The Atlas Obscura Podcast

School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. Students at Reed College study things like philosophy, history and English. But for the past 50 years they’ve also had access to a scientific instrument many people have never seen. We visit the World's only nuclear reactor operated by liberal arts undergraduates. 

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. In the 1980s, a group of friends on the track team at Sul Ross State University hauled a discarded dorm room desk to the top of a mountain. They left a notebook there to keep track of their run times and leave little notes for each other. Then… other people found it. And then… it started a tradition. 

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. The Flagg Grove School in Brownsville, Tennessee has become a museum dedicated to its most famous student.

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. 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. 

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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School is back in session for many. So all week, we're bringing you stories from our archive about schools with a little something extra -- unusual traditions, ceremonies and customs. In this episode, producers Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy have stories from the campuses of Gallaudet University and Cornell University .

If you have stories about schools with strange, unusual or wondrous traditions or ceremonies tell us about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better, you can record a voice memo and give it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Thor Pedersen is the first person to visit every country in the world without flying. That is 203 countries by land and sea. He sits down with Kelly to unpack his epic quest, which he chronicled in his book, The Impossible Journey.

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We meet Becky Sigwright, who captains a wind-powered boat that’s been sailing around Maine since before the invention of the telephone. This episode was produced in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism.

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We asked you to send us your stories inspired by Brad Ryan’s quest to travel to all 63 U.S National Parks with his grandmother. And some of you had some really interesting things to say. 

Plus, we wanna hear your stories about the unusual, distinct or memorable tours you’ve taken anywhere in the world. Tell us what the tour was about. What did you learn? How did it go? Who was the tour guide? Where in the world was this tour? Did you enjoy it? Was it worth it? If not, why 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 again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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We head to the cliffs of Balneario El Condor in Argentina to visit a parrot city… and the parrot suburbs. And we meet the biologist who risks his life to study them. 

Learn more about the parrot colony and Juan Masello’s work. 

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For thousands of years, a massive bat colony has lived in a cave about 30 minutes from San Antonio, Texas. Ryan Huling, author of the Book "The Hidden Nations of Animals," tells us all about it. 

If you want to hear about Ryan’s journey to visit other animal colonies, check out our episode titled: “The Animal Worlds We Rarely See."

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Producer Talon Stradley takes us on a tour of three skinny houses – each with a big story inside. Do these skinny houses have you curious about spite houses? 

Check out that episode here. 

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We will always love Dolly Parton, who installed a “dreambox” time capsule at her amusement park. In it, there’s a secret song that no one will hear until the legendary artist turns 100. Dolly Parton died this week at age 80, sparking a global outpouring of grief and tributes. 

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In the 1700s, a farmer plowing his fields near the English town of Silchester uncovered a very large gold ring dating back to Roman times, inscribed with the name “Senecianus.” Seventy miles away, in the remains of an old Roman temple complex, a curse tablet was discovered targeting a man named Senecianus who made off with a ring. Coincidence? 

Another possible coincidence: one of the academic experts brought in to the excavation of the Roman temple site was J.R.R. Tolkien – who later became famous as the author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” which involve, of course, a cursed ring.  

Related Atlas entries:

• The Vyne, the English country house that is home to the ring https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-vyne
• Lydney Camp, the remains of the Roman temple where the curse tablet was found https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lydney-camp
• If you’re into this whole curse table thing, we recommend an older episode of the show about the Complaint Tablet of Ea-Nasir

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For decades, the sailing stones of Death Valley were a mystery. They'd show up in lists of the world's unexplained phenomena, alongside the Bermuda Triangle and ball lightning. But then, two cousins came along and decided to ruin everything by solving this mystery once and for all.

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A new dream and effort has arisen to re-envision Hogan's Alley, a predominantly Black community in Vancouver.

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We asked, you answered. Hear listener stories of near death travel experiences.

PLUS: We wanna hear from you! Tell us about your intergenerational travel stories. Who did you go with?  Where did you go? What did you learn about traveling with this person of a different age? How did the trip go? What are some stories you brought back? We want to hear it all. 

Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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We all dream of the perfect vacation when everything goes right. This episode is about the opposite. Hear stories of people having near death travel experiences.

PLUS: We wanna hear from you! Tell us about your intergenerational travel stories. Who did you go with?  Where did you go? What did you learn about traveling with this person of a different age? How did the trip go? What are some stories you brought back? We want to hear it all. 

Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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Cal Flyn is the author of Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape. She also has a new book, called The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness. On today’s show, she and host Kelly McEvers explore the allure of places that humans have abandoned.

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Producers Amanda and Glydel bring you stories of places, spanning from the Ozark mountains to a cave in Portugal, where death is not as final as it seems. 

