in the Pacific ocean.
Read more in the Atlas:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spacecraft-cemetery
A small church in a village in Norway is home to an unusual and perplexing mural that’s become known for its demonic illustrations.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/demon-wall-norway
This episode may have you reconsidering what you think about rats. That’s because at this training and research center in Tanzania, African Giant Pouched Rats are being raised up to sniff out landmines and disease, proving to be the heroes we all need.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-best-secret-weapon-against-landmines-and-tuberculosis-is-a-rat
A series of churches in Texas that look unassuming from the outside in fact have some of the most intricately painted interiors. And for one of our listeners, these churches mean home – religiously and culturally.
A tiny island off the coast of Brazil is known for being a dangerous place … purely because its inhabitants are, well, snakes. But we speak to a researcher who’s seen it up close and says it’s time for this place to shed its reputation.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/snake-island-ilha-de-queimada-grande
Does this sprawling mansion in San Jose, California live up to its reputation as one of the most haunted places in the world?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/winchester-mystery-house
The oldest operating pet cemetery in the world is just north of NYC, and it’s where dearly departed four-legged friends come to rest – and sometimes, even their owners. Grab your tissues.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hartsdale-pet-cemetery
We visit a museum in Georgetown, SC that’s dedicated to preserving and prioritizing the rich and historic Gullah Geechee culture
READ MORE: http://www.gullahmuseumsc.com/
An incomplete luxury housing development in Turkey is a mashup of fairy tale and ghost town, and almost everyone has an opinion of (or wants to see) this place.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/turkey-castle-ghost-town
Producer Johanna Mayer and Atlas Obscura associate editor Sarah Durn tell us the story of a fort in Hawaii with two names – and how those names both preserve and erase its history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hawaiian-history-russian-fort-elizabeth
We follow a long set of wooden stairs deep underground to a sea cave with a mysterious and colorful past, and take in a spectacular, hidden view of the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla.
Learn more about The Cave Store: https://www.cavestore.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sunny-jim-cave-store
We go to the Caribbean island of Dominica and hear the story of Jacko, a formerly enslaved man who became a national hero for his ingenious escape and emancipation efforts
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jacko-steps
An archeological site in the country of Georgia, which features the oldest human skull fossils found outside of Africa, challenges what we think we know about our deep past.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dmanisi-hominins-brain-shape
Today we're headed just a couple hours south of Albuquerque to Hatch, New Mexico, a town where the heat doesn’t just come from the sun. It also comes from the signature crop: Hatch, New Mexico chiles. This Small Town, Big Story episode is produced in partnership with Go USA TV.
Learn more about New Mexico here.
Learn more about this story here.
In the Soviet Union, x-rays didn’t just give you a look inside the human body. They also gave you a glimpse of the outside world, thanks to music that was imprinted onto this unassuming medical tool.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/soviet-scenesters-used-xrays-to-record-their-rock-and-roll
Grab your pickaxes, your shovels, and your code breaking supercomputers because today we’re going on a treasure hunt.
The family behind this farm relies on itsy bitsy helpers to produce one-of-a-kind art . READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/knight-s-spider-web-farm
Hear how a trip to the jungle, and a series of nighttime hikes, cured producer Chris Naka’s bug-phobia, once and for all.
Places editors Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy bring us two stories about two particular places whose histories intersect with real world American espionage.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS Check out our entry on the FBI House here and on the Wertheim Study in the NY Public Library here
For decades, a one of a kind travel guide opened up the world for gay travelers. Today, historians are using them to create an interactive map of LGBTQ spaces in midcentury America.
LEARN MORE: https://www.mappingthegayguides.org/
A trip to Sweden prompts former show producer Sarah Wyman to dig into a superstitious story passed through generations about the Red Stone Man
Our show often focuses on interesting people and places. But in this episode, the team shares memorable encounters they’ve had with animals – everything from parakeets to a very special opossum.
TELL US YOUR STORY: We want to hear your stories too! Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave a message telling us your name, and about your own animal encounter. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.
An infamous break in the road that links North and South America has been in and out the news for more than 100 years – for good reason. This stretch of jungle has been a magnet for adventure junkies, but also is the site of a growing humanitarian and migration crisis.
Learn More Info About The Gap: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/15/americas/darien-gap-migrants-colombia-panama-whole-story-cmd-intl/index.html
How to help/advocacy groups:
https://www.nrc.no/feature/2023/the-jungle-may-swallow-you-surviving-the-darien-gap/
https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/filling-the-gap-humanitarian-support-and-alternative-pathways-for-migrants-on-colombias-edge/
Rick’s website:
https://www.jungletreks.com/
Author Dave Eggers has an enduring affinity for Idaho. In this episode, he chats with Dylan about a unique family that undertook what is perhaps one of the strangest, slowest moves in history. The fascinating tale provided inspiration for the writer’s new children’s book, Moving the Millers’ Minnie Moore Mine Mansion. Get the book here and learn more about Eggers work here.
A majestic building in Santos, Brazil used to be the center of the coffee trade.
LEARN MORE: Go deeper with Professor Ian Read’s work here and Read More In The Atlas: here
Blind Guy Travels host Matthew Shifrin discusses a formative encounter with a wolf tied to the origins of Rome. Listen to Blind Guy Travels: https://radiotopiapresents.fm/blind-guy-travels
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring us two charming stories of some very special canines who have been (literally) preserved for the ages.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: Learn about Sergeant Stubby here and Owney here
Turns out, complaining about bad service really is as old as time. Hear the story of an ancient Babylonian clay tablet that has launched a slew of modern memes. Click here for more.
Every year, lumberjacks and lumberjills from around the world flock to Hayward, Wisconsin – a couple hours north of Minneapolis – to compete in the Lumberjack World Championships. Join us as we get our hands dirty alongside the world’s most skilled in all-things chopping…and rolling. This episode is produced in partnership w ith GoUSA TV. If you want to see more Small Town, Big Story, watch now on GoUSA TV or on YouTube.
You can learn more about visiting Hayward here:
https://haywardareachamber.com/
For years, students at Bennington College snuck into a locked room for a glimpse of strange and magical instruments created by professor Gunnar Schonbeck. Today, we join his orchestra.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/no-experience-required
In this final installment of summer stories we tackle a topic that transcends the seasons—the captivating magic of water during travel. If you’d like to share a story about your summer, record a voice memo and send it to hello@atlasobscura.com or leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.
In this installment we hear a listener’s tale of a theological dispute that became a real money-maker known to some as “Old Hoaxy.”
This is the third of a series of listener-powered episodes about summer travel stories. If you’d like to share a story about your summer, record a voice memo and send it to hello@atlasobscura.com or leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cardiff-giant
This is the second of a series of listener-powered episodes about summer travel stories. If you’d like to share a story about your summer, record a voice memo and send it to hello@atlasobscura.com or leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.
This is the first of a series of listener-powered episodes about summer travel stories. If you’d like to share a story about your summer, record a voice memo and send it to hello@atlasobscura.com or leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.
The nights in the northern hemisphere are drawing in, which means whispering stories of witches and spirits are top of mind for many of us. Lale chats with Mexico City-based author Brenda Lozano, whose new novel Witches looks at the lives of Mexican women who inherit gifts, and draws inspiration from the true story of a Mazatec Indigenous healer, or curandera, in Oaxaca who worked with psilocybin mushrooms in the 1950s and 60s. Plus, we revisit a recent conversation with author Dorthe Nors to learn more about the burnings of witch effigies along the rugged Danish coast.
For more from Women Who Travel, visit their website.
We visit what might be the world’s largest collection of fraudulent, nefarious, or otherwise ineffectual medical machinery -- and meet the founder who brought it all together.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-quackery
Asheville is a well-known foodie destination. In this ep we hear about a group that takes visitors into the wild – to learn all about North Carolina’s incredible biodiversity and to enjoy the foods that grow all around them. This episode is coproduced with Explore Asheville.
LEARN MORE about No Taste Like Home here. And find more cool things to do when you visit Asheville here.
Host Dylan Thuras meets a teenage hero: author John Marr, who created the infamous Murder Can Be Fun zine and chronicled tales of usual amusement park ride deaths and other odd disasters
READ MORE: You can see back issues of MCBF here.
Created by a volcanic eruption in 2015, this island in the South Pacific no longer exists… but we chat with a person who got to see it before it disappeared.
LEARN MORE about Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in this Reuters article and see it in the Atlas here
Gastro Obscura Writer Sam Lin-Sommer tells us the story of the fascist war on pasta and its surprisingly delicious legacy.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/italian-futurist-pasta
You’ve probably heard about the Gold Rush. But what about the bone rush of the 1870s? Hear the story of a bitter rivalry between two paleontologists – and how this epic feud unearthed an epic amount of fossils we still admire today.
You can learn a lot about a person from their hands. In this episode, we hear the story of a doctor who made it possible for us to hold onto the stories of presidents, astronauts, musicians, artists and more… through bronze molds of their hands.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/adrian-e-flatt-m-d-hand-collection
Podcaster, TV critic and comedian Ashley Ray has more than a soft spot for her Midwest hometown. Hear why she thinks it may just be the best kept secret.
HEAR MORE FROM OUR GUEST: Ashley has her own podcast all about TV and culture. Check it out here: https://www.stitcher.com/show/tv-i-say-w-ashley-ray
Behind the Ben & Jerry's factory in Vermont sits a very peculiar graveyard ... one dedicated to dearly departed ice cream flavors. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS :https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ben-jerry-s-flavor-graveyard
Writer and travel educator Tracey Friley tells the story of the glamorous life of entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist, Josephine Baker and the pilgrimages women still make to her chateau.
Learn more: www.traceyfrileytravel.com
A repository in Cambridge, Massachusetts holds over 2,700 pigments that’ve been quietly coloring the world around us since the beginning of human history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forbes-pigment-collection
Step inside the cutest, most cuddly museum for handmade crafts. This museum, set near Joshua Tree National Park, has been called “a vortex of love and joy and peace.”
LEARN MORE about the museum and schedule your own visit by clicking here.
Students at Reed College study things like philosophy, history and English. But for the past 50 years they’ve also had access to a scientific instrument many people have never seen. We visit the World's only nuclear reactor operated by liberal arts undergraduates.
LEARN MORE about the reactor here.
You’d never guess that beneath a historic, genteel southern resort sits a massive bunker that the US government built in case of catastrophic events. Hear the story of the Greenbrier Resort that was kept secret for decades.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/congressional-fallout-shelter-at-the-greenbrier-resort
Travel to Penobscot, Maine, where one farmer maintains the tradition of burning his crop each year to rejuvenate it the next. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-do-people-burn-blueberry-fields
Colorado is known for being a music and performance hub. And that history goes way back – all the way to a theater that staged high dramas, tragedies, tales of star-crossed lovers, and eveninspired an opera of its own.This episode was co produced with Visit Colorado.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tabor-opera-house-2 | Learn more about the shows happening at the opera house this summer by clicking here
Atop a mountain in a picturesque Colorado town is the frozen corpse of a Norwegian grandpa. We get the tale of how this came to be, from the person who for years has trekked up and down the mountain for this unique preservation mission.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/frozen-dead-guy-days
We visit southern Benin to hear the story of the Temple of Pythons and clear up some misconceptions about one of the world's most misunderstood spiritual systems.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-temple-of-pythons-ouidah-benin
A famous movie actress from the 1920s left the world a lasting piece of art — a remarkable miniature home that could be considered Chicago’s cutest piece of real estate.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/videos/see-chicago-s-million-dollar-fairy-castle
It roamed the seas, served an evil dictator, survived a war, and ended up in a New Jersey auto-repair shop bathroom.
We step into the shoes of the miners who once labored in the Nevada mountains, via a trip to the Tonopah Historic Mining Park. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Nevada.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tonopah-mining-park
LEARN MORE about the Tonopah Historic Mining Park and Travel Nevada
A race is on to save this world heritage site that straddles the border of Togo and Benin. It’s home to remarkable earth tower homes called Takienta, and the Batammariba people, whose existence is threatened by climate change and migration.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/koutammakou-batammariba
We go to Sweden, where some people are intent on making a woman a permanent symbol of resistance, whether or not she would have wanted it
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/woman-with-the-handbag-statue
We go to Statesboro, Georgia to the US National Tick Collection to learn what ticks, often thought of as little monstrosities, can teach us.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/us-national-tick-collection
The Flagg Grove School in Brownsville, Tennessee has become a museum dedicated to its most famous student.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tina-turner-museum
Take a trip to Micropia, the world’s only museum dedicated to microscopic organisms, and learn about our invisible life companions.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/micropia
The story of the unimaginable destruction of the American Chestnut tree and the group of scientists, academics and tree lovers who are desperately trying to bring them back from the edge of extinction.
