The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Tangier American Legation Museum

30 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This building in Tangier was one of the first pieces of land owned by the United States Government outside of the country, and was a gift from “Amer...

Classic: Cueva de los Tayos

27 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This Ecuadorian cave has captured the attention of  government officials, scientists, and professional cavers and is home to a particularly rare crea...

Rae Wynn-Grant and the Bear

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Rae Wynn-Grant, Ph.D. is a wildlife ecologist specializing in large carnivores. And in this episode she unfolds a mystery for listeners. To hear more...

Empress Anna’s Ice Palace

25 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 s...

Lee’s Legendary Marbles and Collectables

24 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lee's Legendary Marbles & Collectables in York, Nebraska is a pilgrimage of sorts for serious collectors and a curiosity for the casual passerby.READ ...

Urnes Stave Church

23 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This intricately carved church in Luster is one of Norway’s great treasures of architecture.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/pla...

Classic: The Great Stalacpipe Organ

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Luray Caverns in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia are home to an instrument that draws out the secret sounds of millenia-old stone.READ MORE I...

Cementerio Municipal José María Azael Franco Guerrero

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The José María Azael Franco Guerrero Cemetery in Tulcán, Ecuador is a topiary anomaly and a lush green paradise for the dead.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS...

The Lion House

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This abandoned lodge in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique has been reclaimed by local lions - a story deeply enmeshed in the larger history of the...

Songs of Ice with the Places Team

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring you stories of how sometimes giant monuments built for a specific site need to go o...

Green Mill Jazz Club

16 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This internationally recognized jazz lounge has been running for more than a century. Its guests have included Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and less...

Classic: The Curse of the Kreischer Mansion

13 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Host Dylan Thuras visits a Staten Island mansion with a dubious and vitriolic past, only to learn the site’s curse may not be as obvious as it seems...

Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Barnali Ghosh and Anirvan Chatterjee take us on a walking tour of Berkeley, CA, where they share their community's legacy of radical South Asian activ...

The Mail Rail

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This railway was built for one purpose and one purpose only: to keep the London’s mail coming on time.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlaso...

Chicago Bridge Houses

10 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Drawbridge operators in Chicago, IL used to live at these specific homes nestled at the base of their bridges. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz compan...

Making Films with Sky Hopinka

09 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Venture into the mind of Sky Hopinka, member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. He and host Dylan Thuras discus...

Classic: Million Dollar Point

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We visit Vanuatu in the South Pacific and go underwater to visit a very strange place from a very strange episode at the end of World War II. READ MO...

Medical Clowning Program

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The history of medical clowning extends back to Ancient Greece and the time of Hippocrates and is taught in workshops throughout the world.  READ MO...

The Plant

04 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This former meat-packing plant in Chicago, Illinois is now a site where people work to create a new kind of community in the city’s post-industrial ...

Classic: Post Office Bay

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Post Office Bay on the Galapagos Islands is a post office that runs on luck and the goodwill of visitors. It has a knack for bringing strangers togeth...

Classic: The World’s Quietest Room

02 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Experience the Orfield Anechoic Chamber: a room inside a concrete bunker that was once known as the quietest place on earth.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: ht...

Classic: Re-up Your Luck

30 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We explore the power luck has on us all, rational or not, through the unlikely places people go to re-up.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobsc...

Classic: Nepali Folk Musical Instrument Museum

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This secluded museum beats the drum for the preservation of Nepal's musical heritage.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/n...

Classic: Dude Chilling Park

28 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A renegade art project in Vancouver galvanized a small community, pitted residents against city government, and ultimately resulted in a new name for ...

Classic: The Tank

27 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An industrial water tank-turned-concert hall in the high deserts of Colorado is nothing less than a sonic wonder of the world. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS...

Classic: World’s Loneliest Tree

26 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

About 400 miles south of New Zealand, on the subantarctic Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku, stands a Sitka spruce whose nearest neighbor is 170 miles aw...

Classic: The Forgotten Songs Sound Sculpture

23 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This unique installation in Sydney, Australia combines art and ornithology, commemorating the calls of the city’s lost birds. Plus, bin chickens!REA...

Classic: Moses Gates and the Chrysler Building Eagles

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Urban planner Moses Gates shares his unlikely experience with the residents of the 61st floor of one of New York City’s most iconic buildings. Hoste...

Classic: Newark Earthworks

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Updated December 2022. Built by indigenous people thousands of years ago, the Newark Earthworks are part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomic...

Priscilla’s Homecoming

20 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 T...

Tumbleweed Christmas Tree

19 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chandler, Arizona creates a Christmas Tree made entirely of the diaspore of this Western plant. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com...

Classic: Spite Houses

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Home is where the grudge is. We survey a special kind of architecture that is both petty and personal.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobscura....

Getting Lost

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Atlas contributors bring listeners stories of getting lost on transit, on romantic getaways, or while just trying to get home, and the joy that comes ...