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We visit a museum in Montana that’s a dream for dinosaur nerds, and home to bones that are the real deal, locally sourced and sustainably foraged.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/great-plains-dinosaur-museum

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We wanna hear from you! Tell us about your intergenerational travel stories. Who did you go with?  Where did you go? What did you learn about traveling with this person of a different age? How did the trip go? What are some stories you brought back? We want to hear it all. 

Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Our mailbox will cut you off after three minutes so please call again if you get disconnected. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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A race is on to save this world heritage site that straddles the border of Togo and Benin. It’s home to remarkable earth tower homes called Takienta, and the Batammariba people, whose existence is threatened by climate change and migration.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/koutammakou-batammariba

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Emily Zarka is the host of the PBS digital series Monstrum, a show that tries to  figure out how monster mythology was created and shaped through oral storytelling, literature, and film.

Today she tells us about the Flatswoods monster in West Virginia, a legend that dates back to the 1950s.

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Author and Ossining town historian Caroline Curvan helps unpack the story of how a castle ended up in the upstate New York woods. And how one wealthy family’s dream home was struck by subsequent tragedies and ultimately abandoned. 

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Casa Cueva was completed in 1958 by artist Juan O Gorman. But in 1969, he sold the house to artist Helen Escobedo. She set off a controversy, which still sparks passion today, after she demolished parts of the house.

Valentina Di Liscia, a journalist and senior editor at Hyperallergic, was determined to get to the truth of the matter. Read here to read more about Casa Cueva. 

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Host Kelly McEvers and producers Jerome and Amanda answer your questions about traveling while sick, memorable souvenirs and their best detours.

If you have a question for our next mailbag episode, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.

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From alchemy to doomsday prophecies, we delve into the lore of Johannes Kelpius, a mystic believed to have started a cult in the Wissahickon Valley near Philadelphia.

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In 2007, excavators dug 70-odd years’ worth of trash and debris from a cave in Hoboken, New Jersey. It had once been a popular recreation spot, and home to a natural spring that was supposed to have healing properties. But then in 1841 everything changed when the body of a young woman – a beautiful young “cigar girl” well-known in Lower Manhattan – turned up by the cave. The murder shocked and fascinated the people of New York and New Jersey and activated fears about many social issues of the day. It also caught the attention of one guy you’ve definitely heard of... Edgar Allan Poe, who used the story as inspiration for one of the first detective stories ever written. 

Sibyl’s Cave… a hidden wonder...and the possible birthplace of “true crime”?

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Brad Ryan has traveled to all 63 U.S National Parks. But he’s not done it alone. He traveled with his grandmother, who was in her mid-80s when they first started. Now, he’s got a book out all about it titled Grandma Joy and Me: A Journey of Healing One National Park at A Time. 

Plus, we’d like to hear from you. Tell us your stories about visiting the U.S National Parks. Which ones have you been to? Which ones are you looking forward to? Did everything go as planned? Did anything surprising happen? Tell us all about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message with your story and your name. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com. 

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We meet the robot saints – sculptures made of wood and wire, of cams and pulleys during medieval times – that might just help us understand this new AI age we all find ourselves living in.

LEARN MORE about these inventions by reading City University of New York Professor Christopher Swift’s 2015 paper about these automated figures.

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Today, we're visiting the World Erotic Art Museum in Miami, a place that shattered the line between fine art and our deeply held taboos.

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Mary Maschal set out to document women’s history, unintentionally becoming part of it herself. Learn more about the Women's Museum of History here.

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For decades, people have been addressing love letters to an oak tree deep in the Dodauer Forest in Germany called the Bridegroom’s Oak. The hope is that a passerby might find their letter, write back and form a connection. Journalist Elliot Stein visited this romantic post office box and talked to the mail carrier who used to deliver these letters and who one day, found a letter that was addressed to him. 

If you would like to address your own love letter to the Bridegroom’s Oak, the mailing address is: 

Bräutigamseiche,

Dodau 99 Dodauer Forst,

23701 Eutin, Germany

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“Stockholm Syndrome” is a term in pop psychology that’s come to mean situations where hostages develop emotional bonds with their captors. But it comes from an actual hostage situation back in the 1970s, when a botched bank robbery in downtown Stockholm turned into a six-day long stand-off between the would-be robbers and police. Today, the bank is a hotel – and you can still see evidence of this incident inside.

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We asked you about traveling to all 50 states, and in response got several stories about interesting quests and journeys across the U.S.

Up Next: Tell us your stories about visiting the U.S National Parks. Which ones have you been to? Which ones are you looking forward to? Did everything go as planned? Did anything surprising happen? Tell us all about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message with your story and your name. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com. 

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In the 1980s, a group of friends on the track team at Sul Ross State University hauled a discarded dorm room desk to the top of a mountain. They left a notebook there to keep track of their run times and leave little notes for each other. Then… other people found it. And then… it started a tradition.