LEARN MORE: Visit https://acf.org/ to find out more about this massive conservation effort
A spinning furnace tucked under the football stadium at the University of Arizona is building giant telescope mirrors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/richard-f-caris-mirror-laboratory
Sun cannons have been around since the 1600s. But as far as we know, there’s only one left that’s still up and running. We pay it a visit.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/atvidaberg-sun-cannon
Habaneros! Jalapenos! Green! Red! These days, an appreciation for chiles is pretty mainstream. But that wasn’t always the case. We head to New Mexico to learn how this food became such a huge part of our culture, and visit an institute dedicated to its continual improvement.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chile-pepper-institute
A North Carolina town has become a draw for people who want to see the wreckage of the train wreck from the movie “The Fugitive.” But a more interesting – and true – story happened just a pistol shot away.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-fugitive-train-wreck-sylva-north-carolina
A once-blacklisted Hollywood star created a magical theater in Topanga Canyon, California, that still endures and inspires today.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/theatricum-botanicum
One of the oldest books in the world is also the most misunderstood. A medievalist tells us about the Voynich, which is in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/beinecke-rare-book-manuscript-library
She’s about 8 feet wide and 500 pounds. And her history spans all the way from the stockyards of Chicago... to a nuclear test during the Manhattan Project...to a stadium at the University of Texas at Austin.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-bertha-drum
We dig through more than 1,000 years of dirt, history, colonialism, and myth on the Swahili Coast.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kilwa-kisiwani-ruins
Where can you find the smoothest, most scrumptious edible art? If you ask our host, Dylan, it’s in the Minnesota State Fair butter sculpture room. He’s joined in this episode by Gastro Obscura writer Sam O’Brien, who got the scoop on the yummy centerpieces.
We all dream of the perfect vacation when everything goes right. This episode is about the opposite. Hear stories of people having near death travel experiences.
TELL US YOUR STORY: We want to hear your stories too! Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave a message telling us your name, and about your own near-death travel experience. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Elusive patches of land in America’s Midwest can show us what the environment was like 150 years ago and tell us about the future.
We spend time with the world’s foremost poo enthusiasts, who operate a museum in England where poo is elegant, elevated and celebrated.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-poo-museum
A walk through this scale model has you feeling like a giant, and striding from Baton Rouge to Omaha in an hour. LEARN MORE about the model and the group trying to revive it, here: https://friendsofmrbm.org/
The next time you go out on a road trip, keep your eyes peeled for a peanut-shaped car that got its start as an advertising play during the Great Depression
Nestled in a hospital courtyard in Kumasi, Ghana, you’ll find the strength of the Asante people: the sword of Okomfo Anokye, planted in the ground over 300 years ago.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sword-of-okomfo-anokye
We go on a bumpy ride with the Hurricane Hunters – the government’s team of scientists who fly into storms so the rest of us can have accurate info and research about massive weather events. Our guide is Nick Underwood, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
At a food truck in Austin, tried and true barbecue favorites meet unexpected spices and flavor profiles. Here, chef Damien Brockway’s journey into family history led him to weave the flavors of the African diaspora into his food. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Texas.
LEARN MORE about Distant Relatives and Travel Texas.
In 1986 an unknown natural disaster at Lake Nyos in Menchum, Cameroon left more than 1700 people dead in one night - and puzzled scientists. Listen to learn how they solved the mystery.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-nyos-the-deadliest-lake-in-the-world
How far would you go to find the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the United States?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moose-boulder-debunked
The variety of apples we enjoy today have a common ancestor that lies in the forests of Kazakhstan, where scientists are studying the wildest version of the fruit.
Welcome to the Judith A Basset Canid Education & Conservation Center, where a California couple has dedicated their lives to showing folks man has even more best friends than previously thought.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-jab-canid-education-and-conservation-center-jabcecc
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring us stories about the trees that have witnessed history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: Read the story of Emancipation Oak in Hampton, VA and the Travel Log from California.
It’s easy to dismiss Bigfoot, the yeti, the Loch Ness monster, and other cryptids as far-fetched X-Files fodder. But the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine aims to show that when investigations into unknown creatures are done right, they involve real science, and have real scientific value.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/international-cryptozoology-museum
In the Adirondacks of northern New York sits John Brown's Farm, a monument to the famous abolitionist, and the last vestige of Timbuctoo, an ambitious but failed settlement that some hoped could help African Americans secure the right to vote.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/john-brown-farm
In Atlanta, on this historic Auburn Avenue, sits a small bookstore and reading room that’s been called “an interactive art museum of Black Thought.”
LEARN MORE: https://www.forkeepsbooks.com/
Ross Jennings, aka the First Piper, has been on a world-spanning quest to play the bagpipes in every country of the world.
LEARN MORE: https://www.thefirstpiper.com/
We go to Northern Ethiopia and learn about an ancient King who left a great legacy to his people and the world: the rock hewn church known as St. Giyorgis, where religious services are held to this day. See a virtual rendering of all the rock hewn churches of Lalibela at the Zamani Project.
This stunning geological marvel just north of Dahab, Egypt has been called the deadliest dive spot in the world. But is that reputation deserved?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/red-sea-blue-hole
Author Mary Roach takes us into the hidden corners of the scientific world. From training to poop in space to the surprisingly pleasant Common Cold Unit, all the way to the inside of Elvis’s colon. If you want to check out her work, we recommend starting with Packing for Mars.
We head to the Namib Desert in Africa, where the landscape is dotted with mysterious, pimple-like indents known as fairy circles. Where do these things come from? Scientist Walter Tschinkel has spent the last several years studying and experiencing a natural occurrence so enchanting, locals describe it as “The footprints of the gods.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fairy-circles-southern-africa
For decades, the Ashley House in Sheffield, Massachusetts preserved and promoted the story of Col. John Ashley, a wealthy businessman who opened his home to those fighting against British rule on the eve of America’s war for independence. But in this episode we hear a new narrative, about an enslaved woman and true patriot who tested the rhetoric of the revolution.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ashley-house
Hear tales of our team’s most memorable family trips – like going on vacation with Thomas Jefferson, getting thrown in the ocean and meeting Klingons.
TELL US YOUR STORY: We want to hear your stories too! Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave a message telling us your name, and about your own memorable family trip. Whatever it is, wherever you went, we want to hear about it. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Photographer and author Paul Koudonaris brings listeners to this Ethiopian Church and explores ossuaries, jeweled skeletons, and death practices throughout the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/yemrehana-krestos-church
In 1986, something really weird happened in Pennsylvania – a replica of The Statue of Liberty mysteriously appeared through the fog on the Susquehanna River. We unravel the mystery.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mini-statue-of-liberty-harrisburg
A 50 square mile patch of Yellowstone National Park in Idaho might just be the perfect place to commit a crime.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/yellowstones-zone-of-death
An adventurous couple sets out to document and unearth the arrow’s of America’s past, once used to help pilots find their way across the skies. You can learn more about Charlotte and Brian’s journey – and see photos of the arrows they’ve documented – at their website: dreamsmithphotos.com
A tidy little story from Pocatello, Idaho, home to the Museum of Clean
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-of-clean
Trailblazing computer scientist Grace Hopper shaped the way people use and talk about computers. Her actual computer bug is preserved at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grace-hoppers-bug
This San Francisco museum, curated by a super-fan of the Beatniks, is a shrine to an incredibly influential cultural movement and a destination for folks keeping it alive today
Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/beat-museum
Filmmaker and writer Cheuk Kwan takes us for a round-the-world meal. Three courses, three incredible places. Three stories of Chinese immigration.
LEARN MORE: Cheuk Kwan’s new book is called “Have You Eaten Yet?” You can also check out “Chinese Restaurants,” his documentary series that started it all, on youtube https://www.youtube.com/@cheukkwan/featured
Dylan chats with Rowan Jacobsen, a food journalist and host of the podcast called Wild Chocolate. And he takes us on a journey that follows his multi year quest into the Amazon rainforest to learn more about a mythical chocolate that has a dark history and the potential to save parts of the rainforest.
LEARN MORE: Check out Rowan's podcast here.
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring us stories about the biggest balls of twine. Plus, a special guest adds an additional tangle to the tale.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/world-s-largest-ball-of-twine
Tonopah, Nevada is home to the Clown Motel - an inn on the edge of the desert that’s packed with statues and figurines of Clowns. The eerie and fully-functioning inn is also a labor of love.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/clown-motel
The deep woods of Pennsylvania hold a phenomena that has drawn attention from scientists and people around the world, and was almost recently destroyed. To learn more about the Pennsylvania Firefly Festival visit https://www.pafireflyevents.org/.
We visit a park in Palo Alto, California, home of the world’s most famous donkey.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-donkeys-of-barron-park-palo-alto-california
A massive 19th-century reservoir under the city of Copenhagen has been repurposed as a contemporary art cave. We venture inside to learn more about its history, and bask in the incredible acoustics of the space.
Visit Cisternerne and Frederiksberg Museerne: https://frederiksbergmuseerne.dk/da/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cisternerne
A swath of land in Northern France still bears scars of the destruction of World War I. Destruction so bad that, in some cases, humans have never been allowed to return.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/zone-rouge
As part of Women’s History Month, we're sharing some episodes from the archive including this story about mysterious doors scattered throughout Atlanta. They dare you to imagine what might be found on the other side.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiny-doors-atl
Writer Stacy Horn tells us about a period in American history when the study of psychic phenomena and the paranormal was serious business at places like Stanford and Duke University. And she reveals the story of J.B. Rhine and Louisa Rhine, a scholarly couple who attempted to find the line where science ended and the unbelievable began. Horn is the author of Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory.
We go to Tokyo, to a particular place that is both nemesis and best friend to all those procrastinators out there. (Yes, we’re looking at you :)
LEARN MORE: The Manuscript Writing Cafe is open Saturdays and Sundays and you can reserve your seat online.
https://koenji-sankakuchitai.blog.jp/ManuscriptWritingCafe/
Producer Abigail Keel takes us on the most strange, wonderful and beautiful potty break. And tells us how – and where – you can do it too.
Writer Jessica Leigh Hester joins us on a deep dive into the sewer, the subject of her new book. We’ll talk about some of the interesting (and disgusting) things she found there … like fatbergs.
FIND OUT MORE: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/sewer-9781501379505/
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive, including this story about the origins of a Swedish holiday tradition which evolved from sinister pagan lore to a celebration of light, warmth and music.
Here the podcast team shares stories of wonder and curiosity that lies just outside your doorstep. Stories feature a troll bridge, a cemetery, natural methane vents, and more.
Tell us about a wonder in your backyard. Record a voice memo and send it to hello@atlasobscura.com or leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.
The Dedan Kimathi Post Office played a notable role in Kenya’s struggle for Independence.
The Ouija Board went from a tool for communicating with the dead to a sleepover party game. This trip through the Ouija Board’s past features a pit stop at the Ouija 7-Eleven.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ouija-7eleven
This restaurant in Jackson, Mississippi was a haven for Civil Rights leaders and has stood for four generations, 83 years, and a whole lotta pig ear sandwiches.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-apple-inn
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this story about a forest in Oslo, Norway that will provide the trees for paper as part of a century long art project featuring famed contemporary authors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forest-of-the-future-library
This architectural oddity in Hartford, Connecticut looks like a mansion… but is only one room deep.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/a-everett-austin-facade-house
California's longest-running tourist attraction is a stump that helped spark a conservation movement.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-discovery-tree
This simple brick building in Chicago, Illinois was the boyhood home of Civil Rights icon, Fred Hampton Sr. and a continued site for community organizing.
Nellie Mae Rowe decorated her home in Vinings, Georgia with homemade dolls and shiny bottle caps and placed paper streamers, pieces of colored glass and improvised sculptures throughout her yard.
As part of Black History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including Producer Baudelaire Ceus’s journey to Leimert Park, a unique neighborhood in Los Angeles characterized by its historical relationship to Black liberation.
This little house in New Haven, Kentucky is where Thomas Merton aka profit-poet aka the rebel monk tried to get away from the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/thomas-mertons-hermitage
This tiny stone cabbage has a big backstory stretching from the rich, treasure-laden halls of Beijing’s Forbidden City...through a harrowing wartime escape...to its prized place at the National palace museum in Taipei, Taiwan.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jade-cabbage
One man in Brooklyn, New York - armed with a homemade boat and an artistic vision - helped transform one of the most polluted industrial waterways in the US.
To Listen to the Newtown Creek Audio Guide: http://www.newtowncreekfieldguide.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/newtown-creek-nature-walk
Chiseled out of a stone cliff, one farmer's unfinished art project in Yoshimi, Japan lies in ruins. And an architect and a photographer are working to keep his legacy alive.
