The Atlas Obscura Podcast

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.

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Zahra Hankir is the author of the book Eyeliner: A Cultural History. She brings Dylan to three places across the globe where eyeliner plays a key cultural role: Egypt, Chad, and Los Angeles.

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The hunt to memorialize Rhode Island’s founder created one of the state’s strangest and most enduring myths. Learn more about Roger Williams relationship to local indigenous tribes here.

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Cookbook author and Sporkful host Dan Pashman sets out on a research trip across Italy in search of highly regional pasta dishes that he can’t find anywhere else. Along the way, he learns a shocking truth about Italy and pasta, and ponders innovation and authenticity in one of the world’s most popular cuisines.  Check out Dan’s new cookbook, Anything's Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People. 

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In May 2024, tractors across the American Midwest stalled. But that was only the first piece of a much larger story. Journalist Jason Koebler takes us to Nebraska and Illinois to find out what is going on with American tractors – and what Ukrainian hackers have to do with it. Read more of Jason’s reporting on John Deere and the Right to Repair movement.

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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.

This episode was brought to you in partnership with the Maine Office of Tourism

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Producer Luz Fleming takes his son to revisit a special childhood spot that just happens to be a San Fransisco gem hiding in plain sight ... in the middle of the bay!

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

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Producer Abbey Perrault takes a trip into the Kenyan savanna, where she meets researchers who are studying how people share space with unlikely neighbors: lions. Along the way, she learns why a researcher would possibly pull the tail of a lion, and gets *extremely* up close and personal with two massive lionesses. 

For more information, check out Lucrecia Aguilar's website, Sam Kiuna’s Twitter and Instagram, and Lion Landscapes. 

Preorder your copy of Wild Life today! 

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We all love to zone out to a soothing nature documentary. But what you’ll learn about them in this episode will make you watch – and listen! – a lot more carefully. Reporter Abigail Keel tells Dylan about her conversation with sound designer and mixer Graham Wild about the not-as-real-as-you-may-think sounds that bring nature documentaries to life.

Preorder your copy of our new book, Wild Life, today!

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Decades after eradicating its wolves, Yellowstone National Park decided to reintroduce them. In the 1990s, the wolves were thriving—until one wolf decided to make life hell for everyone around her. Our guest in this episode, Rick McIntyre, has written several books about the wolves of Yellowstone. His latest is Thinking Like a Wolf, which will be out in late October 2024.

Preorder your copy of Wild Life today!

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The natural world is weird. Dylan talks with Cara Giaimo, co-author of our forthcoming book Wild Life, about the world’s tiniest chameleon, an acrobatic fog catching beetle, and how shellfish hold the keys to Poland’s water supply.

Preorder your copy of Wild Life today, and get a free luggage tag!

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These miniature mansions and luxurious homes were built for the feathered residents of Istanbul. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ottoman-bird-palaces

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The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is dedicated to telling the stories of the league’s greatest players, its impact on communities, and the game-changing innovations it brought to baseball.

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Pegged as the “world’s greatest indoor miniature village,” Roadside America was a beloved roadside attraction in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania. The creator Laurence Gieringer and his family ran the business for 85 years until its closure in 2021. Today, the pieces of this miniature village have been auctioned off to past visitors all over the country. And there may yet be more auctions this year.

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Saying farewell to summer with a lazy day in Mallorca, and a blustery night in Massachusetts. “3 p.m. in Sa Cabaneta” and “7:10 p.m. in Provincetown” were edited by Aube Rey Lescure. Both essays originally appeared in Off Assignment.

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Producer Emma Morgenstern spends nearly 6 hours waiting in a famous line. Will she get into the most exclusive tennis tournament in the world – or face bigtime disappointment?

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The world’s largest random, assorted key collection located outside Denver, CO, was inspired by a literary infatuation and includes keys to danger and memory.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/baldpate-inn-key-collection

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In 2023, 60% of Americans chose to be cremated instead of having a traditional burial. If that trend continues, do cemeteries need to be worried about the future? Loren Rhoads, author of 222 Cemeteries To See Before You Die (which is coming out on August 27), explains how old cemeteries are working to bring in the living…and tells us about new and experimental ways to be buried and memorialized.

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District Six is a neighborhood in Cape Town South Africa that was destroyed under the apartheid regime. Today, a museum stands as a  monument to the people who once called the neighborhood home.

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Writer Meghan Gunn meets a stranger in the jungle, and writes him a letter.

This essay was edited by Aube Rey Lescure and originally appeared in Off Assignment. It was also included in The Best American Travel Writing 2021. If you have had a memorable encounter with a stranger, we want to hear about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com

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The Atlas Obscura Places team brings us to a dazzling aquarium and a small town in the heart of what was once eastern Pennsylvania’s coal country. The catch? Neither place exists anymore. Do you have a place that you love that no longer exists? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send a voice memo to Hello@AtlasObscura.com.

