The Atlas Obscura Podcast

We dig through more than 1,000 years of dirt, history, colonialism, and myth on the Swahili Coast.

Read more in the Atlas https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kilwa-kisiwani-ruins

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There are tens of thousands of entries in the Atlas -- today we meet the people who sift through them.

Learn more about submitting to the Atlas here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/faq

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Writer and travel educator Tracey Friley tells the story of the glamorous life of entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist, Josephine Baker and the pilgrimages women still make to her chateau.

Learn more: www.traceyfrileytravel.com

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Typically, space junk ends up deep in the Pacific Ocean. This is the story of when it plunged back to earth … onto a street in small-town Wisconsin.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sputnik-crash-site

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Where does space stuff go after it dies? To this spot deep, deep in the Pacific Ocean.

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

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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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This ancient temple complex in Northern Lebanon is one of the most well-preserved Roman ruins on earth, and one of the most overlooked.

Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/baalbek-trilithon

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Comedians Tess Barker and Babs Gray, who you might know from Lady to Lady or the now legendary Britney’s Gram podcast, are here to bring you a brand new investigative series about Britney Spears' conservatorship and the court system that's allowed it to persist.

After launching the #FreeBritney movement, they started to dig… And what they found out, you won’t want to miss!

Join Tess and Babs as they talk to exclusive sources, examine new sides of the story, and uncover disturbing truths about our legal system that go way beyond Britney.

Listen to Episodes 1 & 2 right now: link.chtbl.com/ToxicThePodcast

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How an MIT fraternity pledge instituted a new, unique unit of measurement.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/harvard-bridge-smoot-measurements

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The fossils of Wadi al-Hitan (Valley of the Whales) in Egypt give us a glimpse of a remarkable evolutionary history.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wadi-al-hitan

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A renegade art project in Vancouver galvanized a small community, pitted residents against city government, and ultimately resulted in a new name for a chill park

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dude-chilling-park

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Host Dylan Thuras convinces his family to stop at this most unusual attraction in Pennsylvania

Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/archbald-pothole

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This episode will break your heart. And that’s a good thing.

Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-of-broken-relationships

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Host Dylan Thuras riffs on a subject that has long fascinated him: the world’s longest-running science experiments.

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We venture out to Long Island, not for the beautiful beaches, or an Islanders game, or to hang with Billy Joel. We're here to explore the fraught history of a gigantic, ominous sea foam-green nuclear power plant.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shoreham-nuclear-power-plant

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Mortician Caitlin Doughty gives us a dance lesson in the two-step we were all born to do.

Check out Doughty’s ‘Ask a Mortitican’ series here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi5iiEyLwSLvlqnMi02u5gQ

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In this two-part series, we venture towards frozen graves tied to an infamous Arctic expedition. We follow two groups of adventurers, separated by more than 170 years, and play witness to the disasters that befell them all.

Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/graves-of-beechey-island

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In this two-part series, we venture towards frozen graves tied to an infamous Arctic expedition. We follow two groups of adventurers, separated by more than 170 years, and play witness to the disasters that befell them all.

Read More in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/graves-of-beechey-island

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A few weeks ago we dropped an episode debating whether technology has helped or hurt our modern travel experience. It sparked a lot of reaction, and we hear some of that today.

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We dig into the tales of TWO whales washing ashore along the southeastern coast of Brazil. And learn how one became a scientific marvel and the other, a local landmark.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ubatuba-whale

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A 30-foot tall mural on the side of a house in West Oakland is teaching an often left out part of the history of the Black Panther Party-- the women who fueled the movement.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/black-lives-matter-murals. Learn more about this project and sign up for a tour of the mini-museum here: http://Www.westoaklandmuralproject.org

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In the busy, traffic-packed capital city of Bolivia, we meet the zebras who keep the streets of La Paz safe for its citizens.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-paz-cebritas

