The Atlas Obscura Podcast

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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A graveyard in the “Granite Capital of the World” pays tribute to stone cutters and artisans who are buried amongst the sculptures they created.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hope-cemetery

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Atlas Obscura reporter Sarah Durn ventures deep into the Louisiana swamp in search of the legendary monster that prowls it.

Learn more about Jessica’s Honey Island Swamp & Kayak Tours:  https://www.honeyislandkayaktours.com/

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

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Civil war in Sierra Leone brought this beautiful island to the brink of destruction - now it’s making its comeback.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiwai-island

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Matt Farley has written dozens of songs about cities and towns across the United States. Why?

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Trailblazing computer scientist Grace Hopper shaped the way people use and talk about computers. Her actual computer bug is preserved at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grace-hoppers-bug

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Gigantic pieces of the United States Capitol rest in Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC - waiting for anyone willing to step off the beaten path. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-capitol-stones-washington-dc

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Every Sunday, there’s a binational church service at Friendship Park, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. We sent two reporters to attend the church service — one on the U.S. side and one in Mexico — to learn more about how changes to the U.S. border have affected the park and the community.

Learn more about The Border Church: https://www.friendshippark.org/borderchurch

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/friendship-park

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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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MacArthur Genius Grant winner, artist, and experimental geographer Trevor Paglen and host Dylan Thuras discuss documenting government surveillance, AI, and place.  

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Las Vegas, Nevada was once the preferred tourist destination for watching weapons of mass destruction  explode.   

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-atomic-testing-museum

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The world's oldest rose is so tough it survived being bombed in World War II. 

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-thousand-year-rose-hildesheim-germany

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Catoosa, Oklahoma is the site of a massive landlocked whale - and possibly the greatest anniversary gift ever

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/catoosa-whale

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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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Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners two stories where sculpture meets the depths: The Sunken Crosses of Malpique and a harbor in Odense, Denmark. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sunken-crosses-of-malpique

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hans-christian-andersen-odense-harbour

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Producer Abbey Perreault gives listeners an introduction to the long-unknown creator behind the widely known concrete fauna of Mexico’s urban playscapes. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/concrete-animal-cemetery

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A listener in Lawrence, Kansas takes us on his journey of discovering the secrets of his hometown.

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This archaeological landscape in Phonsavan, Laos is one of the most mysterious, important, and dangerous prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia. 

Learn more about the Plain of Jars Archaeological Research Project: https://plain-of-jars.org/

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/plain-of-jars

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The Smallest Mollusk Museum in New York City is part of a fleet of tiny museums that might just have a big impact on the world.

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This mechanical boy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was a mystery - until it began to write. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/maillardets-automaton

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Space Cowboy Buck Atom stands watch over an old gas station in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a link to the glory of Route 66’s Muffler Men. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/buck-atom

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We're sharing with you a new Witness Docs show: Welcome to Provincetown, a documentary podcast in the vein of reality television about a small town on the Cape with a strong LGBTQIA+ history.  Warning: The episode does contain explicit language. Find out more about Welcome to Provincetown and other Witness shows at: https://www.witnesspodcasts.com/

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The voice announcement at Embankment Station in London is unlike any other announcement on the Tube.  

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The hunt to memorialize Rhode Island’s founder created one of the state’s strangest and most enduring myths.

To Learn more about Roger Williams relationship to local indigenous tribes: http://library.providence.edu/encompass/narragansett-history/secondary-sources/the-landing-of-roger-williams/

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/roger-williams-root

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Legends and troubled history lay beneath Lake Lanier in Forsyth County.

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The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea has become an accidental bird sanctuary for one of the world’s most endangered crane species.

Learn more about the International Crane Foundation: savingcranes.org

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Occasionally the podcast team requests messages about the strange and wondrous places you experience. These are some of first responses we received last year regarding our request to hear of wonders from listeners' backyards. Stories feature the world’s largest tin soldier, the home of the first public beach and a phone connecting us to people we’ve lost.
 

Tell us about a wonder in your backyard. Record a voice memo and send it to hello@atlasobscura.com or leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.

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Producer Baudelaire Ceus brings listeners to Accra, Ghana and a gigantic public square dedicated to Ghanaian independence.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/black-star-square

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This small town in Ecuador was thought to hold the fountain of youth and drew the curiosity of scientists and wellness practitioners alike. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vilcabamba

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Sets from the original 1960’s Star Trek have been recreated for fans and actors alike in Ticonderoga, New York.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/star-trek-original-series-set-tour

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Syren Nagakyrie set out to make a whole world of incredible beauty more available to millions of people with disabilities - starting with the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

Learn more about Disabled Hikers: https://disabledhikers.com/
Olympic National Park Trail Guides: https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/physical-mobility-accessibility.htm

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An abandoned Russian mining village is literally frozen in time.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pyramiden  

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Congo Square in New Orleans is the heart of where African drumming found its way into American music and the birth of Jazz.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/congo-square

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Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners stories of two of their favorite places that can be found in the Atlas - on in Washington, DC and one in Scotland.

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Amir Siraj was a sophomore in college when he discovered what may be the first documented interstellar object to hit earth. 

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Anna Swan had an adventurous life before settling in Seville, Ohio and building a house large enough to fit her large life. 

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A rapidly disappearing glacier holds the key to a forgotten species, a century-old entomological mystery,  and… an opera. This episode previously aired in 2021. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/grasshopper-glacier

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This paddleboat gave some Black children a place to learn even when they were denied formal education on land.   

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This meteorite is one of the very few on record to have hit a human being. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-hodges-meteorite-tuscaloosa-alabama

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A public health crisis plagued the Midwest until a simple solution was introduced to a ubiquitous cooking ingredient.

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A number of tiny, mysterious doors scattered throughout Atlanta, Georgia ask viewers to imagine what might be found on the other side.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiny-doors-atl

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Join host Dylan Thuras and producer Harry Huggins as they visit the unruly architecture of The House on the Rock - one of the inspirations for Atlas Obscura. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/house-rock

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The strange story of Catalina Island’s herd of bison, and the harrowing story of producer Sarah Wyman’s encounter with these intimidating residents.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/catalina-island-bison-herd

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Eight rare vehicles at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky vanish, thanks to a massive sinkhole.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-corvette-museum-sinkhole

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All summer we’ve been asking you to send us your summer travel stories. In this installment we hear a listener’s tale of a theological dispute that became a real money-maker known to some as “Old Hoaxy.” 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cardiff-giant

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Producer Baudelaire Ceus travels to Leimert Park, a unique neighborhood in Los Angeles characterized by its historical relationship to Black liberation.

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An audio postcard from the desert of Badain Jaran in China, home of the Booming Dunes, and possibly the coolest sand sounds you’ve ever heard.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/booming-dunes-badain-desert

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This sculpture in Spokane, WA was created by a"welding nun" decades ago. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/garbage-eating-goat-statue

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For a brief period the small frontier city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota drew in socialites and celebrities who were desperate to end their marriages.

For more stories from the Divorce Colony, check out April White's book: The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier.

https://thedivorcecolony.com/

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There are two miles of abandoned tunnels beneath the streets of Cincinnati, OH. A relic of an attempt to establish underground transportation in the city. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-cincinnati-subway-cincinnati-ohio

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