The Atlas Obscura Podcast

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Producers India Rice and Morgan Johnson take you beyond this planet as they share two stories tied to the franchise Star Wars.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.”

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 and a 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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We go to Tallahassee and learn the incredible civil rights history of Florida's capital city.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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   

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In honor of Black History Month, we are bringing you two stories about people who used nature to change their environment and communities. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

 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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Travel to Penobscot, Maine, where one farmer maintains the tradition of burning his crop each year to rejuvenate it the next.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Experience the Orfield Anechoic Chamber: a room inside a concrete bunker that was once known as the quietest place on earth.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.     

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki has been home to an infestation of Chilean recluse spiders for more than 50 years.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/    

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Inspired by the novel and movie Around the World in Eighty Days, Eleanor Hamby and 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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One of the last remaining World War II Victory Gardens in the U.S is quietly growing across from Boston’s Fenway Park. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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! 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The story of a woman who, in her 70s, inspired some of the biggest labor uprisings in American history.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.   

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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! 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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//

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 titled The 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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today’s show is all about unusual dating spots. And to help, Eden Dawn, co-author of The Portland Book of Dates and The Seattle Book of Dates, joins Dylan to answer some of your questions about travel and dating. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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! 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.    

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Seattle restaurant pushes diners to eat beyond their borders through its embrace of global street foods.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.” 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Let’s all go to hell. Seriously. Hell, Michigan, that is :)

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hell-michigan

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.”

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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! 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Drawbridge operators in Chicago used to live at these specific homes nestled at the base of their bridges.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.”

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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! 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thousands of kitschy lawn gnomes have taken over an Australian roundabout. 

Read more in the Atlas here.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.  

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We go on a hunt for what you might call an entomologist’s most wanted insect. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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). 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 book McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches is out now.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The pools at Cuatro Ciénegas Basin are a portal into the ancient past – and they may soon disappear. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On May 7, 1902, a man named Ludger Sylbaris was thrown in jail – and it saved his life.     

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.”

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.   

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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?

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.