Visit the Atlas entry for the Sul Ross desk, and learn more about the archives containing the Sul Ross desk notebooks.

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The story of a big idea, and a big duck – and how this duck would go on to become an important architectural landmark that would influence buildings all around the world.   READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-duck

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Today we visit a baklava shop in Istanbul at the intersection of autocracy, violence and urban renewal. Kelly speaks with journalist Suzy Hansen, author of the book “ From Life Itself: Turkey and Istanbul in the Age of Erdogan” about a 2019 attack on a Syrian-owned sweet shop and what it says about Turkey today. 

(Note: the sweet shop we discuss in this episode, El Nour, is still open today and can be found in Istanbul’s Karagümrük neighborhood, here is a link on Google Maps.) 

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We visit the Louisiana town where the infamous – but often misunderstood – couple’s story came to an end. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bonnie-and-clyde-ambush-museum

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Step back in time with us at the Wagner Free Institute of Science and explore how this museum defies modernity, preserving its original mission of education and inclusivity since the 19th century. 

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Besides the sky, blue is a color you don’t often see in nature. It often signals poison, something artificial. True blue is astonishingly rare. But today, producers Amanda McGowan and Glydel Go take you to two places on opposite ends of the earth, with blues that feel almost otherworldly. We begin deep inside the Grand Canyon, at the Havasupai Indian Reservation, with a waterfall that is very much real, but feels magical. Then we look wayyyyyy down at Hinatuan Enchanted River, located in Surigao del Sur, Philippines.

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A hospital and rehab center for birds in Manhattan started with a woman who just wanted to do all she could to help an injured goose. Decades later, it has become an institution.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wild-bird-fund

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On the eve of the Second World War, there was one place that was the source for all good stories — the Hotel Imperial in Vienna. It exuded luxury and power, and also was the converging spot for foreign correspondents in the 1920’s and ‘30s who were warning the world about the rise of dictatorship. Historian and author Deborah Cohen takes us back in time and into the lives of these influential journalists.

MORE Check out Deborah’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/576473/last-call-at-the-hotel-imperial-by-deborah-cohen/

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Her image is just about everywhere in New York City. But her name and story is rarely known. This is the story of America’s first supermodel Audrey Munson

Plus, if you find yourself in New York City, we would love to hear from you about your encounters with Audrey Munson. Tell us your thoughts and snap a picture with her. Give us a call at 315-992-7902, and leave us a message with your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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In Hastings, Nebraska, the Kool-Aid man is a bit of a local legend. Not the anthropomorphic glass pitcher with a face who yells “Oh yeah” (though he’s part of the story too) but the original Kool-Aid man, Edwin Perkins, who invented the drink almost 100 years ago right here in Hastings. 

This episode was produced in partnership with Visit Nebraska. Learn more about the Hastings Museum Kool-Aid exhibit here, and more here about the Kool-Aid Days festival which will take place this year August 14-16. We’ve also done an episode featuring Hastings before - The Goose Who Wore Nikes. 

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Visitors to the Truck Yard beer garden in The Colony, Texas (outside Dallas) are treated to a very unusual art collection: a sweeping array of around 1400 hand-painted toilet seats, many of which are also collaged with objects ranging from tortoise shells to Zippo lighters to Pez dispensers. This is the life’s work of Barney Smith, a beloved Texas outsider artist who spent decades creating these “seats” of art, inspired by his day job as a plumber. James McCandless, a reporter at the San Antonio Business Journal, once visited Barney back at the original home of the collection – which was Barney’s garage. He tells us the story.

For more information about visiting the Toilet Seat Art collection today (you can event rent it out for events): https://truckyard.com/the-colony/toilet-seat-museum/

Read James McCandless’s original story for Atlas Obscura about visiting Barney: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toilet-seat-museum-barney-smith

If you can’t get enough of these seats, Roadside America also has done some delightful profiles of Barney over the years: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/6166

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We want to hear from you! Have you visited all 50 states? Or maybe you’re really close? Tell us about your 50 state journey – whether you’re a quester type, or more of an accidental type, like me. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.

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This tiny island off the coast of Peru is an UNESCO World Heritage site for having the finest textile art. It’s also the place where a knitted hat represents and symbolizes a man’s code of honor, marital status, and love for life. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/taquile-island

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Dean Karnazes has visited all 50 states in the U.S. But he did it in an incredible way: In 2006, he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. 

Plus: Have you visited all 50 states? Or are you trying to? We want to hear your story. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your suggestion. And don’t forget to join Atlas Obscura to connect with your fellow travelers. 

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We head south of Miami to hear the story of a family that took a gamble on a humble roadside stand that blossomed into a fruit emporium and community staple. 

This episode is part of our ongoing coverage of the soccer world championship. In each episode, we take you beyond the stadium, and to a nearby wonder that’s off the beaten track.

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