The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Inspired by the novel and movie Around the World in Eighty Days, Eleanor Hamby and Dr. Sandra Hazelip (Ellie and Sandy) ventured out and took the world by storm as they turned 81 years old.

Ellie and Sandy’s book, Here We Go: Lessons for Living Fearlessly from Two Traveling Nanas, is out now! 

And if their story resonated with you about traveling at an older age, tell us about it. 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 ema...

The International Rose Test Garden in Portland, Oregon is a rose-lover’s paradise: there’s over 10,000 bushes and 625 varieties from all over the world. And there’s a great story about how the garden came to be: During WWI, the people of Portland reached out to the gardeners of Europe offering to take care of their plants and save them from destruction. Rachel Burlington, the garden’s curator, wanted to learn more about this, so she started digging into the archives and made a surprising discovery: It wasn’t… quite… true. Rachel tells us what she’s learned about the garden’s ori...

Since his childhood, Nick Dawson has been fascinated by Cramond Island, a deserted tidal island off the coast of Edinburgh, Scotland, which became for him a symbol of mystery and untapped adventure. In today’s episode, he finally gets to explore the island, learning about its nature and history, as he tries to get to the heart of why the place is so special. 

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As the summer travel season officially closes, we share our favorite memories of the warm months – from minor league baseball games with unique traditions, to surviving travel with kids.    
 

Plus, we want to hear your stories about traveling with your own kids – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave us a message. Or, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hello@atlasobscura.com. 

A once-blacklisted Hollywood star created a magical theater in Topanga Canyon, California, that still endures and inspires today.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/theatricum-botanicum

In Ystad, Sweden, every night at 9pm a night watchman scans the horizon for fires from the tower of St Mary’s Church, and sounds his trumpet to let the city know it is safe. This tradition goes back to the Medieval Ages. The Night Watchman of Ystad is one of the last keeping his tradition, and today his role has taken on an even bigger significance. Author and journalist Eliot Stein takes us through the evolution of the night watchman. 

Read more in Eliot’s book, Custodians of Wonder.

Utah bookseller Ken Sanders has spent his life fighting the Glen Canyon Dam. Inspired by a band of cowboy ecoterrorists in his favorite Western novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang, Ken's used his own blend of hijinks and illegal actions to free the Colorado River. For years he thought he'd failed. But these days, he sees a glimmer of hope that something big is about to change. 

In the 1920s, Henry Ford decided to create a rubber plantation in the Amazon rainforest, and alongside it, a tidy little town for his workers: Fordlandia. With its classic American homes and yards, sidewalks and electric streetlights, Fordlandia was a Midwestern anomaly in the Brazilian jungle, one that dazzled American visitors. And it might have actually been a decent place to live – if it weren’t governed by Henry Ford’s rigid and peculiar rules for a wholesome society.

Read more in Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg Grandin.

Dylan and producers Amanda and Johanna take listener questions. 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.

We journey into New York City’s delis and bodegas, in search of a famous – and controversial – sandwich: the chopped cheese. This sandwich has become a cultural symbol and source of debate, and is so storied that some might call it a “folk sandwich.” Plus, we dig into the rich history of the corner store culture where the chopped cheese originated.    

This episode was produced in partnership with NYC Tourism.  

One of the last remaining World War II Victory Gardens in the U.S is quietly growing across from Boston’s Fenway Park. 

Mary Roach is an author of several books including Stiff and Fuzz. And her newest book, Replaceable You, explores the incredible advances and tough questions prompted by the human body’s failings. Mary takes us on a tour of our own anatomy – and what it takes to replace it.  

Mary’s new book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, will be out September 16 – preorder the book today! 

Here at Atlas Obscura, we’re big on collections. From rare jerseys to popular ‘90s plush toys, our staff shares the things we collect – and what they mean to us. 

Plus: We want to hear about YOUR collections. What do you collect, and what does the collection mean to you? Or, maybe you have a story about someone who you know who has an outrageous collection. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and story. Or better yet, you can record a voice memo and email it to us at hell...

A backpacker on the Inca Trail encounters a fellow hiker who is inexplicably carrying two bags. This essay was written by Maggie Downs and edited by Aube Rey Lescure, and originally appeared in Off Assignment. 

Plus: Off Assignment is offering a travel writing course, called Rethinking Travel Writing. It begins September 6, and you can use code ATLAS20 for 20% off: 

https://www.offassignment.com/rethinking-travel-writing

The story of a woman who, in her 70s, inspired some of the biggest labor uprisings in American history.

Dylan just returned from a month-long trip with his wife and two kids, ages 8 and 10. And now, he wants to hear your stories about traveling with your own kids – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. 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.

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 th...

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...

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 memo...

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...

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.