The Atlas Obscura Podcast
Episodes
The World’s Largest Time Capsule
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 opene...
Dylan’s Mailbag: Solo Travel
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 leav...
Nue (Classic)
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Seattle restaurant pushes diners to eat beyond their borders through its embrace of global street foods. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. S...
Exploring the Pan-American Highway with Pati Jinich
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 docuse...
How Polar Explorers Entertained Themselves
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Early polar explorers faced long nights and dangerous expeditions. To entertain themselves, they wrote and published niche newspapers and periodicals....
The Last Limburger Plant in America
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe, Wisconsin is the last cheese plant left in America that makes the ultra-stinky Limburger cheese: a cheese that in...
Where You Would Spend Your Last Day Before the Apocalypse
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 – fr...
Civic Musical Road (Classic)
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Cigar “Readers” of Cuba
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 calle...
Ivan the Terra Bus
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 art...
Happy Pride: Mapping the Gay Guides (Classic)
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
It’s Getting Hot in Here (Classic)
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Simpl...
Four Rooms at the Omni Parker House Hotel
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
More First Travel Dates
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Biblioburro
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 “...
Why Is There a Statue of Columbo in Budapest?
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The TV show Columbo, about a loveable schlub detective, is internationally beloved. But Hungary has an extra special relationship with the show, datin...
The Coffee Palace (Classic)
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Ashley House (Classic)
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the Ashley House in Sheffield, Massachusetts preserved and promoted the story of Col. John Ashley, a wealthy businessman who opened his h...
The Bible with a Massive Portrait of a Devil Inside
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The National Library of Sweden is home to the largest medieval manuscript still in existence: an enormous, three-foot-tall Bible with an unusual portr...
The Mysterious Drones at Langley Air Force Base
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fifteen years ago, drones were considered toys. Today, there’s everywhere – both in the news and physically. But before the big splashy news stor...
Dylan’s Mailbag: Trips We’d Never Go On, the First Places in the Atlas, and Worst Bathroom Experiences
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ques...
We Want To Hear From You: Love & Travel
14 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Super Museum (Classic)
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 caref...
The Wall of Sound
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ban...
Where We Would Spend Our Last Day Before the Apocalypse
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The staff here at Atlas Obscura answered an unsettling question for this episode: Where would you spend the last day before the apocalypse? Some inter...
How to Dine Like an Ancient Philosopher
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 co...
The Library on the Border
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
National Parks Week: Discovery Tree
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We visit one of California’s longest-running tourist attractions: A giant stump that helped spark the movement to preserve the state’s natural pla...
National Parks Week: The Allagash Four
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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’...
National Parks Week: Montezuma Well
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 bo...
National Parks Week: Yellowstone’s Zone of Death
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
National Parks Week: Take a Walk, Find A New Species
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 fuz...
Little Lambs, Big Back Story
31 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Dolly Parton’s Dreambox (Classic)
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 wi...
Atlas Obscura Presents: Traveling Back in Time for Coconut Cake with The Sporkful
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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. I...
Museum of Friends
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 m...
Why Is There a Dinosaur Here?
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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....
Welcome to Summer (Classic)
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
We’re Looking for Stories about Places that Celebrate Lesser-Known Queer History
24 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 conne...
Kalakuta Museum (Classic)
23 May 2025
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...
A Disappearance from the Ocean View Hotel
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1926, a wildly popular evangelical preacher named Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared from Venice Beach, in front of the Ocean View Hotel. When her ...
Edward Bellamy's Real-World Utopia
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
In Guyana, a Rebellion Thwarted by a Letter
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
The Places YOU Gained After the Pandemic
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Chicago Bridge Houses (Classic)
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Drawbridge operators in Chicago used to live at these specific homes nestled at the base of their bridges. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. S...
The Man Who Rebuilds the Last Inca Rope Bridge
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 cal...
Finding The Great Gatsby in Louisville
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 som...
Saving the World’s Rarest Pasta
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 de...
Dylan’s Mailbag: Waiting in Lines, Traveling with Mixed Budgets, and Unexpected Layovers
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Medical Clowning Program (Classic)
09 May 2025
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...
That Time Locusts Ate The Entire Midwest
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1870s the Midwest experienced a devastating natural disaster in the form of… an enormous cloud of extremely hungry locusts. Dylan and produce...