Email us about buying a copy of Arai-san and Karasaki-san’s photobook at hello@atlasobscura.com
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gankutsu-hotel
As part of Black History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including the history of this paddleboat that gave some Black children a place to learn even when they were denied formal education on land.
This site in Boonarga, Australia honors the cactoblastis - a humble moth that traveled across the globe, and became the hero of a continent.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cactoblastis-memorial-cairn
The story of how famous Russian author Alexander Pushkin once faced a duel by The Black River on the outskirts of St. Petersburg features high drama, society scandals, a weird foot joke, and pistols at dusk.
For Valentine's Day, the Atlas team would like to bring you this tale of the heart….literally. The Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, Poland is the final resting place of famed composer Frédéric Chopin’s heart - smuggled there by Chopin’s sister after his death.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chopin-s-heart
This site is “not a Library where you can borrow books” nor “a memorial with dusty relics” but still aims to honor the spirit of American author Henry Miller.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/henry-miller-memorial-library
As part of Black History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this journey to famed Jazz musician Louis Armstrong’s House in Corona, Queens in New York.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/louis-armstrong-house
The killing of a British pig on an island off the coast of Northwestern Washington almost started a war between two of the world’s greatest military powers. 100 years later, a local artist commemorated the Pig War with a one-woman show, a troupe of mannequins, and a taxidermied pig.
Learn more about Steve Lyons’ play: https://www.lyonswrites.com/plays.html#
This relic of roadside attractions in Creston, South Dakota is believed to be the first of its kind in North America
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/creston-dinosaur
Professional rainmaker Charles Hatfield was either a scientist or a con man who had a particular influence on San Diego, CA.
Curious about cloud seeding? Learn more from our earlier podcast on the Lynmouth Flood: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-lynmouth-flood-memorial-hall
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lower-otay-reservoir
Marchand Dessalines, Haiti is a town named after Jean Jacques Dessalines one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution and one of the country’s founding fathers.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dessalines-revolution-battle-haiti
As part of Black History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this story about a gigantic public square dedicated to Ghanaian independence - and producer Baudelaire Ceus’s introduction to soursop.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/black-star-square
Rico Gagliano, host of the MUBI podcast, takes listeners to The Westgate Movie Theater in Minneapolis for a story about a movie that flopped terribly when it was released that it changed the course of the theater’s history.
Sigmund Freud’s famous psychoanalytic couch is preserved in his final office in London, England.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/freud-museum-london
Host Dylan Thuras leads listeners on a journey that leads to the preserved middle finger of Galileo Galilei, astronomer, physicist and engineer.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/galileos-middle-finger
This building in Tangier was one of the first pieces of land owned by the United States Government outside of the country, and was a gift from “America’s first friend.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tangier-american-legation-museum
This Ecuadorian cave has captured the attention of government officials, scientists, professional cavers and is home to a particularly rare creature.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cueva-de-los-tayos
Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D. is a wildlife ecologist specializing in large carnivores. And in this episode she unfolds a mystery for listeners.
Empress Anna’s Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia was the site of an incredibly strange wedding. Was it a cruel joke? A strategic power move? Or something else?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/russia-anna-ioannovna-ice-palace-castle
Lee's Legendary Marbles & Collectables in York, Nebraska is a pilgrimage of sorts for serious collectors and a curiosity for the casual passerby.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lees-legendary-marbles-collectables
This intricately carved church in Luster is one of Norway’s great treasures of architecture.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/urnes-stave-church
The Luray Caverns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia are home to an instrument that draws out the secret sounds of millenia-old stone.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-great-stalacpipe-organ-luray-virginia
The José María Azael Franco Guerrero Cemetery in Tulcán, Ecuador is a topiary anomaly and a lush green paradise for the dead.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tulcan-municipal-cemetery
This abandoned lodge in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique has been reclaimed by local lions - a story deeply enmeshed in the larger history of the country.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-lion-house-gorongosa-mozambique
Further Reading:
S is for Samora (book by Sarah Lefanu)
Let My People Go (poem by Noémia de Sousa)
Apartheid’s Contras: An Inquiry Into the Roots of War in Angola and Mozambique (pdf book by William Minter)
The Mozambican Civil War (1977-1992) (article by Samuel Momodu, BlackPast.org)
Mozambique History Net (Resource)
A Year in Gorongosa (film by Augusto Bila, narrated by Gabriela Curtiz)
In Mozambique, a Living Laboratory for Nature’s Renewal (article by Natalie Angier, The New York Times)
Narrative Fortresses: Crisis Narratives and Conflict in the Conservation of Mount Gorongosa, Mozambique (article by Christy Schuetze)
White Man's Game: Saving Animals, Rebuilding Eden, and Other Myths of Conservation in Africa (book by Stephanie Hanes)
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring you stories of how sometimes giant monuments built for a specific site need to go on a journey.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/church-of-agios-sostis and https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rubjerg-knude-lighthouse
This internationally recognized jazz lounge has been running for more than a century. Its guests have included Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and less reputable icons like Al Capone.
Host Dylan Thuras visits a Staten Island mansion with a dubious and vitriolic past, only to learn the site’s curse may not be as obvious as it seems.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kreischer-mansion
Barnali Ghosh and Anirvan Chatterjee provide tours and share stories about radical South Asian history, freedom fighters, and how it all lives on today in Berkley, CA.
This railway was built for one purpose and one purpose only: to keep the London’s mail coming on time.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-mail-rail-london-england
Drawbridge operators in Chicago, IL used to live at these specific homes nestled at the base of their bridges.
Venture into the mind of Sky Hopinka, member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. He and host Dylan Thuras discuss his work, his past and what he’s still searching for out on the road.
We visit Vanuatu in the South Pacific and go underwater to visit a very strange place from a very strange episode at the end of World War II.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/million-dollar-point
The history of medical clowning extends back to Ancient Greece and the time of Hippocrates and is taught in workshops throughout the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/medical-clowning-program-at-haifa-university
This former meat-packing plant in Chicago, Illinois is now a site where people work to create a new kind of community in the city’s post-industrial remains.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-plant-chicago-illinois
Post Office Bay on the Galapagos Islands is a post office that runs on luck and the goodwill of visitors. It has a knack for bringing strangers together.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/post-office-bay
Experience the Orfield Anechoic Chamber: a room inside a concrete bunker that was once known as the quietest place on earth.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/orfield-labs-quiet-chamber
We explore the power luck has on us all, rational or not, through the unlikely places people go to re-up.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/lucky-places-good-luck-charms
This secluded museum beats the drum for the preservation of Nepal's musical heritage.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nepali-folk-musical-instrument-museum
A renegade art project in Vancouver galvanized a small community, pitted residents against city government, and ultimately resulted in a new name for a chill park.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dude-chilling-park
An industrial water tank-turned-concert hall in the high deserts of Colorado is nothing less than a sonic wonder of the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-tank-rangely-colorado
About 400 miles south of New Zealand, on the subantarctic Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, stands a Sitka spruce whose nearest neighbor is 170 miles away.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-loneliest-tree
This unique installation in Sydney, Australia combines art and ornithology, commemorating the calls of the city’s lost birds. Plus, bin chickens!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forgotten-songs-sound-sculpture
Urban planner Moses Gates shares his unlikely experience with the residents of the 61st floor of one of New York City’s most iconic buildings.
Updated December 2022. Built by indigenous people thousands of years ago, the Newark Earthworks are part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomical observatory. But today, this ancient ceremonial site is part of a golf course in Ohio.
Read Cedric Rose’s article: https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/will-ohios-earthworks-become-a-world-heritage-site/
Learn more about the Newark Earthworks: http://worldheritageohio.org
The story of Thomalind and Priscilla is 300 years in the making and brings listeners to Bunce Island, off the coast of Sierra Leone.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bunce-island
Chandler, Arizona creates a Christmas Tree made entirely of the diaspore of this Western plant.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tumbleweed-christmas-tree
Home is where the grudge is. We survey a special kind of architecture that is both petty and personal.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/spite-houses-around-the-world
Atlas contributors bring listeners stories of getting lost on transit, on romantic getaways, or while just trying to get home, and the joy that comes from finding yourself somewhere unexpected.
Artist Duke Riley has turned trash into a medium, like clay or paint, and an indictment. His exhibit DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash will run through April 23, 2023 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Discover how Tarpon Springs, Florida became known as the Sponge Capital of the World. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produced in partnership with GoUSA TV.
To watch the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZShrVCpUK0
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/tarpon-springs-florida
In honor of Lucia Day on December 13, we’re diving into the origins of a Swedish holiday tradition which evolved from sinister pagan lore to a celebration of light, warmth and music.
Tune into SVT’s Lucia broadcast:https://www.svtplay.se/video/e3vGxaR/luciamorgon-fran-grafsnas
We go to the Westman Islands off the southern coast of Iceland and meet the heroes who save young birds that have wandered from their nests every summer.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-puffin-colony
The story of the Fendika Cultural Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the story of Melaku Belay and his journey from homelessness to international acclaim as a community leader.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fendika-azmari-bet
This abandoned hospital outside Boston, Massachusetts was originally conceived as a place to help people with mental health issues. But it wound up doing a lot of harm.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/medfield-state-hospital
This collection, preserved by the United States Library of Congress, features locks of hair from cultural icons from Ludwig van Beethoven to General Ulysses Grant.
One of Australia’s greatest stories of escape and survival centers around this rock formation in Point Lonsdale.
How To! Host Amanda Ripley goes in search of the answer to the question “how to set up a roadside attraction that will bring visitors to your town” with expert Erika Nelson - the founder of the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Things.
The Flagg Grove School in Brownsville, Tennessee has become a museum dedicated to its most famous student.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tina-turner-museum
The Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg, New Jersey is the site of a geological marvel that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/flourescent-rocks-of-sterling-hill-mine
This radical puppet collective has shaped the small New England town of Glover, Vermont for decades. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produced in partnership with GoUSA TV.
To watch the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUrbyGqQDtc
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bread-and-puppet-museum-and-theater
These trees sprang from seeds that were brought to outer space.
Moon Tree Website: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.html
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/moon-trees
The Sporkful team dives deeper into the history of the unknown whiskey bottle and the lives of those it touched.
Dan Pashman and the Sporkful team attempt to unravel the history of a bottle of whiskey found at an estate sale when the brand seems to not exist.
Under the forests of Nyack, New York lays a series of dark and decrepit tunnels with militaristic roots but now attract graffiti artists and plenty of teen lore.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/claus-land-mountain-tunnels
This site, and the enormous telescope that sits on it, is loved and lost to both scientists and everyday Puerto Ricans.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/arecibo-observatory
Our team goes on a quest to find Prospect Park’s elusive -- and perhaps most magical -- resident rodent.
A carefully curated collection of miscalculations in Edinburgh, Scotland serves as a warning for our gullibility, especially when it comes to money.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/library-of-mistakes
This beautiful beach made of sand and worn down coral is covered in the wreckage of tanks once used by the U.S. military for target practice.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-tanks-of-flamenco-beach-culebra-puerto-rico
Larry Spring’s Museum of Common Sense Physics in Fort Bragg, California begs the question: what do you do with a science museum where the science preserved inside is a kind of folk art?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/larry-spring-school-common-sense-physics
Thousands of sheep take over downtown Ketchum, Idaho during the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produced in partnership with GoUSA TV.
To watch the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwlilGi6k7s
The African Heritage House in Mlolongo, Kenya is one of the greatest collections of African art in the world - and it has an unusual backstory.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/african-heritage-house
The story of how humans desperate for water created a lake the size of the city of Los Angeles. And then, how that thirst turned toxic.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/salton-sea
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring you stories of how sometimes giant monuments built for a specific site need to go on a journey.
To view the Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse move: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPa8b1WlbaI&t=3s
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/church-of-agios-sostis and https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rubjerg-knude-lighthouse
A voicemail from a listener takes us out on the Appalachian trail, where we ford rivers, climb mountains, and work our way across one of the most storied backpacking routes in North America.
Listen to our episode about your summer adventures: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-summer-adventures-22
Send a voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com or call (315) 992-7902 to leave a message about your own travel quest.
The Wren’s Nest in Atlanta is both a museum and former home of journalist Joel Chandler Harris and a hub for modern storytellers.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-wrens-nest
A toxic lake high in the Andes mountains in Argentina is home to microbes that provide a window to our planet’s past — and a key to securing its future.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/laguna-del-diamante
Real Good is a podcast with the mission to highlight real people out in the world - trying to make it better. This excerpt features the Real Good hosts and Goalsetter CEO Tanya Van Court discussing financial literacy. The show is powered by US Bank.
Visit https://www.stitcher.com/show/real-good to listen to the show's fourth season.