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We visit what might be the world’s largest collection of fraudulent, nefarious, or otherwise ineffectual medical machinery -- and meet the founder who brought it all together.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-quackery

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The story of a community that came together in the 1930s to build this schoolhouse, and then came together again several decades later to build it a second time and preserve its legacy

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/myrtle-beach-colored-school-museum

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Calling all listeners! We want to hear about your memorable summer travel experiences: road trips, unforgettable places, summer traditions, magical memories. Leave us a message at 315-992-7902, or send an email or a voice memo to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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Urban planner, Moses Gates, shares his unlikely experience with the residents of the 61st floor of one of New York City’s most iconic buildings..

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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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Some say this little burbling creek is “the deadliest body of water on Earth.,”

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bolton-strid

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We take you to the east side of Detroit, where an artist transformed a largely abandoned street into an immersive, living museum -- which grew into something even bigger

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/heidelberg-project

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Built by indigenous people thousands of years ago, the Newark Earthworks are part cathedral, part cemetery, and part astronomical observatory. But today, this ancient ceremonial site is part of a golf course in Ohio.

Read Cedric Rose’s article: https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/will-ohios-earthworks-become-a-world-heritage-site/

Learn more about the Newark Earthworks: http://worldheritageohio.org

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We explore the power luck has on us all, rational or not, through the unlikely places people go to re-up

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/lucky-places-good-luck-charms

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Under the forests of Nyack, New York lays a series of dark and decrepit tunnels with militaristic roots but now attract graffiti artists and plenty of teen lore.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/claus-land-mountain-tunnels

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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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An Indian village is home to one of the world’s oldest and greatest ornithological mysteries

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jatinga-bird-suicide

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A carefully curated collection of miscalculations in Edinburgh, Scotland serves as a warning for our gullibility, especially when it comes to money.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/library-of-mistakes

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A ranch on the outskirts of Aptos, California features a magical machine that dispenses music, joy, and 18 of the freshest eggs in the land.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/egg-vending-machine-at-glaum-ranch-aptos-california

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Home is where the grudge is. We survey a special kind of architecture that is both petty and personal.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/lists/spite-houses-around-the-world

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It roamed the seas, served an evil dictator, survived a war, and ended up in a New Jersey auto-repair shop bathroom.

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A grand library in Portugal has some unexpected nighttime caretakers -- tiny bats. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mafra-palace-library-bats

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You’ve been leaving us messages about the strange and wondrous places in your towns, like the world’s largest tin soldier, the home of the first public beach and a phone connecting us to people we’ve lost.

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Open your minds and steel your stomachs as we go to a food museum in Sweden that challenges what exactly makes something delicious… or disgusting.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/disgusting-food-museum

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An old friend takes us under the streets of Instanbul and into an encounter with Medusa.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/basilica-cisterns-istanbul

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A boxy, Brutalist building in Silver Spring, Maryland contains one of the greatest collections of disease, injury, and human body bits ever assembled.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-museum-of-health-and-medicine

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The strangest, most famous resident from this Colorado town happens to be a headless fowl.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mike-the-headless-chicken

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We go to the Westman Islands off the southern coast of Iceland and meet the heroes who save young birds that have wandered from their nests every summer.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-largest-puffin-colony

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There was a time when we didn't walk around with computers in our pockets and exploring a new place required a paper map. In this episode, we dig into the ultimate debate: has technology ruined or elevated travel? Send us your questions about traveling or tell us a story by emailing a voice message to hello@atlasobscura.com

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Inside a living, breathing collection of sourdough starters in Belgium.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sourdough-library

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A listener tells us about a treasure buried in his literal backyard, and the two strange men who showed up on his doorstep and asked to dig it up.

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A mind-tripping place where the art stands out not because of what's on them but what's in them.

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/institute-illegal-images

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A special journey told in two parts, beginning with the world’s largest conveyor belt in the Western Sahara and ending on your dinner plate

Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/moroccan-wall-of-western-sahara

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