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Maybe it was a mom and pop shop that closed down. Maybe it was a facility that you often used and shut down. Or an art space that was replaced by a housing development. We want to hear about places that YOU can no longer visit. What was there before disappearing? Why was it important to you? How were you connected to this place? What do you remember about it? What did it look like? What is left of this place NOW? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Just so you know, our mailbox will cut you off after two minutes so please call back if you get disconnected! You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.

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In 1954, two groups of boys thought they were going to summer camp. But they’d been recruited for a different kind of summer experience.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-corn-palace-mitchell-south-dakota

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An update on the thousands of masks from the former Kingdom of Benin. These pieces of art and culture are spread in museums across the world, but a new discussion has reignited about if they should stay put.

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The story of how a former nuclear missile silo in Wamego, Kansas became the site of the largest LSD bust in US history (allegedly). Fore more information, check out author Dennis McDougal’s website and Rolling Stone’s interview with Leonard Pickard.

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An evening visit to a racetrack, and a late night walk on the beach. “8:45 p.m. at the Selinsgrove Speedway” was edited by Aube Rey Lescure and “10 p.m. in Muriwai” was edited by Tusshara Nalakumar Srilatha. Both essays originally appeared in Off Assignment.

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Mike O’Connor’s Cape Cod store provides supplies for birders, gives away thousands of pounds of free potatoes, and inspires April Fools’ Day-related hijinks. For more information, check out the Bird Watcher’s General Store website.

Preorder your copy our new book,Wild Life, today!

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Today we hear from an Atlas Obscura user who, when he isn’t aboard an icebreaking warship for the Canadian Navy, spends weeks at a time road-tripping with his dog. Check out Steve’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puppercycle/?hl=en

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Investigator Mitch Yockelson, a historian and academic turned archival bounty hunter, has a job that makes for pretty interesting dinner party discussion: tracking down the people who steal government property.

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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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A visitor in Cajicá, Colombia sees a stranger on a bicycle, and writes him a letter. This essay was edited by Carey Baraka and originally appeared in Off Assignment.

If you have had a memorable encounter with a stranger, we want to hear about it. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com.

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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

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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.atlasobscura.com/places/meramec-caverns

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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.

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You bring us road trip stories from all over the globe. Along the way, we hear about encounters with wild boars, a visit to a famously large ball of twine and a lifelong friendship that began on the back of motorcycles.

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Strap on your hiking boots and say goodbye to your spouse. We’re pulling off the highway and going on a trek through Dinosaur National Monument with photographer Randy Fullbright. To see Randy’s photos for yourself, check out his website or stop by his shop, Fullbright Studios, in Vernal, UT.

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It’s Road Trip Week! Dylan hops in a (virtual) car and embarks on a Great American Road Trip. Along the way, Atlas Obscura staffers recommend their favorite road trip stops – from a strange doll hospital, to a massive sculpture only visible during certain times of year, to a magical desert oasis.

Learn more about our recommendations: 

Babyland General Hospital

Roadside America

Spiral Jetty

Drummond Basin

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Step inside the Theater of Electricity in Boston and learn about the World’s Largest Air-Insulated Van De Graaff Generator.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-airinsulated-van-de-graaff-generator

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Writer and journalist Walt Hickey joins Dylan for a conversation about the different ways film and television have impacted us and our real world surroundings, a topic that’s the subject of his new book You Are What You Watch.

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The story of a stork, a spear and a scientific mystery that led to breakthroughs in the way we understand bird migration.

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In the California’s Jurupa Valley, residents discovered a treasure in their backyard: a 15,000 year old tree. Now, it may disappear.

Read Shannon Osaka’s article about the Jurupa Oak.

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Today we visit the ATF Fire Research Laboratory where investigators recreate arson attacks and analyze burn patterns. 

Read more about John Allen and his work at the world's largest fire research laboratory.

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Atlas Obscura's Gemma Tarlach shares what it's like to step inside a relic from the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, and to find traces of a famous lost party of explorers.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/discovery-hut

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Today we're powering up our metal detectors and keeping a very close eye on the surface of the earth as we set out in the hunt for meteorites with Steve Arnold, who’s been in the game for more than three decades. If you want to learn more, check out Steve’s website, and read this profile of the meteorite hunting community.

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In the basement of a Berlin hostel – in a corridor connecting their brewery to the luggage storage area – is a shrine to a pop culture icon with a surprising connection to the city’s history. (Hint: It’s David Hasselhoff.) 

Plus: Atlas Obscura has a new book coming out! Pre-order your copy of Wild Life today.

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Dylan takes us on a tour of three places that have shaped his life.

Listen to our episodes about the Corn Palace, House on the Rock, and Gold Medal Flour.

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How a woman in her 70s inspired some of the biggest labor uprisings in American history.

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This elaborate architecture throughout Iran served a very unique purpose - gathering pigeon guano. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pigeon-towers-iran

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Travel writer Susan Orlean 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.

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