Kasanka National Park in Zambia hosts one of the largest – and most mysterious! – animal migrations on the planet.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kasanka-bat-migration
Medellín Cartel founder Pablo Escobar built himself a sort of Jurassic Park-meets-Disney World resort with drug money. He called it Hacienda Nápoles. Now it’s overrun by Hippos.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hacienda-napoles
Thompson’s Ice House in Bristol, Maine is one of the only places in the United States where people gather every winter to take part in the age-old process of harvesting ice from a frozen pond. This “Small Town-Big Story” episode is produced in partnership with GoUSA TV.
To watch the video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqxWG55-Mf8
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-thompson-ice-house-harvesting-museum-south-bristol-maine
Atlas contributors bring listeners stories from spooky locations they’ve visited and which continue to haunt them.
These cakes had a particular ingredient that some believe protected them from witchery - and sparked one of the best-known witch hunts in United States history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-are-witch-cakes
With Halloween just around the corner Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring you two spooky legends of The Mothman from Point Pleasant, West Virginia and a potentially ghoulish forest in the Transylvanian Region of Romania.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mothman-museum-2 and https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hoia-baciu-forest
The Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki has been home to an infestation of Chilean recluse spiders for more than 50 years.
Producer Johanna Mayer visits Houdini’s grave in Queens, NY and goes searching for evidence of the great beyond. To hear another take on Spiritualism check out our earlier episode - Cassadaga with Jamie Loftus.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/houdinis-grave
The Atlas Obscura Podcast is launching a week of spooky-themed stories ahead of Halloween. We begin with Jamie Loftus’ newest podcast about Cassadaga, a small town in central Florida that is one of the last great bastions of a Victorian era religion called Spiritualism.
Check out some of Jamie’s work:
GHOST CHURCH
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ghost-church-by-jamie-loftus/id1619557591
My Year in MENSA -https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-year-in-mensa/id1492147103
And check out AO’s podcast on Lily Dale, another contemporary spiritualist community
LILY DALE
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-lily-dale-spiritualist-community
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cassadaga
The fossils of Wadi al-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) in Egypt give us a glimpse of a remarkable evolutionary history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wadi-al-hitan
Producer Johanna Mayer travels to Times Square in NYC, in search of a particular sound that may sometimes go overlooked.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-times-square-hum-new-york-new-york
This memorial marks the life of a pup who sparked riots over animal rights issues in London, England.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/brown-dog-statue
This giant limestone cave outside of St. Louis, MO. is home to a combination of kitsch and world-class scenery.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/meramec-caverns
The San Diego Automotive Museum in California contains one man’s dream...of creating the ultimate road trip car.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/louie-mattars-fabulous-car
Some say this little burbling creek is “The deadliest body of water on Earth.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bolton-strid
In 1820 a group of Black Americans set off to make a home in Africa. They landed in Providence Island and set the stage for the development of the country Liberia.
The Burger King in Kayenta, AZ is home to a small museum dedicated to a group of Native American veterans who developed an unbreakable secret code during WWII.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/burger-king-navajo-code-talkers-display
Science communication superhero Emily Graslie shares how a pair of severed wolf heads helped her fall in love with science, about the road trip she took back to the beginning of time, and why she’s now looking for wonder in her own backyard.
Learn more about Emily Graslie (and watch her bug videos!): http://www.emilygraslie.com/
This former limestone mine in Kansas City, MO has been turned into a 55,000,000 square-foot industrial park and storage facility.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/subtropolis
A mind-tripping place where the art stands out not because of what's on them but what's in them.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/institute-illegal-images
Iconic musician Fela Kuti declared his home in Lagos, Nigeria, an independent state. He called it Kalakuta - and in 1977 it was invaded by the Nigerian Army.
A map in the archives of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland, OR may be the key to finding buried treasure that has yet to be found.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/buried-treasure-portland-oregon
The history of this 150-year-old immersive painting at the Atlanta History Museum features a scheming promoter, the cast of Gone with the Wind, Atlanta’s first Black mayor, and the voice of Darth Vader himself - and shows how our interpretations of art reflect the time in which we live. This episode is produced in partnership with Discover Atlanta.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/atlanta-cyclorama
The Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Missouri was founded by zoologist and wildlife TV host Marlin Perkins and was home to an extraordinary wolf who gives us hope for the future of wolf survival.
A listener takes us to a town on the edge of the longest undefended border in the world.
US-Canada border regulations have been updated since this episode first aired: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/covid/menu-eng.html
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/uscanada-border-slash
For more than 40 years Selma Miriam and Noel Furie have maintained the Bloodroot Feminist Vegetarian Restaurant and Bookstore as a place where women from all over the world can gather, share ideas, and share meals.
Visit Bloodroot: https://www.bloodroot.com/about
Learn more about the Feminist Restaurant Project: http://www.thefeministrestaurantproject.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bloodroot-feminist-vegetarian-restaurant
Oyotunji is an African Village with real homes and real community founded in the 1970s and located in the US - just an hour south of Charleston, South Carolina.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/against-the-odds-a-40year-old-west-african-village-in-south-carolina-has-thrived
The 1980s birthed a gleaming creature that spread its wings of scrap wood and glass over the intersection of two iconic Brooklyn, NY neighborhoods for thirty years.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/broken-angel
Steve and Amy Hartbauer have turned their home in residential Denver, CO into a massive mosaic and decade’s long expression of inner inspiration.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/enchanted-hart-haus
An Indian village is home to one of the world’s oldest and greatest ornithological mysteries.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jatinga-bird-suicide
Luz Flemming explores the home where he grew up, Libre - one of the longest lasting intentional communities still exists.
Green Bank, West Virginia is free of wifi and cell signals due to the massive telescope nearby that requires radio silence.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/town-for-wi-fi-refugees
Today, a sampling of listener-submitted stories of summer adventures from the wild, strange and wonderful world in which we live.
Forty-two school buses have been buried in Horning’s Mills, Ontario - covered in concrete, they’re house up to 500 people in case of nuclear fallout.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ark-two-shelter
This ancient temple complex in Northern Lebanon is one of the most well-preserved Roman ruins on earth, and one of the most overlooked.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/baalbek-trilithon
One of the world’s tallest waterfalls is nestled In Northwestern Peru, right where the Amazon rainforest crashes into the Andes Mountains.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gocta
This ranch in Sanger, Texas trains people in jousting and sword-fighting with the goal of making them knights of the highest order - for the Medieval Times dinner theater chain.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/behind-the-scenes-at-medieval-times-where-knights-battle-and-pepsi-is-plentiful
Whiting Writer’s Award, Best Literary Criticism award winner, and author of several critically-praised books, Lucy Sante speaks with host Dylan Thuras about digging into place and how our relationship to places can shape our identities.
To check out Lucy Sante’s work, please visit:
https://lucysante.com/
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team are on a mission to grow the Atlas community and include more wonderful and curious locations from Africa, Asia and South America. Two recent entries that caught their eyes include a market in Medeber, Eritrea and a women’s center in Kigali, Rwanda.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/medeber-market
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nyamirambo-womens-center
On the outskirts of Oslo, Norway, there’s a mausoleum some say is the city’s “best kept secret.” It’s the underrated masterpiece of a mostly unknown artist -- an artist who was overshadowed his whole life by his more successful brother.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/emanuel-vigeland-museum
Like a lot of historic neighborhoods, the sidewalks of Fairhaven in Bellingham, WA, are studded with small plaques commemorating local history. But unlike other neighborhoods, the markers in Fairhaven are a little bit darker, and a little bit weirder.
Thanks to Bellinghistory with the Good Time Girls. Learn more about their walking tours here: https://bellinghistory.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/harris-avenue-fairhaven
At one time thirty thousand Africans per year were forced through Elmina Castle in Ghana, before they were taken across the world as part of the trans-atlantic slave trade.
Built on a tiny island in Antarctica, the “loneliest post office in the world” got its start as a top-secret British military outpost during World War II—and became beloved by stamp collectors around the world.
Learn more about the British Antarctic Survey: bas.ac.uk
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/loneliest-post-office-antarctica
A disaster in a seaside town got locals wondering about government conspiracies, weather control, and if human beings could actually, truly for real, make it rain.
The Coney Island Mermaid Parade isn’t linked to a holiday, religious affiliation or corporate celebration – it’s a celebration of having fun and getting a little weird.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/coney-island-mermaid-parade
In 1954, two groups of boys thought they were going to summer camp. But they’d been recruited for a different kind of summer experience.
This garden in Lynchburg, Virginia is the key to unlocking the writing and mind of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer.
In Mitchell, South Dakota there stands a massive building covered in murals that are made completely from… corn!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-corn-palace-mitchell-south-dakota
On the tiny Kinmen Island, a bow-tie-shape strip of land between China and Taiwan, sits a giant weaponized wall of sound that still stands--and still broadcasts--today.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beishan-broadcast-station-art
This elaborate architecture throughout Iran served a very unique purpose - gathering pigeon guano.
Take a virtual tour of a Pigeon Tower: https://ati3d.com/virtual_tour/pigeon
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pigeon-towers-iran
Atlas Obscura's Gemma Tarlach shares what it's like to step inside a relic from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and to find traces of a famous lost party of explorers.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/discovery-hut
This collection of ceramic eggs records the personal makeup designs of clowns around the world - and to some extent a clowning code of conduct.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/clown-egg-register
Today we hear from an Atlas Obscura user who, when he isn’t aboard an icebreaking warship for the Canadian Navy, spends weeks at a time road-tripping with his dog.
Check out Steve’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puppercycle/?hl=en
A graveyard in the “Granite Capital of the World” pays tribute to stone cutters and artisans who are buried amongst the sculptures they created.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hope-cemetery
Atlas Obscura reporter Sarah Durn ventures deep into the Louisiana swamp in search of the legendary monster that prowls it.
Learn more about Jessica’s Honey Island Swamp & Kayak Tours: https://www.honeyislandkayaktours.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/honey-island-swamp
Civil war in Sierra Leone brought this beautiful island to the brink of destruction - now it’s making its comeback.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiwai-island
Matt Farley has written dozens of songs about cities and towns across the United States. Why?
Trailblazing computer scientist Grace Hopper shaped the way people use and talk about computers. Her actual computer bug is preserved at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grace-hoppers-bug
Gigantic pieces of the United States Capitol rest in Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC - waiting for anyone willing to step off the beaten path.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-capitol-stones-washington-dc
Every Sunday, there’s a binational church service at Friendship Park, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. We sent two reporters to attend the church service — one on the U.S. side and one in Mexico — to learn more about how changes to the U.S. border have affected the park and the community.
Learn more about The Border Church: https://www.friendshippark.org/borderchurch
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/friendship-park
The world’s largest random, assorted key collection located outside Denver, CO, was inspired by a literary infatuation and includes keys to danger and memory.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/baldpate-inn-key-collection
MacArthur Genius Grant winner, artist, and experimental geographer Trevor Paglen and host Dylan Thuras discuss documenting government surveillance, AI, and place.
Las Vegas, Nevada was once the preferred tourist destination for watching weapons of mass destruction explode.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-atomic-testing-museum
The world's oldest rose is so tough it survived being bombed in World War II.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-thousand-year-rose-hildesheim-germany
Catoosa, Oklahoma is the site of a massive landlocked whale - and possibly the greatest anniversary gift ever
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/catoosa-whale
These miniature mansions and luxurious homes were built for the feathered residents of Istanbul.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ottoman-bird-palaces
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners stories of two stories where sculpture meets the depths: The Sunken Crosses of Malpique and a harbor in Odense, Denmark.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sunken-crosses-of-malpique
Producer Abbey Perault gives listeners an introduction to the long-unknown creator behind the widely known concrete fauna of Mexico’s urban playscapes.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/concrete-animal-cemetery
A listener in Lawrence, Kansas takes us on his journey of discovering the secrets of his hometown.
This archaeological dig in Phonsovan, Laos is one of the most important and dangerous prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/plain-of-jars
The Smallest Mollusk Museum in New York City is part of a fleet of tiny museums that might just have a big impact on the world.
This mechanical boy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was a mystery - until it began to write.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maillardets-automaton
Space Cowboy Buck Atom stands watch over an old gas station in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a link to the glory of Route 66’s Muffler Men.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/buck-atom
We're sharing with you a new Witness Docs show: Welcome to Provincetown, a documentary podcast in the vein of reality television about a small town on the Cape with a strong LGBTQIA+ history. Warning: The episode does contain explicit language. Find out more about Welcome to Provincetown and other Witness shows at: https://www.witnesspodcasts.com/
The voice announcement at Embankment Station in London is unlike any other announcement on the Tube.
The hunt to memorialize Rhode Island’s founder created one of the state’s strangest and most enduring myths.