Club Ebony
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Big Well
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Places We Gained After the Pandemic
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, ...
Bad Rap Week: Ashley Ray’s Secret Place (Classic)
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 se...
Bad Rap Week: Prowling for Coyotes in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, L...
Bad Rap Week: Searching for Wonder in the Most Boring Mall in Canada
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ki...
Bad Rap Week: Dylan and Alan Fall Down the Rat Hole
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dylan has complicated feelings about rats. On one hand, they’re amazingly resourceful creatures. On the other, they caused the bubonic plague (and o...
Bad Rap Week: Listeners Defend Places with Bad Reputations
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From laundromats to Sacramento, listeners go to bat for places with bad reputations. All week, we’re collaborating with the great podcast Terrestri...
Leaning Tower of Niles (Classic)
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Retracing Historic Journeys with Elise Wortley
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Adventurer Elise Wortley retraces the footsteps of historic female explorers – and she does it all with no modern gear, no shortcuts, and no guaran...
The Kolache Triangle
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 kol...
Atlas Obscura Goes Off Assignment: 2:30 a.m. in McMurdo Station and 11:45 p.m. in Oulu
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 S...
Dylan’s Mailbag: A Disturbing Listener Question
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dylan and producers Amanda and Johanna answer a listener question that leaves them deeply shaken, and slightly disturbed.Have a question for Dylan? Gi...
Gnomesville
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of kitschy lawn gnomes have taken over an Australian roundabout. Read more in the Atlas here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See...
The Manhattan Well with Lauren Willig
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Alresford Spy Toilet
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Why Is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Skyscraper Sitting Empty?
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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. Bu...
Animal Takeover (Places Edition)
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Lake Natron (Classic)
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Si...
What Makes a Pest?
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 the...
On the Hunt for Murder Hornets
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 in...
The Black American West Museum
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Stewart’s childhood fascination with cowboys and the Wild West turned into a museum dedicated to preserving the stories of the American West’...
Listener Stories of Leaving Home
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ban...
We Want to Know: What’s a Place You Love That Has Defied Its Bad Reputation?
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 overpri...
Pyramid of Djoser
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Travel to the world’s oldest intact pyramid in Egypt - and learn about the genius who also influenced the fields of architecture, astronomy, medicin...
A Glass Palace in the Arizona Desert
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 cen...
The Last Home Napoleon Would Know
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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. A...
The Cave Below Minneapolis
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An urban explorer ventured deep below downtown Minneapolis in search of Schieks Cave. He discovered more than he bargained for. Read more about Schi...
The 6-Day Race
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 cou...
Times Square Hum (Classic)
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Producer Johanna Mayer travels to Times Square in NYC, in search of particular sound that may sometimes go overlooked. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: http...
President Heads (Classic)
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Dreamland Resort
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 fin...
Jeremy Bentham’s Auto-Icon
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Atlas Obscura Goes Off Assignment: 7 a.m. in Kelso and 10:30 a.m. in Choteau
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, Mon...
Dylan’s Mailbag: Illegal Edition
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dylan and producer Johanna take your questions about exploring abandoned ruins, where they want to carve their initials, and whether they should feel ...
Tell Us About the First Time You Left Home
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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…...
Gocta Waterfalls (Classic)
21 Mar 2025
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 MOR...
The Real Office Space Behind Apple TV’s Severance
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apple TV’s Severance takes a dystopian view of the middle management office space, where the sprawling corridors, overhead fluorescent lights hide t...
Chapel Creek Ranch (Classic)
19 Mar 2025
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 ...
The Sunken Pirate City at Port Royal
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
What’s the Deal with Leprechauns?
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Lep...
America’s “Quiet Zone" (Classic)
14 Mar 2025
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:...
Pulau Tiga, The Island That Made “Survivor”
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Realit...
The Circus Capital of the World
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 compa...
Atlas Obscura Goes Off Assignment: To the Kitchen Staff at 초밥 사랑 (Chobap Sarang)
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Re...
The Brutalist (Places Edition)
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
A Gaga Tour of the Town (Classic)
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Producer Manolo Morales – a verified Little Monster, gallivants around the Lower East Side, via an immersive, performance-art walking tour dedicated...
McAtlas with Gary He
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
James Beard award winning photographer and writer Gary He tells us about traveling to more than 50 countries across six continents, all to document an...