Duke Riley and the poly S. Tyrene Maritime Museum

14 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Artist Duke Riley has turned trash into a medium, like clay or paint, and an indictment.  His exhibit DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash will run t...

The Sponge Capital of the World

13 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Discover how Tarpon Springs, Florida became known as the Sponge Capital of the World. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produced in partners...

Luciadagen

12 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 celeb...

Classic: Puffin Patrol

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 summ...

Fendika Cultural Center

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the Fendika Cultural Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is the story of Melaku Belay and his journey from homelessness to international accl...

Medfield State Hospital

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This abandoned hospital outside Boston, Massachusetts was originally conceived as a place to help people with mental health issues. But it wound up do...

Library of Congress Hair Collection

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This collection, preserved by the United States Library of Congress, features locks of hair from cultural icons from Ludwig van Beethoven to General U...

Buckley's Cave

05 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of Australia’s greatest stories of escape and survival centers around this rock formation in Point Lonsdale. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://w...

How To Put Your Town on the Map

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How To! Host Amanda Ripley goes in search of the answer to the question “how to set up a roadside attraction that will bring visitors to your town”...

Tina Turner Museum

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Flagg Grove School in Brownsville, Tennessee has become a museum dedicated to its most famous student.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:https://www.atlasobsc...

Fluorescent Rocks of Sterling Hill Mine

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg, New Jersey is the site of a geological marvel that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.READ MORE IN THE ...

Bread and Puppet Museum and Theater

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This radical puppet collective has shaped the small New England town of Glover, Vermont for decades. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is produ...

Moon Trees

28 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

These trees sprang from seeds that were brought to outer space.  Moon Tree Website: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/moon_tree.htmlREAD M...

Atlas Obscura Presents The Sporkful - A New Jersey Whiskey Mystery Pt. 2

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Sporkful team dives deeper into the history of the unknown whiskey bottle and the lives of those it touched.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz co...

Atlas Obscura Presents The Sporkful - A New Jersey Whiskey Mystery Pt. 1

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Pashman and the Sporkful team attempt to unravel the history of a bottle of whiskey found at an estate sale when the brand seems to not exist.  H...

Classic: Clausland Mountain Tunnels

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Under the forests of Nyack, New York lays a series of dark and decrepit tunnels with militaristic roots but now attract graffiti artists and plenty of...

Classic: Arecibo Observatory

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This site, and the enormous telescope that sits on it, is loved and lost to both scientists and everyday Puerto Ricans.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https:...

Classic: The White Squirrel of Prospect Park

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our team goes on a quest to find Prospect Park’s elusive -- and perhaps most magical -- resident rodent. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. S...

Classic: Library of Mistakes

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A carefully curated collection of miscalculations in Edinburgh, Scotland serves as a warning for our gullibility, especially when it comes to money.RE...

The Tanks of Flamenco Beach

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This beautiful beach made of sand and worn down coral is covered in the wreckage of tanks once used by the U.S. military for target practice.READ MORE...

Larry Spring Museum of Common Sense Physics

16 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Larry Spring’s Museum of Common Sense Physics in Fort Bragg, California begs the question: what do you do with a science museum where the science pr...

Trailing of the Sheep

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands of sheep take over downtown Ketchum, Idaho during the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival. This “Small Town, Big Story” episode is pro...

African Heritage House

14 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The African Heritage House in Mlolongo, Kenya is one of the greatest collections of African art in the world - and it has an unusual backstory.Read mo...

Classic: Salton Sea

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The story of how humans desperate for water created a lake the size of the city of Los Angeles. And then, how that thirst turned toxic.READ MORE IN TH...

Moving Monuments with the Places Team

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring you stories of how sometimes giant monuments built for a specific site need to go o...

On The Appalachian Trail

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A voicemail from a listener takes us out on the Appalachian trail, where we ford rivers, climb mountains, and work our way across one of the most stor...

The Wren’s Nest

08 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Wren’s Nest in Atlanta is both a museum and former home of journalist Joel Chandler Harris and a hub for modern storytellers.READ MORE IN THE AT...

Laguna Del Diamante

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A toxic lake high in the Andes mountains in Argentina is home to microbes that provide a window to our planet’s past — and a key to securing its f...

Atlas Obscura Presents Real Good

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Real Good is a podcast with the mission to highlight real people out in the world - trying to make it better. This excerpt features the Real Good host...

Kasanka Bat Migration

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kasanka National Park in Zambia hosts one of the largest – and most mysterious! – animal migrations on the planet.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://...

Hacienda Napoles

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Medellín Cartel founder Pablo Escobar built himself a sort of Jurassic Park-meets-Disney World resort with drug money. He called it Hacienda Nápoles...

Thompson Ice House

01 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Thompson’s Ice House in Bristol, Maine is one of the only places in the United States where people gather every winter to take part in the age-old p...