To Learn more about Roger Williams relationship to local indigenous tribes: http://library.providence.edu/encompass/narragansett-history/secondary-sources/the-landing-of-roger-williams/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/roger-williams-root
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea has become an accidental bird sanctuary for one of the world’s most endangered crane species.
Learn more about the International Crane Foundation: savingcranes.org
Occasionally the podcast team requests messages about the strange and wondrous places you experience. These are some of first responses we received last year regarding our request to hear of wonders from listeners' backyards. Stories feature the world’s largest tin soldier, the home of the first public beach and a phone connecting us to people we’ve lost.
Tell us about a wonder in your backyard. Record a voice memo and send it to hello@atlasobscura.com or leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.
Producer Baudelaire Ceus brings listeners to Accra, Ghana and a gigantic public square dedicated to Ghanaian independence.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/black-star-square
This small town in Ecuador was thought to hold the fountain of youth and drew the curiosity of scientists and wellness practitioners alike.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vilcabamba
Sets from the original 1960’s Star Trek have been recreated for fans and actors alike in Ticonderoga, New York.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/star-trek-original-series-set-tour
Syren Nagakyrie set out to make a whole world of incredible beauty more available to millions of people with disabilities - starting with the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.
Learn more about Disabled Hikers: https://disabledhikers.com/
Olympic National Park Trail Guides: https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/physical-mobility-accessibility.htm
An abandoned Russian mining village is literally frozen in time.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pyramiden
Congo Square in New Orleans is the heart of where African drumming found its way into American music and the birth of Jazz.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/congo-square
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners stories of two of their favorite places that can be found in the Atlas - on in Washington, DC and one in Scotland.
Amir Siraj was a sophomore in college when he discovered what may be the first documented interstellar object to hit earth.
Anna Swan had an adventurous life before settling in Seville, Ohio and building a house large enough to fit her large life.
A rapidly disappearing glacier holds the key to a forgotten species, a century-old entomological mystery, and… an opera. This episode previously aired in 2021.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grasshopper-glacier
This paddleboat gave some Black children a place to learn even when they were denied formal education on land.
This meteorite is one of the very few on record to have hit a human being.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-hodges-meteorite-tuscaloosa-alabama
A public health crisis plagued the Midwest until a simple solution was introduced to a ubiquitous cooking ingredient.
A number of tiny, mysterious doors scattered throughout Atlanta, Georgia ask viewers to imagine what might be found on the other side.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiny-doors-atl
Join host Dylan Thuras and producer Harry Huggins as they visit the unruly architecture of The House on the Rock - one of the inspirations for Atlas Obscura.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/house-rock
The strange story of Catalina Island’s herd of bison, and the harrowing story of producer Sarah Wyman’s encounter with these intimidating residents.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/catalina-island-bison-herd
Eight rare vehicles at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky vanish, thanks to a massive sinkhole.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-corvette-museum-sinkhole
All summer we’ve been asking you to send us your summer travel stories. In this installment we hear a listener’s tale of a theological dispute that became a real money-maker known to some as “Old Hoaxy.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cardiff-giant
Producer Baudelaire Ceus travels to Leimert Park, a unique neighborhood in Los Angeles characterized by its historical relationship to Black liberation.
An audio postcard from the desert of Badain Jaran in China, home of the Booming Dunes, and possibly the coolest sand sounds you’ve ever heard.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/booming-dunes-badain-desert
This sculpture in Spokane, WA was created by a"welding nun" decades ago.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/garbage-eating-goat-statue
For a brief period the small frontier city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota drew in socialites and celebrities who were desperate to end their marriages.
For more stories from the Divorce Colony, check out April White's book: The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier.
https://thedivorcecolony.com/
There are two miles of abandoned tunnels beneath the streets of Cincinnati, OH. A relic of an attempt to establish underground transportation in the city.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-cincinnati-subway-cincinnati-ohio
Atlas Obscura listeners share stories from places they love so much they keep going back.
In the busy, traffic-packed capital city of Bolivia, we meet the zebras who keep the streets of La Paz safe for its citizens.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-paz-cebritas
Atlas Obscura’s resident food and death reporter Sam O’Brien takes us to Smithfield, Virginia, where we meet a 120-year-old ham, and the people who love it.
Learn more about the Isle of Wight County Museum: www.historicisleofwight.com/
Let Sam eat the ham: hamtruther.com
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-oldest-edible-ham
This social and architectural experiment in Tokyo, Japan was once the leading building in a movement attempting to pair construction and biological growth.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nakagin-capsule-tower
The City Hall in Lincoln, Illinois has an unusual architectural appendage with a curious history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/phone-booth-on-a-roof
The founders of this prison in Philadelphia, PA aimed to revolutionize incarceration for the better - and unintentionally created new horrors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eastern-state-penitentiary
We take you to East Detroit, where an artist transformed a largely abandoned street into an immersive, living museum -- which grew into something even bigger.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/heidelberg-project
SanJuanSounds is an iconic studio where musicians, engineers, and quite possibly a music-loving ghost carry on the island’s musical traditions, which date back hundreds of years. This episode is produced in partnership with Discover Puerto Rico.
Dylan Thuras braves one of New York’s most touristy sites to bring listeners the lesser-known history of Madame Tussaud’s origins.
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners the stories of two mummies - one preserved in a bog in Jutland, Denmark and another at a monastery in Palermo, Italy.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/haraldsk-r-woman
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/capuchin-monastery
An orchard of metal poles sits on a hill overlooking Lake Washington. And when the wind blows, this musical sculpture "sings the world into existence" with its unique sound.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/a-sound-garden
In the depths of Northeastern India, centuries-old bridges are not built, they are grown.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/root-bridges-cherrapungee
The pigs once plopped on an uninhabited Auckland Island known for capturing castaways now play an important role in modern medical research.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-lives-on-auckland-islands
This experimental automotive replica of Stonehenge has become a symbol of the town of Alliance, Nebraska. But residents haven’t always been fans.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/carhenge
Producer Baudelaire Ceus searches for the resting place of famed author Richard Wright among the graves of other cultural icons like Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Sadegh Hedaya.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pere-lachaise-cemetery
Niles, Illinois is home to an exact replica of Italy’s leaning tower of Pisa - only it’s half the size of the original structure.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/leaning-tower-niles
Brendan Francis Newnam, the host of the new podcast Not Lost, and Dylan Thuras discuss how getting lost is the best way to find yourself. And Brendan shares a great scene from his podcast where he and his co-host travel to the Umbrella Cover Museum on Peaks Island in Maine.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/umbrella-cover-museum
Atlas Obscura contributors take listeners to some of the places they loved so much they keep going back.
Got your own place that calls you to return again and again? Submit a voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com
This funicular in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania used to offer coal and steel workers a respite from the smog of industry.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/monongahela-incline
Today the story of how a street lamp, a tangle with municipal government, and a love of the stars led a man to Goblin Valley, Utah a “dark sky certified” place for lovers of the night sky.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/goblin-valley-state-park
Take a trip to a hostel in Iceland to visit the country’s last Big Mac, where the burger’s existence unfolds a story about economics and national identity.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iceland-mcdonalds
A river in the Amazon is so hot that anything that falls into it will die … but how did it get this way?
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-boiling-river-of-the-amazon-puerto-inca-peru
This garden park in Paris, France contains the ruins of a colonial exhibition from 1907.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/le-jardin-d-agronomie-tropicale
Thousands of years ago, a young woman named Ko-kwal-alwoot crouched over a set of tide pools, looked into the water, and saw a face looking back at her that wasn’t her own. Today, her descendants are still telling the story of what happened next.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-maiden-of-deception-pass
Learn more about the Samish Indian Nation: https://www.samishtribe.nsn.us/
Scientists in Denver, Colorado store and conduct tests on miles of ice core samples dating back hundreds of thousands of years.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-ice-core-lab
This underground oasis in Fresno, California is a winding maze of rooms and passageways filled with lush citrus trees.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forestiere-underground-gardens
A grand library in Portugal has some unexpected nighttime caretakers -- tiny bats.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mafra-palace-library-bats
Noah Purifoy was a pugilistic LA artist who eventually filled a 10 acre plot of land in Joshua Tree, CA with his of-kilter art.
Noah Purifoy’s Outdoor Museum: http://www.noahpurifoy.com/joshua-tree-outdoor-museum
Learn more about Dale Davis: https://dalebdavis.com/
Listen to our episode about Leimert Park: https://pod.link/1555769970/episode/1a593d4fba52c8d48fd9e62728a2a16f
Listen to our episode about the Watts Towers Art Center: https://pod.link/1555769970/episode/18849745a4259a207da75f53dfa6e657
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/noah-purifoy-s-outdoor-desert-art-museum
An underground chamber in Upton, MA puzzled some New Englanders while others long knew its ancient origins.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/upton-chamber
Thousands of masks from the former Kingdom of Benin are spread throughout museums across the world. Is that where they belong?
Hashima Island in Japan was once the most densely populated place on Earth. Until – almost overnight – everyone left.
Typically, space junk ends up deep in the Pacific Ocean. This is the story of when it plunged back to earth … onto a street in small-town Wisconsin.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sputnik-crash-site
This forest in Oslo, Norway will provide the trees for paper as part of a century long art project featuring famed contemporary authors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forest-of-the-future-library
The Last Tenement in Boston’s old West End has come to represent everything that can go wrong with urban planning.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-last-tenement
These documents highlight the intellectual legacy of an ancient civilization based in Timbuktu, Mali.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/timbuktu-manuscripts-mali
Writer and island-hopper Anna Marlis Burgard takes us on a tour of three of the 135 strange, incredible, and wondrous islands she’s explored in the United States.
Learn more about Anna's Islands of America adventure: http://www.islandsofamerica.com/
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-united-islands-of-america
CORRECTION: A previous version of this episode misidentified the name of the Skete on Nelson Island. It is the St. Nilus Skete, not the St. Nicholas Skete.
We dig into the tales of TWO whales washing ashore along the southeastern coast of Brazil. And learn how one became a scientific marvel and the other, a local landmark.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ubatuba-whale
This island between Missouri and Illinois was a preferred meeting place for duels to the death in the early 1900’s.
Famed Jazz musician Louis Armstrong’s house in Corona, Queens in New York is now a museum preserving his legacy.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/louis-armstrong-house
A community of kitschy lawn gnomes have taken over an Australian roundabout.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gnomesville
Science writer Peter Brannen takes listeners on a tour of the world’s five major mass extinctions.
We venture out to Long Island, not for the beautiful beaches, or an Islanders game, or to hang with Billy Joel. We're here to explore the fraught history of a gigantic, ominous sea foam-green nuclear power plant.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shoreham-nuclear-power-plant
Last month we asked listeners about your encounters with the unknown, and boy did you all deliver! This presents two stories we received from listeners Maggie and Melissa.
The only remaining operational Rotary Jail, found in Crawfordsville, Indiana, shows visitors how inmates were once locked within the building’s walls.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rotary-jail-museum
One of the United State’s most famous pieces of self-built architecture consists of seventeen interconnected towers that rise like inverted ice cream cones from the ground - the tallest reaching over 100 feet.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/watts-towers
This museum built of memories in Istanbul, Turkey was created in a book before it was created in real life.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-museum-of-innocence-2-istanbul-turkey
Host Dylan Thuras confronts the good and the bad ways travel changes as you move through different life stages. At the end of the episode stay tuned for a conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Lake Natron in Monduli, Tanzania can leave welts and burns on human skin but is a bit of a paradise for another animal.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-natron
Learn how a group of indegnous women in Puerto Misahuallî, Ecuador fought “machismo” to become entrepreneurs and build an eco-friendly getaway.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sinchi-warmi-amazon-lodge
This treacherous path cut through a stretch of the Pyrenees Mountains in France may have played a key part in one nation’s quest for international influence and possibly helped foment a revolution.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chemin-de-la-mature
Explore a modern landmark in a medieval city. The Corpus Clock in Cambridge, England honors both the past and future of telling time.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/corpus-clock-corpus-christi-chronophage
Atlas Obscura presents Gastropod’s episode “Buried Treasure: Weeds, Seeds, and Zombies.” Gastropod Hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley examine a scientific quest – and one of the world’s longest running experiments - to see how long weeds can survive. They find zombie seeds, a treasure hunt, and more.
