The Atlas Obscura Podcast

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 the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!

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 who love it. All week, we're featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!

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 few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!

We explore the unexpected combination of recipes and graves through the story of Naomi Odessa Miller Dawson's spritz cookies.All week, we're featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. We may air your story on a future episode!

Dylan goes on a journey to examine the preserved middle finger of astronomer, physicist, and engineer Galileo Galilei.All week, we're featuring the stories behind a few of our favorite things – from ancient hams to mummified fingers. Want to tell us about your own favorite unusual object? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com We may air your story on a future episode!

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 disappeared.LEARN MORE about Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in this Reuters article and see it in the Atlas here

We talk with anthropologist Manvir Singh, whose research on shamanism took him from the small island of Siberut to study current practitioners, to exploring prehistoric cave art in France. It's the subject of his new book, “Shamanism: The Timeless Religion” – and in it he also argues that we can find elements of shamanism in our own lives.  Find out more about Manvir Singh's work: https://www.manvir.org/

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. Have a question for Dylan? 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.   

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 hear stories about your first time traveling with your kids.  Tell us about that experience - where did you and your family travel to? And why there? How did your kids adjust to traveling? Did they love it? Or did they give you a hard time traveling? What memories did you make from that trip? Was this the right place for kids? What would you recommend to other parents traveling with their kids for the first time? 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 in if you get disconnected. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com Plus: The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide to Inventing the World is out now! 

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 parking lot had found… dinosaur bones. We dig deeper and get a taste of what it would have been like to visit the Denver area during the Cretaceous Period. See the parking lot dino fossil: https://www.dmns.org/science/research/parking-lot-dinosaur/Check out the rock slab that “shows” the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event: https://coloradosprings.dmns.org/dmnshomepage/catalyst/fall-2024/recorded-in-stone-single-worst-day-for-multicellular-life-on-earth//

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. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/no-experience-required

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 Francisco, and you can reach out to Henry at deepgort@gmail.com to make arrangements to see it.

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 made the old-fashioned way, using a labor-intensive process that is difficult to find (even in Japan!).  Learn more about Ota Tofu: https://www.otapdx.com/And check out the work of guest Lauren Yoshiko:  http://laurenyoshiko.com/ This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Portland. 

From opera singers to strange noises emitting from air conditioners, listeners share stories about their unusual neighbors. Plus:  We want to hear stories about your commute. Are there people that you see on the train platform everyday, but still remain a stranger to you? Did you ever have a funny or strange encounter in a crowded subway car?  Do you see something on your way to work that always makes your day? 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.And if you have a kid in your life who loves STEM, check out our new book,The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide to Inventing the World, for young readers.

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. 

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 of California Riverside. Learn more here.

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 Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana. He and Dylan nerd out about Muffler Men, mimetic architecture, and Pizza Hut Classics. Plus: If you have a favorite roadside attraction, give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave us a message telling us your name and story. Or email us a voice memo at hello@atlasobscura.com. Tell us what it is. Where is i? What memory do you have about this attraction? And why do you love it?

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 Corita, a nun and art teacher whose bright, colorful, and political Pop Art prints made her famous in the 1960s…and also got her in big trouble with the church. Pay a visit to the Corita Art Center next time you're in LA! Or: driving through Boston? Keep your eyes peeled for Rainbow Swash.  For more on Corita and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, check out the Rebel Hearts documentary. And if you need some inspiration, here's the art department rules Corita posted in her classroom at Immaculate Heart College. 

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 Explorer's Guide to Inventing the World today!

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 Dylan to answer some of your questions about travel and dating. 

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 taking a tour of the world's most unusual beaches.  

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 the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla. Learn more about The Cave Store: https://www.cavestore.com/All this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world's most unusual beaches.  Plus: Pre-order your copy of our new book, The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide to Inventing the World, today! 

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.  All this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world's most unusual beaches.

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 this week, the Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world's most unusual beaches. 

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 Atlas Obscura Podcast is hitting the sand, and taking a tour of the world's most unusual beaches.   

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 rural Vermont and look for the phone-booth sized box filled with baked goods.READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tiny-bread-box

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 one strange thing about this gravestone: No one was buried beneath it. Read more about Charlotte Temple in Allegra Rosenberg's article. 

