The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Mother Jones and the Battle of Blair Mountain (Classic)

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Tell Us Your Stories of Traveling With Kids

30 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Our Favorite Objects: The Arrow Stork (Classic)

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 t...

Our Favorite Objects: World’s Oldest Edible Ham (Classic)

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 wh...

Our Favorite Objects: The Thousand-Year Rose (Classic)

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Our Favorite Objects: The Spritz Cookie Gravestone (Classic)

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We explore the unexpected combination of recipes and graves through the story of Naomi Odessa Miller Dawson’s spritz cookies.All week, we’re featu...

Our Favorite Objects: Galileo's Middle Finger (Classic)

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dylan goes on a journey to examine the preserved middle finger of astronomer, physicist, and engineer Galileo Galilei.All week, we’re featuring the ...

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (Classic)

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 dis...

Shamanism: The Timeless Religion

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We talk with anthropologist Manvir Singh, whose research on shamanism took him from the small island of Siberut to study current practitioners, to exp...

Dylan’s Mailbag: Traveling With Kids, Girls’ Trips, and Pedal Pubs

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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. Hav...

This Is Your Commute

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 he...

Time Travel with a Parking Lot Dinosaur

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Gunnar Schonbeck Exhibit (Classic)

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For years, students at Bennington College snuck into a locked room for a glimpse of strange and magical instruments created by professor Gunnar Schonb...

The World’s Largest Collection of Two-Headed Calves

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Francisc...

America’s Oldest Tofu Shop

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 mad...

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From opera singers to strange noises emitting from air conditioners, listeners share stories about their unusual neighbors. Plus:  We want to hear s...

Ostracism at the Athenian Agora

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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....

The Ark of Citrus (Classic)

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Rolando Pujol and the Great American Retro Road Trip

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Gr...

LA’s Hippie Nun and the Corita Art Center

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Co...

The Earth Room

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Explore...

Unusual Date Spots with Eden Dawn

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Beach Week: The Gray Man (Classic)

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Beach Week: Sunny Jim Cave (Classic)

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 th...

Beach Week: Boulders Beach Penguin Sanctuary (Classic)

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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....

Beach Week: The Tanks of Flamenco Beach (Classic)

29 Jul 2025

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.  All t...

Beach Week: Shipwrecked Doritos (Classic)

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 Atla...

Tiny Bread Box (Classic)

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The Grave of Charlotte Temple

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Love Thy Neighbor

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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. Pl...

The Ravens of the Tower of London

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An elite group of ravens live at the Tower of London, anxiously monitored and lovingly tended to by a professional ravenmaster. Because according to l...

The Atlas Obscura Podcast Presents: Charlie’s Place

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we’re sharing an episode from our new podcast documentary series, Charlie’s Place. Beloved, notorious, defiant, folk hero – these are j...

Ol Pejeta Rhino Cemetery (Classic)

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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...

The Art Spy with Michelle Young

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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: T...

The Portland Treasure Map (Classic)

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

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...