Gastropod: https://gastropod.com/buried-treasure-weeds-seeds-and-zombies/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dr-beals-seed-viability-experiment
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this tour of the world's oldest living things - with artist Rachel Sussman who’s been documenting these ancient things for 10 years.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/womens-history-month
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/worlds-oldest-living-things
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this conversation with Jessica Oreck who has spent the last 30 years collecting odd and forgotten objects. Now, they’re all beautifully curated and on display in the Office of Collecting and Design in Las Vegas.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/womens-history-month
Follow the Office of Collecting and Design on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/office.of.collecting/?hl=en
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/office-of-collecting-and-design
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this story of the women who stepped up to produce thousands of guitars during World War II, only to be written out of the history.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/womens-history-month
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-old-gibson-guitar-factory-kalamazoo-michigan
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this story of a national park in Southwest Uganda that is home to nearly half the world’s population of endangered mountain gorillas. They and the local community rely on each other to survive.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/womens-history-month
Learn how to help the Bwindi Mountain Gorillas: https://ctph.org/
Sound of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the mountain gorillas was recorded by Nick Penny. To see more of Nick’s work, visit: https://www.nickpennyphotography.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bwindi-impenetrable-forest
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this story of how herdswomen in Northern Sweden have lured cows home with haunting melodies.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/womens-history-month
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-kulning
Criminal and This is Love host Phoebe Judge brings us to the ancient ruins of Torre Argentina in Rome - the site of Julius Caesar’s assasination, which also happens to double as an enormous sanctuary for cats.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/torre-argentina-roman-cat-sanctuary
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners two Atlas Obscura locations developed as the result of a life-changing decision - to embark on a massive art project and live.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hercules
Travel to the world’s oldest intact pyramid in Egypt - and learn about the genius who also influenced the fields of architecture, astronomy, and medicine.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pyramid-of-djoser
AirBnB founder and CEO Brian Chesky discusses how design experiences, like those found at the Edna Laurence Nature Lab, shape his work.
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive including this museum’s buzzing collection which honors vibrator history.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/womens-history-month
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/good-vibrations-antique-vibrator-museum
A giant abandoned dam in Sudbury, Massachusetts, marks the inglorious failure of America’s champion of industry to triumph over nature.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fords-folly-water-dam
Farmers in Yorkshire, England take years to coax their rhubarb plants into a world-renowned delicacy using a century-old technique.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/rhubarb-triangle
The Haitian Monument in Savannah, Georgia was built to commemorate the Haitian soldiers who came to the rescue of Patriots fighting in the Revolutionary War.
Eight thousand years ago, this land’s first inhabitants built a village around a sacred spring. And today, in what is now Los Angeles, CA, their descendants still work to protect the site.
Learn more about the Gabrielino-Tongva Springs Foundation: http://gabrielinosprings.com/wpsite/
As part of Women’s History Month Atlas Obscura will be sharing some episodes from the archive starting with the story of how a 30-foot-tall mural on the side of a house in West Oakland is teaching an often left out part of the history of the Black Panther Party-- the women who fueled the movement.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/black-lives-matter-murals
Learn more about this project and sign up for a tour of the mini-museum here: http://www.westoaklandmuralproject.org
Wausau, Florida’s monument and annual festival celebrate this furry critter’s contributions to the community.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/possum-monument
The Elephant Clock, a replica of an ancient invention, sits in Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai, surrounded by stores like The Gap, and H&M.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/elephant-clock
The Hotel Theresa in Harlem, New York played a pivotal role in the influential neighborhood’s cultural identity.
Gigantic pieces of the United States Capitol rest in Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC - waiting for anyone willing to step off the beaten path.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-capitol-stones-washington-dc
The grooves cut in this road outside Lancaster, CA play the finale of the William Tell Overture.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/civic-musical-road
St. Brigid’s well in Clare, Ireland is site integral to the story of how a pagan goddess became a Christian saint.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-brigid-s-well
This office, established by the founder of the American Red Cross, changed the lives of thousands of Civil War soldiers and their families.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/clara-barton-missing-soldiers-office-museum
This folk art dinosaur was almost pushed to extinction due to lack of a building permit.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vermontasaurus
Lake Karachay in Ozersk, Russia is the site of a former secret Soviet Union nuclear facility - that’s inspired art despite the little that’s publicly known of the site.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-karachay
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners two Atlas Obscura locations created by people compelled by visions - the East West Peace Church in Munich, Germany, and the Source du Nil in Musenyi, Burundi.
Lincoln, Massachusetts is home to one of the strangest pony herds you’re likely to see - and it’s been growing for more than a decade.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ponyhenge
Producer Johanna Mayer takes a trip to the last Sears in New York City, a Brooklyn landmark, with two people whose lives were shaped by the department store.
Host Dylan Thuras speaks with Dave Seminara, author of the book Mad Travelers, about extreme travel and the people who love it.
The Panorama of the City of New York a star of the 1964 World’s Fair where it competed for attention with new technology like touch-tone phones and the Ford Mustang. The artwork now lives in the Queens Museum.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/a-panorama-view-of-new-york-city
Nicola Twilley takes us to suburban London, where a 1000 square meter greenhouse is all that stands between us and the chocapocalypse.
Listen to the Malta Lazaretto episode: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-quarantine-at-malta-lazaretto
Listen to Gastropod: https://gastropod.com/
Read Until Proven Safe:
https://untilprovensafe.com/
Join host Dylan Thuras, a satellite scientist, and a ship captain in search of gigantic swaths of bioluminescence that can radiate up from the surface of the sea over thousands of square miles.
Step inside the Theater of Electricity in Boston and learn about the World’s Largest Air-Insulated Van Der Graaf Generator.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-airinsulated-van-de-graaff-generator
Producer Baudelaire Ceus travels to Leimert Park, a unique neighborhood in Los Angeles characterized by its historical relationship to Black liberation.
Writers Geoff Manaugh and Nicky Twilley take us inside a crumbling, centuries-old quarantine facility, and we explore the history and future of quarantine.
Read “Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine”: https://untilprovensafe.com/
Learn more about the Malta Lazzaretto: https://www.midimalta.com/en/the-lazaretto
Boulders Beach in Simon’s Town in South Africa, is a destination where sunbathers, tourists, and penguins share both the beach and parts of the town.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/boulders-beach-penguin-sanctuary
Monkey Island, Cayo, Santigo is an island off the coast of Puerto Rico where more than 1500 imported monkeys have lived and been studied by researchers for decades.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cayo-santiago-monkey-island
The Citadelle Laferriere in Haiti was built to ensure the island remained free after Haitians defeated French colonizers.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/citadelle-laferriere
Boston’s Old North Church was cemented in American History by Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride. But now the ringers who play these bells in a centuries-old style are adding a twist.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bell-ringing-chamber-at-old-north-church
In 1993 Bob Cassilly began to turn an old shoe factory into a massive interactive museum that now includes a plane fuselage, caves, and a ten-story slide.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/city-museum
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team find beauty and fascination at the sites of warped and bizarre statues in Nuremberg, Germany and Urgnano, Italy.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/der-hase
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-grotesques-of-urgnano-castle
The Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, Alaska aims to domesticate a species that used to roam the earth at the same time as the sabretooth and wooly mammoth.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/musk-ox-farm
The Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw, Poland is the final resting place of famed composer Frédéric Chopin’s heart - smuggled there by Chopin’s sister after his death.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chopin-s-heart
Razzouk Tattoo in Jerusalem has given Christian pilgrims permanent souvenirs from their travel for centuries.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/razzouk-ink
Visit the ruins of an ancient economic powerhouse’s capital city, Great Zimbabwe in the nation of Zimbabwe and learn how a colonial empire was determined to rewrite its story.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/great-zimbabwe
Reporter Sam O’Brien takes us to Lily Dale, the world’s largest surviving community of spiritualists, where she learns (even if you don’t believe in ghosts) there’s more than one way to connect with the dead.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lily-dale-spiritualist-community
There’s an everlasting lightning storm in Northwestern Venezuela that appears in the night sky nearly every night.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/relampago-del-catatumbo
A massive 19th-century reservoir under the city of Copenhagen has been repurposed as a contemporary art cave. We venture inside to learn more about its history, and bask in the incredible acoustics of the space.
Visit Cisternerne and Frederiksberg Museerne: https://frederiksbergmuseerne.dk/da/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cisternerne
Reporter Eric Grundhauser recounts a memorable visit to an unusual museum in Iceland, where he explored the ancient lore of the occult, learned how to steal milk from his neighbors, and laid his eyes upon a pair of pants… made of human flesh.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-museum-of-icelandic-sorcery-witchcraft-holmavik-iceland
The largest theater pipe organ in the world lives in a restaurant in Mesa, Arizona. Phenomenal musicians play requests while diners feast on pizza.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/organ-stop-pizza
The Alnwick Poison Garden in England is a place where stopping and smelling the flowers could actually kill you. The garden is dedicated entirely to plants that are narcotic or deadly.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/alnwick-poison-garden
The Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama bills itself as “the nation’s only retailer of lost luggage.” If you’ve ever lost a bag during air travel, it probably wound up there - along with many other treasures and oddities. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/unclaimed-baggage-center
John Milkovisch spent 18 years covering his Houston home in beer cans. The house has been preserved for visitors since John’s death in 1988.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/beer-can-house
Resident food and death correspondent, Sam O’Brien, returns to tell us about a grave with a nut roll recipe engraved on it and the layered and touching story behind the treat.
Know of a recipe grave in your local cemetery? Email us at hello@atlasobscura.com, and include “Recipe Graves” in the subject line.
A national park in Southwest Uganda is home to nearly half the world’s population of endangered mountain gorillas. They and the local community rely on each other to survive.
Learn how to help the Bwindi Mountain Gorillas: https://ctph.org/
Sound of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and the mountain gorillas was recorded by Nick Penny. To see more of Nick’s work, visit:
https://www.nickpennyphotography.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nickp.pics/
Read more in the Atlas:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bwindi-impenetrable-forest
In this two-part series, we venture towards frozen graves tied to an infamous Arctic expedition. We follow two groups of adventurers, separated by more than 170 years, and play witness to the disasters that befell them all.
Read More in the Atlas:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/graves-of-beechey-island
In this two-part series, we venture towards frozen graves tied to an infamous Arctic expedition. We follow two groups of adventurers, separated by more than 170 years, and play witness to the disasters that befell them all.
Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/graves-of-beechey-island
After a profound show of devotion for his master, a dog becomes the symbol of loyalty for an entire nation.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hachiko-hachi-shibuya-station
The crumbled ruins of the world’s largest flour mill became one of Minneapolis’ most prominent graffiti-writing locations, and later a museum.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mill-city-museum-site-great-mill-disaster
In Kongthong, India, every person’s name is a unique song, composed by their mother within a week of their birth, part of a centuries-old tradition.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/where-indian-villagers-have-musical-names
A listener’s voicemail sent us searching for the story of a very special -- and giant -- oak tree Peoria, Illinois, and the family of arborists who cared for it.
The oldest (maybe) swimming pool in Iceland is a stunning oasis built into the side of a lush hill.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/seljavallalaug
This old cement mine in Rosendale, New York, has been used as everything from a mushroom farm to a recording studio.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/widow-jane-mine
The Atlas production team would like to share some of their favorite holiday places as 2021 comes to a close. This episode will be followed by a series of re-listen episodes from the past year, published over the next two weeks.
In 2006 a massive haul of Doritos was shipwrecked on Hatteras Island on the Outer Banks, leaving its mark on the town forever.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shipwrecked-doritos
Professional Adventurer George Kourounis knew he needed to visit the Cave of the Crystals, located nearly a 1000 feet beneath northern Mexico, the moment he saw a photograph from inside the cave.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/giant-crystals-naica
Post Office Bay on the Galapagos Islands is a post office that runs on luck and the goodwill of visitors. It has a knack for bringing strangers together.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/post-office-bay
A music box given to Scott Harrison while he served in Vietnam inspired him to hand-carve all the animals for the Carousel of Happiness in Nederland, Colorado.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/carousel-of-happiness
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team catch listeners up on the new and surprising additions to Atlas Obscura that capture their attention. This includes a heiress’s pet cemetery and ruins visible beneath a grocery store floor.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/doris-dukes-pet-cemetery
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/aungier-street-lidl-archaelogy
This small mineral museum in Dodgeville, Wisconsin is home to plenty of rocks - some of which may rival those in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
In 1986 an unknown natural disaster at Lake Nyos in Menchum, Cameroon left more than 1700 people dead in one night - and puzzled scientists. Learn how they solved that mystery.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-nyos-the-deadliest-lake-in-the-world
Visit a museum inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, which documents how public health officials have slowed the spread of disease through history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cdc-museum
Hear from the caretakers of a ghost town in Bolivia that was once the world's highest ski resort.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/abandoned-chacaltaya-ski-resort
Take a trip to Micropia, the world’s only museum dedicated to microscopic organisms and learn about our invisible life companions.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/micropia
The Tree of 40 fruits in San Jose California is an horticultural marvel of 40 types of stone fruit trees grafted together to form a living work of art.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tree-of-40-fruit
The Sporkful host Dan Pashman brings listeners on a quest to find a fruit indigenous to North America that has never been industrialized - but may be seeing a resurgence.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/pawpaw-fruit
It’s easy to dismiss Bigfoot, the yeti, the Loch Ness monster, and other cryptids as far-fetched X-Files fodder. But the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine aims to show that when investigations into unknown creatures are done right, they involve real science, and have real scientific value.