Scary Stories from Real Places

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Atlas contributors bring listeners stories from spooky locations they’ve visited and which continue to haunt them.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWiz...

Witch Cakes

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

These cakes had a particular ingredient that some believe protected them from witchery - and sparked one of the best-known witch hunts in United State...

Spooky Sites with the Places Team

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With Halloween just around the corner Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring you two spooky legends of The Mothman from Po...

Luomus Spiders

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 Simplec...

Houdini’s Grave

25 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Producer Johanna Mayer visits Houdini’s grave in Queens, NY and goes searching for evidence of the great beyond. To hear another take on Spiritualis...

Cassadaga with Jamie Loftus

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Atlas Obscura Podcast is launching a week of spooky-themed stories ahead of Halloween. We begin with Jamie Loftus’ newest podcast about Cassadag...

Classic: Valley of the Whales

21 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The fossils of Wadi al-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) in Egypt give us a glimpse of a remarkable evolutionary history. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://...

Times Square Hum

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Producer Johanna Mayer travels to Times Square in NYC,  in search of a particular sound that may sometimes go overlooked.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: http...

Brown Dog Statue

19 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This memorial marks the life of a pup who sparked riots over animal rights issues in London, England. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscu...

Meramec Caverns

18 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This giant limestone cave outside of St. Louis, MO. is home to a combination of kitsch and world-class scenery.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.at...

Louie Mattar’s Fabulous Car

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The San Diego Automotive Museum in California contains one man’s dream...of creating the ultimate road trip car. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://w...

Classic: Bolton Strid

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Some say this little burbling creek is “The deadliest body of water on Earth.”READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bolton-s...

Providence Island

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1820 a group of Black Americans set off to make a home in Africa. They landed in Providence Island and set the stage for the development of the cou...

Navajo Code Talkers Burger King

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Burger King in Kayenta, AZ is home to a small museum dedicated to a group of Native American veterans who developed an unbreakable secret code dur...

Emily Graslie Curates a World of Wonder

11 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Science communication superhero Emily Graslie shares how a pair of severed wolf heads helped her fall in love with science, about the road trip she to...

SubTropolis

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This former limestone mine in Kansas City, MO has been turned into a 55,000,000 square-foot industrial park and storage facility.READ MORE IN THE ATLA...

Classic: The Institute of Illegal Images

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A mind-tripping place where the art stands out not because of what's on  them but what's in  them. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura...

Kalakuta Museum

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 Nigeria...

The Portland Treasure Map

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A map in the archives of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland, OR may be the key to finding buried treasure that has yet to be f...

The Battle of Atlanta Cyclorama

04 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The history of this 150-year-old immersive painting at the Atlanta History Museum features a scheming promoter, the cast of Gone with the Wind, Atlant...

Endangered Wolf Center

03 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, Missouri was founded by zoologist and wildlife TV host Marlin Perkins and was home to an extraordinary wolf who ...

Classic: The 49th Parallel

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A listener takes us to a town on the edge of the longest undefended border in the world.US-Canada border regulations have been updated since this epis...

Bloodroot Feminist Restaurant

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For more than 40 years Selma Miriam and Noel Furie have maintained the Bloodroot Feminist Vegetarian Restaurant and Bookstore as a place where women ...

Oyotunji African Village

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Oyotunji is an African Village with real homes and real community founded in the 1970s and located in the US - just an hour south of Charleston, South...

Broken Angel

27 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 1980s birthed a gleaming creature that spread its wings of scrap wood and glass over the intersection of two iconic Brooklyn, NY neighborhoods for...

Enchanted Hart Haus

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Steve and Amy Hartbauer have turned their home in residential Denver, CO into a massive mosaic and decade’s long expression of inner inspiration. R...

Classic: Jatinga Bird Deaths

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An Indian village is home to one of the world’s oldest and greatest ornithological mysteries.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/pl...

Libre Intentional Artist Community

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Luz Fleming explores the home where he grew up, Libre - one of the longest lasting intentional communities still exists. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsW...

America’s “Quiet Zone”

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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:...

Summer Adventures ‘22

20 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today, a sampling of listener-submitted stories of summer adventures from the wild, strange and wonderful world in which we live.  Hosted by Simpleca...

Ark Two Shelter

19 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Forty-two school buses have been buried in Horning’s Mills, Ontario - covered in concrete, they’re house up to 500 people in case of nuclear fallo...

Classic: The Baalbek Trilithon

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This ancient temple complex in Northern Lebanon is one of the most well-preserved Roman ruins on earth, and one of the most overlooked. READ MORE IN ...

Gocta Waterfalls

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world’s tallest waterfalls is nestled In Northwestern Peru, right where the Amazon rainforest crashes into the Andes Mountains.READ MORE ...

Chapel Creek Ranch

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Grittiness and Romanticism in New York and Paris

13 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Whiting Writer’s Award, Best Literary Criticism award winner, and author of several critically-praised books, Lucy Sante speaks with host Dylan Thur...