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. Plus: We want to hear YOUR neighbor stories! Tell us about your neighbors' yards, their house decor, their habits – and what you like about them. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and favorite story about your neighbors. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com

An elite group of ravens live at the Tower of London, anxiously monitored and lovingly tended to by a professional ravenmaster. Because according to legend, if these ravens were ever to leave, the crown of England would fall. But it turns out this “ancient” legend is a relatively recent invention.More on the one historian's investigations into the legend's origins can be found in this paper and in the book City of Ravens: The Extraordinary History of London, its Tower and Its Famous Ravens.

Today, we're sharing an episode from our new podcast documentary series, Charlie's Place. Beloved, notorious, defiant, folk hero – these are just a few ways to describe Charlie Fitzgerald, the entrepreneur who owned an integrated nightclub during Jim Crow in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What happened in Myrtle Beach at Charlie's would come to define a community and generations to come. This is the almost forgotten history of Charlie's Place.Charlie's Place is a production of Atlas Obscura and Rococo Punch in partnership with Pushkin Industries and presented by Visit Myrtle Beach. 

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 plight of a species on the brink. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ol-pejeta-rhino-cemetery

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: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland.

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 be found. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Portland.

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 opened. 

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 leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your question.    

A Seattle restaurant pushes diners to eat beyond their borders through its embrace of global street foods.

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 docuseries Pati Jinich Explores PanAmericana, Pati talks with people along the famous route about the different ways we form our identities. And she was particularly interested in exploring this territory because of her own unique cultural background.  

Early polar explorers faced long nights and dangerous expeditions. To entertain themselves, they wrote and published niche newspapers and periodicals. Atlas Obscura's community editor Allegra Rosenberg reads an essay exploring this unique polar tradition. Read her full essay here.  

Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe, Wisconsin is the last cheese plant left in America that makes the ultra-stinky Limburger cheese: a cheese that inspires equal parts loving and loathing, has been banned for its assaulting smell, and that once sparked a feud between two cities.

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 – from a childhood home in a small town in Illinois, to a trip in Eastern Europe, to a pizzeria in Brooklyn and a cave in Utah. Plus: We want to hear your stories about your neighbors! Tell us about your neighbors' front yards, back yards, house decor – and what you like about them. Is there a neighbor in your block who goes all the way every holiday to have the best decorations? Or maybe there's someone who has a wacky display year round? Maybe someone has an incredible garden, or some homemade art sculptures. Did they inspire you? Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com

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/places/civic-musical-road

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 read aloud. The cigar “reader” is a tradition held by just a handful of people, and it came from a fundamentally revolutionary idea. Eliot Stein, author of Custodians of Wonder, joins Dylan to explain.

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 called the “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.” The Rubaiyat was probably the most famous work of poetry in the English-speaking world at that time…which was somewhat unusual, as the book was written by a Persian mathematician 800 years before.For more information about Omar Khayyam and the Rubaiyat, check out the books “Persian Presence in Victorian Poetry” by Taher-Kermani Reza, “The Wine of Wisdom: The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar Khayyam” by Mehdi Aminrazavi, and the BBC documentary “The Genius of Omar Khayyam.” 

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 article all about him.

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 travelers. Today, historians are using them to create an interactive map of LGBTQ spaces in midcentury America.

Let's all go to hell. Seriously. Hell, Michigan, that is :)READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hell-michigan

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 – was influenced by events that occurred in four different rooms of the iconic Omni Parker House Hotel.    This episode was recorded live at the WBUR Festival in Boston on May 31, 2025. Check out Susan Wilson's books and her other work on her website.

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 to make a Part II.  Plus, we want to hear your questions about travel and dating! In a few weeks, we'll have dating expert Eden Dawn on the show to dish out answers. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and question. Or record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com.

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 “Biblioburro.” For more information about where to support Luis Soriano's Biblioburro, visit booksforchangeusa.org

The TV show Columbo, about a loveable schlub detective, is internationally beloved. But Hungary has an extra special relationship with the show, dating all the way back to the 1970s when the communist government banned most other American shows.

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 the Atlas here.