Monster of the Month Series: https://www.atlasobscura.com/experiences/monster-of-the-month-with-colin-dickey
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/international-cryptozoology-museum
In a collaboration with our friends at Science Diction, we explore the Indian temple complex that gave rise to the word "juggernaut," which means an unstoppable force. But the real story behind it is far more complicated.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jagannath-temple
We follow a long set of wooden stairs deep underground to a sea cave with a mysterious and colorful past, and take in a spectacular, hidden view of the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla.
Learn more about The Cave Store: https://www.cavestore.com/
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sunny-jim-cave-store
CORRECTION: A previous version of this episode misstated L. Frank Baum's role in the creation of The Wizard of Oz. He was the author, not the illustrator.
This stunning geological marvel just north of Dahab, Egypt has been called the deadliest dive spot in the world. But is that reputation deserved?
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/red-sea-blue-hole
Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team aim to answer the question at the heart of Atlas Obscura - “What kind of place merits an Atlas Obscura entry?”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://https://www.atlasobscura.com/faq
Jessica Oreck has spent the last 30 years collecting odd and forgotten objects. Now, they’re all beautifully curated and on display in the Office of Collecting and Design in Las Vegas.
Follow the Office of Collecting and Design on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/office.of.collecting/?hl=en
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/office-of-collecting-and-design
This unique installation in Sydney, Australia combines art and ornithology, commemorating the calls of the city’s lost birds. Plus, bin chickens!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forgotten-songs-sound-sculpture
Visit the taverns of colonial America to take a frothy sip of the hot ale flip and how it helped pave the way for contemporary mixology.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/hot-ale-flip
Travel to Denver Colorado and meet Steve Berke who helped found the first International Church of Cannabis in 2015.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/international-church-of-cannabis
Josh Foer, the co-founder of Atlas Obscura, takes us to a remote patch of land in the Arizona desert, where he built (and later rebuilt) a museum in honor of the company’s former CEO, David Plotz.
The Plotz Plot is accessible from Adamana Road, off of I-40 exit 300, at 35.025639, -109.8195. The lock code is 4444.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/plotz-plot
Join host Dylan Thuras and producer Harry Huggins as they visit the unruly architecture of The House on the Rock - one of the inspirations for Atlas Obscura.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/house-rock
This amusement park in Singapore holds the Ten Courts of Hell, a series of dioramas that depict the kind of horrible fates awaiting people who behaved badly on Earth.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/haw-par-villa
Matthew Shifrin, host of the podcast Blind Guy Travels, stops by to tell us about a memorable trip he took to Italy, and a visit with an ancient wolf he’s never forgotten.
Listen to Blind Guy Travels: https://radiotopiapresents.fm/blind-guy-travels
This Ecuadorian cave has captured the attention of government officials, scientists, professional cavers and is home to a particularly rare creature.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cueva-de-los-tayos
Photographer and author Paul Koudonaris brings listeners to this Ethiopian Church and explores ossuaries, jeweled skeletons, and death practices throughout the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/yemrehana-krestos-church
An island filled with hundreds of hanging and decomposing dolls is a window into the sociology of why we pursue experiences that inspire fright, fear, and an attraction to the macabre.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-isla-de-las-munecas
We send reporter Sarah Wyman to northern Sweden to climb a mountain, explore a grim legend, and listen to the devil’s violin.
Listen to Lena Jonsson’s music: https://www.lenajonsson.com/
Listen to Bengt Jonsson play the kohorn: https://youtu.be/vNWnh-k80mM
Tonopah, Nevada is home to the Clown Motel - an inn on the edge of the desert that’s packed with statues and figurines of Clowns. The eerie and fully-functioning inn is also a labor of love.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/clown-motel
Two members of the Atlas Obscura team go in search of the true story that may have inspired the literary classic, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/castle-frankenstein
The deep woods of Pennsylvania hold a phenomena that has drawn attention from scientists and people around the world, and was almost recently destroyed.
The Luray Caverns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia are home to an instrument draws out the secret sounds of millenia-old stone.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-great-stalacpipe-organ-luray-virginia
Travel to Penobscot, Maine, where one farmer maintains the tradition of burning his crop each year to rejuvenate it the next.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-do-people-burn-blueberry-fields
Experience the Orfield Anechoic Chamber: a room inside a concrete bunker that was once known as the quietest place on earth.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/orfield-labs-quiet-chamber
In honor of the release of our new book, we bring you another Gastro Obscura Classic: A ranch on the outskirts of Aptos, California features a magical machine that dispenses music, joy, and 18 of the freshest eggs in the land.
Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide is a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders. Order your copy today!
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/egg-vending-machine-at-glaum-ranch-aptos-california
In honor of the release of our new book, we bring you another Gastro Obscura Classic: Open your minds and steel your stomachs as we go to a food museum in Sweden that challenges what exactly makes something delicious… or disgusting.
Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide is a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders. Order your copy today!
Read more in the Atlas:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/disgusting-food-museum
In honor of the release of our new book TODAY, we bring you a Gastro Obscura Classic: Inside a living, breathing collection of sourdough starters in Belgium
Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide is a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders. Order your copy today!
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sourdough-library
Explore the unexpected combination of recipes and graves through the story of Naomi Odessa Miller Dawson’s spritz cookies.
This week we’re celebrating the release of our new bookt! It's called Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders. Pre-order your copy, and as a bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
We’ll be running classic Gastro Obscura-themed episodes of the podcast all week long, so stay tuned for more edible audio wonders!
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spritz-cookie-gravestone-greenwood-cemetery-cookie
Places editors Jonathan and Michele are back again with a few new standout entries to the Atlas … including ancient ossuaries and a shrine covered in shells that’s far from the sea.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.Pre-order your copy, and as a bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
The story of the white deer on Mount Madonna, the two robber barons who put them there, and the last survivor of the herd.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.Pre-order your copy, and as a bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
From the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death we move to the Scarpetta house, where full-size reenactments help investigators perfect their skills in evaluating death.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.Pre-order your copy, and as a bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-most-violent-room-in-baltimore-baltimore-maryland
Eighteen macabre miniatures housed at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore Maryland have shaped the field of criminal investigation.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.Pre-order your copy, and as a bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death-baltimore-maryland
All summer we’ve been asking you to send us your summer travel stories. And in this final installment of summer stories we tackle a topic that transcends the seasons - the captivating magic of water during travel.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: a Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.
Pre-order your copy at Atlasobscura.com/book, and as bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
We sift through the dirt to solve a mystery involving a massive mammoth grave site.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: a Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.
Pre-order your copy at Atlasobscura.com/book, and as bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mammoth-site
Host Dylan Thuras visits a Staten Island mansion with a dubious and vitriolic past, only to learn the site’s curse may not be as obvious as it seems.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: a Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.
Pre-order your copy at Atlasobscura.com/book, and as bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kreischer-mansion
Fishlake National Forest is home to the biggest organism by mass on the planet - but this giant is shrinking and an usual group has banded together to help defend it.
We have a new book coming out! It's called Gastro Obscura: a Food Adventurer's Guide, a whirlwind tour of the world's edible wonders.
Pre-order your copy at Atlasobscura.com/book, and as bonus you'll get some mathematically efficient cookie cutters!
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pando-the-trembling-giant
All summer we’ve been asking you to send us your summer travel stories. In this installment we hear a listener’s tale of a theological dispute that became a real money-maker known to some as “Old Hoaxy.”
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cardiff-giant
A trip to Sweden prompts producer Sarah Wyman to dig into a superstitious story passed through generations about the Red Stone Man.
Places editors Jonathan and Michele are back again with a few new standout entries to the Atlas … including a spot in Antarctica that’s home to the oldest Martian meteorite and a column in Greece that symbolizes the fear and ritual past generations embraced when faced with their own plague.
Artist Erika Nelson didn’t set out in life to necessarily become one of the foremost connoisseurs of large things, but her museum in Lucas, KS is nevertheless the ultimate tribute to the roadside attraction.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-collection-of-smallest-versions-of-largest-things
All summer we’ve been asking you to send us your summer travel stories. Our second installment in the series follows one listener from London to Rome – on foot.
This secluded museum beats the drum for the preservation of Nepal's musical heritage.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nepali-folk-musical-instrument-museum
A spinning furnace tucked under the football stadium at the University of Arizona is building giant telescope mirrors.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/richard-f-caris-mirror-laboratory
This museum’s buzzing collection honors vibrator history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/good-vibrations-antique-vibrator-museum
All summer we’ve been asking you to send us your summer travel stories. This is the first of a series of listener-powered episodes about this magical season.
About 400 miles south of New Zealand, on the subantarctic Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, stands a Sitka spruce whose nearest neighbor is 170 miles away.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-loneliest-tree
We visit Vanuatu in the South Pacific and go underwater to visit a very strange place from a very strange episode at the end of World War.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/million-dollar-point
We’ve made 100 episodes of the show and figured it was time to hear from the people who make it happen. Enjoy! (And go back and catch up on any episodes you’ve missed)
Kulning: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/kulning-82833088
Mafra Library Bats: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/mafra-palace-library-bats-84059889
Clausland Mountain Tunnels: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/clausland-mountain-tunnels-200225799
The White Squirrel of Prospect Park: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/the-white-squirrel-of-prospect-park-200230461
Bolton Strid: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/bolton-strid-200226079
Booming Dunes: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/booming-dunes-84568835
The Village Where Every Person's Name Is a Song: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/the-village-where-every-persons-name-is-a-song-200229462
Hachiko: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/hachiko-200223598
Museum of Broken Relationships: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/museum-of-broken-relationships-200228325
Newark Earthworks: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/newark-earthworks-200225907
Grasshopper Glacier: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/grasshopper-glacier-83007114
Women of the Black Panther Mural: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/women-of-the-black-panther-mural-200226616
Kilwa Kisiwani: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-atlas-obscura-podcast/episode/kilwa-kisiwani-200229175
A listener in Lawrence, Kansas takes us on his journey of discovering the secrets of his hometown.
This site, and the enormous telescope that sits on it, is loved and lost to both scientists and everyday Puerto Ricans.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/arecibo-observatory
She’s about 8 feet wide and 500 pounds. And her history spans all the way from the stockyards of Chicago...to a nuclear test during the Manhattan Project...to a stadium at the University of Texas at Austin.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-bertha-drum
Sun cannons have been around since the 1600s. But as far as we know, there’s only one left that’s still up and running. We pay it a visit.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/atvidaberg-sun-cannon
We nearly stump host Dylan Thuras with a seemingly simple question: Who are the top five dead people he would like to go on a road trip with?
An industrial water tank-turned-concert hall in the high deserts of Colorado is nothing less than a sonic wonder of the world.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-tank-rangely-colorado
On the tiny Kinmen Island, a bow-tie-shape strip of land between China and Taiwan, sits a giant weaponized wall of sound that still stands--and still broadcasts--today.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beishan-broadcast-station-art
There are tens of thousands of entries in the Atlas -- In these episodes, we hear from the people who sift through them, Jonathan and Michele, and hear about their favorites.
Learn more about submitting to the Atlas here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/faq
The story of the unimaginable destruction of the American Chestnut tree and the group of scientists, academics and tree lovers who are desperately trying to bring them back from the edge of extinction.
LEARN MORE: Visit https://acf.org/ to find out more about this massive conservation effort
Host Dylan Thuras confronts the good and the bad ways travel changes as you move through different life stages.
A walk through this scale model has you feeling like a giant, and striding from Baton Rouge to Omaha in an hour.
LEARN MORE about the model and the group trying to revive it, here: https://friendsofmrbm.org/
A repository in Cambridge, Massachusetts holds over 2,700 pigments that’ve been quietly coloring the world around us since the beginning of human history.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/forbes-pigment-collection
Our team goes on a quest to find Prospect Park’s elusive -- and perhaps most magical -- resident rodent.
On the outskirts of Oslo, Norway, there’s a mausoleum some say is the city’s “best kept secret.” It’s the underrated masterpiece of a mostly unknown artist -- an artist who was overshadowed his whole life by his more successful brother.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/emanuel-vigeland-museum
Artist Rachel Sussman takes us on a tour of the world's oldest living things, which she’s been documenting for 10 years.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/worlds-oldest-living-things
We visit a park in Palo Alto, California, home of the world’s most famous donkey.
READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-donkeys-of-barron-park-palo-alto-california
Host Dylan Thuras chats with author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell about a beloved Disney movie, and the deeper questions it raised about the stories we tell ourselves -- and our children -- about places real and imaginary.
Hear more: You can listen to Malcolm Gladwell’s series on The LIttle Mermaid, and other stories in the latest season of Revisionist History here
A huge rock, teetering on the edge of a hill for thousands of years, brought tourism, fame, and what’s said to be a 100-year curse to the town of Tandil, Argentina
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-piedra-movediza
Does this sprawling mansion in San Jose, California live up to its reputation as one of the most haunted places in the world?
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/winchester-mystery-house
The story of how humans desperate for water created a lake the size of the city of Los Angeles. And then, how that thirst turned toxic.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/salton-sea
A river in the Amazon is so hot that anything that falls into it will die … but how did it get this way?
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-boiling-river-of-the-amazon-puerto-inca-peru
In Kongthong, India, every person’s name is a unique song, composed by their mother within a week of their birth, part of a centuries-old tradition.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/where-indian-villagers-have-musical-names
The story of the women who stepped up to produce thousands of guitars during World War II, only to be written out of the history.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-old-gibson-guitar-factory-kalamazoo-michigan
A listener’s voicemail sent us searching for the story of a very special -- and giant -- oak tree Peoria, Illinois, and the family of arborists who cared for it.
Grab your pickaxes, your shovels, and your code breaking supercomputers because today we’re going on a treasure hunt.
We dig through more than 1,000 years of dirt, history, colonialism, and myth on the Swahili Coast.
Read more in the Atlas https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kilwa-kisiwani-ruins
There are tens of thousands of entries in the Atlas -- today we meet the people who sift through them.
Learn more about submitting to the Atlas here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/faq
Writer and travel educator Tracey Friley tells the story of the glamorous life of entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist, Josephine Baker and the pilgrimages women still make to her chateau.
Learn more: www.traceyfrileytravel.com
Typically, space junk ends up deep in the Pacific Ocean. This is the story of when it plunged back to earth … onto a street in small-town Wisconsin.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sputnik-crash-site
Where does space stuff go after it dies? To this spot deep, deep in the Pacific Ocean.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spacecraft-cemetery
The strange story of Catalina Island’s herd of bison, and the harrowing story of producer Sarah Wyman’s encounter with these intimidating residents.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/catalina-island-bison-herd
This ancient temple complex in Northern Lebanon is one of the most well-preserved Roman ruins on earth, and one of the most overlooked.
Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/baalbek-trilithon
Comedians Tess Barker and Babs Gray, who you might know from Lady to Lady or the now legendary Britney’s Gram podcast, are here to bring you a brand new investigative series about Britney Spears' conservatorship and the court system that's allowed it to persist.
After launching the #FreeBritney movement, they started to dig… And what they found out, you won’t want to miss!
Join Tess and Babs as they talk to exclusive sources, examine new sides of the story, and uncover disturbing truths about our legal system that go way beyond Britney.
Listen to Episodes 1 & 2 right now: link.chtbl.com/ToxicThePodcast
How an MIT fraternity pledge instituted a new, unique unit of measurement.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/harvard-bridge-smoot-measurements
The fossils of Wadi al-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) in Egypt give us a glimpse of a remarkable evolutionary history.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wadi-al-hitan
A renegade art project in Vancouver galvanized a small community, pitted residents against city government, and ultimately resulted in a new name for a chill park
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dude-chilling-park
Host Dylan Thuras convinces his family to stop at this most unusual attraction in Pennsylvania
Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/archbald-pothole
This episode will break your heart. And that’s a good thing.
Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-of-broken-relationships
Host Dylan Thuras riffs on a subject that has long fascinated him: the world’s longest-running science experiments.
We venture out to Long Island, not for the beautiful beaches, or an Islanders game, or to hang with Billy Joel. We're here to explore the fraught history of a gigantic, ominous sea foam-green nuclear power plant.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shoreham-nuclear-power-plant
Mortician Caitlin Doughty gives us a dance lesson in the two-step we were all born to do.
Check out Doughty’s ‘Ask a Mortitican’ series here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi5iiEyLwSLvlqnMi02u5gQ
In this two-part series, we venture towards frozen graves tied to an infamous Arctic expedition. We follow two groups of adventurers, separated by more than 170 years, and play witness to the disasters that befell them all.
Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/graves-of-beechey-island
In this two-part series, we venture towards frozen graves tied to an infamous Arctic expedition. We follow two groups of adventurers, separated by more than 170 years, and play witness to the disasters that befell them all.
Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/graves-of-beechey-island
A few weeks ago we dropped an episode debating whether technology has helped or hurt our modern travel experience. It sparked a lot of reaction, and we hear some of that today.
We dig into the tales of TWO whales washing ashore along the southeastern coast of Brazil. And learn how one became a scientific marvel and the other, a local landmark.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ubatuba-whale
A 30-foot tall mural on the side of a house in West Oakland is teaching an often left out part of the history of the Black Panther Party-- the women who fueled the movement.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/black-lives-matter-murals. Learn more about this project and sign up for a tour of the mini-museum here: http://Www.westoaklandmuralproject.org
In the busy, traffic-packed capital city of Bolivia, we meet the zebras who keep the streets of La Paz safe for its citizens.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-paz-cebritas
We visit what might be the world’s largest collection of fraudulent, nefarious, or otherwise ineffectual medical machinery -- and meet the founder who brought it all together.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-quackery
The story of a community that came together in the 1930s to build this schoolhouse, and then came together again several decades later to build it a second time and preserve its legacy
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/myrtle-beach-colored-school-museum
Calling all listeners! We want to hear about your memorable summer travel experiences: road trips, unforgettable places, summer traditions, magical memories. Leave us a message at 315-992-7902, or send an email or a voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com.
Urban planner, Moses Gates, shares his unlikely experience with the residents of the 61st floor of one of New York City’s most iconic buildings..
An audio postcard from the desert of Badain Jaran in China, home of the Booming Dunes, and possibly the coolest sand sounds you’ve ever heard
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/booming-dunes-badain-desert
Some say this little burbling creek is “the deadliest body of water on Earth.,”
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bolton-strid
We take you to the east side of Detroit, where an artist transformed a largely abandoned street into an immersive, living museum -- which grew into something even bigger
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/heidelberg-project
Built by indigenous people thousands of years ago, the Newark Earthworks are part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomical observatory. But today, this ancient ceremonial site is part of a golf course in Ohio.
Read Cedric Rose’s article: https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/will-ohios-earthworks-become-a-world-heritage-site/
Learn more about the Newark Earthworks: http://worldheritageohio.org
We explore the power luck has on us all, rational or not, through the unlikely places people go to re-up
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/lucky-places-good-luck-charms
Under the forests of Nyack, New York lays a series of dark and decrepit tunnels with militaristic roots but now attract graffiti artists and plenty of teen lore.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/claus-land-mountain-tunnels
Eight rare vehicles at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky vanish, thanks to a massive sinkhole
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-corvette-museum-sinkhole
An Indian village is home to one of the world’s oldest and greatest ornithological mysteries
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jatinga-bird-suicide
A carefully curated collection of miscalculations in Edinburgh, Scotland serves as a warning for our gullibility, especially when it comes to money.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/library-of-mistakes
A ranch on the outskirts of Aptos, California features a magical machine that dispenses music, joy, and 18 of the freshest eggs in the land.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/egg-vending-machine-at-glaum-ranch-aptos-california
Home is where the grudge is. We survey a special kind of architecture that is both petty and personal.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/spite-houses-around-the-world
It roamed the seas, served an evil dictator, survived a war, and ended up in a New Jersey auto-repair shop bathroom.
A grand library in Portugal has some unexpected nighttime caretakers -- tiny bats. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mafra-palace-library-bats
You’ve been leaving us messages about the strange and wondrous places in your towns, like the world’s largest tin soldier, the home of the first public beach and a phone connecting us to people we’ve lost.
Open your minds and steel your stomachs as we go to a food museum in Sweden that challenges what exactly makes something delicious… or disgusting.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/disgusting-food-museum
An old friend takes us under the streets of Instanbul and into an encounter with Medusa.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/basilica-cisterns-istanbul
A boxy, Brutalist building in Silver Spring, Maryland contains one of the greatest collections of disease, injury, and human body bits ever assembled.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-museum-of-health-and-medicine
The strangest, most famous resident from this Colorado town happens to be a headless fowl.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mike-the-headless-chicken
We go to the Westman Islands off the southern coast of Iceland and meet the heroes who save young birds that have wandered from their nests every summer.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-puffin-colony
There was a time when we didn't walk around with computers in our pockets and exploring a new place required a paper map. In this episode, we dig into the ultimate debate: has technology ruined or elevated travel? Send us your questions about traveling or tell us a story by emailing a voice message to hello@atlasobscura.com
Inside a living, breathing collection of sourdough starters in Belgium.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sourdough-library
A listener tells us about a treasure buried in his literal backyard, and the two strange men who showed up on his doorstep and asked to dig it up.
A mind-tripping place where the art stands out not because of what's on them but what's in them.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/institute-illegal-images
A special journey told in two parts, beginning with the world’s largest conveyor belt in the Western Sahara and ending on your dinner plate
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/moroccan-wall-of-western-sahara
A special journey told in two parts, beginning with the world’s largest conveyor belt in the Western Sahara and ending on your dinner plate.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-world-s-longest-conveyor-belt-system-bou-craa-morocco
Today we flip the focus from the memorable places we visit to the memorable people we meet on our adventures.
A listener takes us to a town on the edge of the longest undefended border in the world. Our theme and end credit music was composed by Sam Tyndall.
After a profound show of devotion for his master, a dog becomes the symbol of loyalty for an entire nation.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hachiko-hachi-shibuya-station
The world's oldest rose is so tough it survived being bombed in World War II.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-thousand-year-rose-hildesheim-germany
A Canadian community comes together to save its slithering neighbors... the largest single concentration of harmless garter snakes in the world
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/narcisse-snake-dens
Humans have a primal need to honor their dead. We take you on a tour of our favorite communist mummies.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/atlas-obscura-s-guide-to-communist-mummies
Our theme and end credit music was composed by Sam Tyndall.
Giant busts of U.S. presidents are slowly crumbling in a field in Virginia.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/president-heads
A spectacular art installation is hidden inside an all-luxury shopping mall in Las Vegas.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/akhob
Six tiny houses built for working class people form the largest intentional cluster of Wright homes anywhere.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/frank-lloyd-wrights-burnham-block
A swath of land in Northern France still bears scars of the destruction of World War I. Destruction so bad that, in some cases, humans have never been allowed to return.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/zone-rouge
Our theme and end credit music was composed by Sam Tyndall.
A rapidly disappearing glacier holds the key to a forgotten species, a century-old entomological mystery, and… an opera.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grasshopper-glacier
A graveyard in the “Granite Capital of the World” pays tribute to stone cutters and artisans who are buried amongst the sculptures they created.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hope-cemetery
An abandoned Russian mining village is literally frozen in time.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pyramiden
In the depths of Northeastern India, centuries-old bridges are not built, they are grown.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/root-bridges-cherrapungee
Our theme and end credit music was composed by Sam Tyndall.
For centuries, herdswomen in Northern Sweden have lured cows home with haunting melodies.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-kulning
The crumbled ruins of the world’s largest flour mill became one of Minneapolis’ most prominent graffiti-writing locations, and later a museum.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mill-city-museum-site-great-mill-disaster
How an English party animal turned 1620s-era Quincy, Massachusetts into the world’s least likely party town.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/americas-first-banned-book
A South Carolina ghost story is a harbinger of hurricanes and a window into history.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/south-carolina-hurricane-ghost
Visitors leave bananas on the grave of “America’s First Lady of Space,” an early astronaut whose incredible life was forgotten.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-grave-of-miss-baker-huntsville-alabama
The world’s biggest treehouse was inspired by a message from God.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ministers-tree-house
The oldest (maybe) swimming pool in Iceland is a stunning oasis built into the side of a lush hill.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/seljavallalaug
A disaster in a seaside town got locals wondering about government conspiracies, weather control, and if human beings could actually, truly for real, make it rain.
A listener from Riverside, California, reminisces about his hometown's history as a star-studded WWII camp.
A basement museum in Somerville, Massachusetts is dedicated to collecting awful artwork. But what makes art bad, really?
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-bad-art
This old cement mine in Rosendale, New York, has been used as everything from a mushroom farm to a recording studio.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/widow-jane-mine
A gigantic crater of fire in Turkmenistan has been burning for nearly fifty years.
Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-gates-of-hell-turkmenistan
Coming March 15: A new audio guide to the world’s strange, incredible, and wondrous places.