The Atlas Obscura Podcast

When armed fighters captured his workplace during Syria’s civil war, Ali Shehadeh decided to pay them a visit. He was determined to save his life’s work: a massive collection of seeds. 

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We dive into the dirty history of the famed Paris sewer system, from its unorthodox cleaning methods, to a pneumatic postal service that ran via the sewer, to… a poop tax.

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or a story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com

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Scientists in Denver, Colorado store and conduct tests on miles of ice core samples dating back hundreds of thousands of years. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-ice-core-lab

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In 1891, a knot of men murdered a 1,300-year-old tree to prove it wasn’t a "tall tale." We visit the Mark Twain Stump, a 16-foot-wide wooden stage that serves as a monument to early American hubris, the cost of disbelief, and the bittersweet birth of the conservation of the Sequoias.

This episode is part of our Weekend Road Trip Series, where we bring you stories of the strange, incredible, and wondrous places right here in the United States, that you can see from the road. This series was produced in partnership with T-Mobile.  

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We go to Wilmington, Delaware, to a 4-acre garden with characters and exhibits created using castoff materials and greenery that invites kids to drop screens and rules – and instead give in to a state of play. 

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/enchanted-woods-winterthur-gardens

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This amusement park in Singapore holds the Ten Courts of Hell, a series of dioramas that depict the kind of horrible fates awaiting people who behaved badly on Earth.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/haw-par-villa

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Producers Jerome and Johanna join co-host Kelly McEvers to answer questions about souvenir-buying stress, multigenerational travel, and what to listen to on a road trip when you don’t have the same taste as your driving buddy.

Our next mailbag episode will be next month. If you have a question, email us at hello@atlasobscura.com. Or call us directly and leave a voicemail at 315-992-7902.

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Allen Woodall’s first lunchbox was a brown paper bag. Since then, he’s amassed a collection of over 5,000 lunchboxes, all housed in a museum in Columbus, Georgia. 

The Lunchbox Museum is part of the Columbus Collective Museums. Learn more: 

https://www.columbuscollectivemuseums.com/

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Producers India Rice and Morgan Johnson take you beyond this planet as they share two stories tied to the franchise Star Wars.

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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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Historians have known about the strange passageway in the Merchant’s House Museum for decades, but they never knew what it was for… until now. And now that we know, it changes everything we thought we knew about why the Merchant’s House really matters.

Learn more about the fight to save the Merchant’s House: https://merchantshouse.org/calltoarms/  

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or a story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com. 

The townspeople of Manitou Springs, Colorado do something very interesting to celebrate the legacy.of a young woman who loved, lived and died there 130 years ago. 

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Co-host Kelly McEvers doesn’t usually return to places – she always wants to go somewhere new. But there’s one place that makes her break her own rule over and over again.

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A listener shares a wonder from his backyard, this time in the small town of Aztec, New Mexico.

Plus, we want to hear from you. Tell us about the wonders in your backyard. Is there a strange, unusual or surprising place in your city or town? What makes this place special to you? 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...

The José María Azael Franco Guerrero Cemetery in Tulcán, Ecuador is a topiary anomaly and a lush green paradise for the dead. This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with classic and new stories about unusual gardens around the world. 

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Jason deCaires Taylor takes intentional art to another level with his sculptures that can be visited by humans and fish.

This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world. 

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Today we visit a hidden gem of Washington, D.C.: the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, an oasis of ponds filled with lotuses and waterlilies. This unusual National Park – the only aquatic gardens that are a National Park – were first dug in the 1800s by a Civil War veteran. 

This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world. 

This episode is brought to you in partnership with washington.org.

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An orchard of metal poles sits on a hill overlooking Lake Washington. And when the wind blows, this musical sculpture "sings the world into existence" with its unique sound.

This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world.

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The Alnwick Poison Garden in England is a place where stopping and smelling the flowers could actually kill you. The garden is dedicated entirely to plants that are narcotic or deadly. 

This week, we’re celebrating the arrival of spring with new and classic stories about unusual gardens around the world

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In the Soviet Union, x-rays didn’t just give you a look inside the human body. They also gave you a glimpse of the outside world, thanks to music that was imprinted onto this unassuming medical tool. 

Read more in the Atlas HERE. 

Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com.

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As a young adult, Paul "Barbs" Barbato gave himself perhaps the world's biggest social studies assignment: make a profile of every single one of the 193 UN-recognized countries in the world. Ten years later, he finally finished. 

Check out Paul’s project – and what he’s up to next – on YouTube @GeographyNow. 

We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com. 

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In a storefront in Kearney, Nebraska, Morris Press Cookbooks Store houses a massive "Google of family recipes," chronicling nearly a century of American home-style cuisine. To test the archive, producer Jerome Campbell attempts to “bake his way back home” by testing an unusual make-do dessert recipe: A pinto-bean-based cake. 

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We asked you to send us stories about a time you accidentally broke the rules while traveling… and some you really went there. 

Plus, we want to hear stories about a place you love returning to. Where in the world is this place? What fond memories do you have about this place? Why do you return to this place? How often do you visit? Who, if anyone, have you met there? Has this place changed over time? Tell us all about it. Give us a call at (315) 992-7902 and leave a message telling us your name and sto...

As a foreign correspondent, Kelly McEvers has found herself detained by the KGB, held up at ISIS checkpoints, and on the front line in Syria. But it was a much more mundane experience that left her feeling in over her head years later. 

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This little house in New Haven, Kentucky is where Thomas Merton aka profit-poet aka the rebel monk tried to get away from the world.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/thomas-mertons-hermitage

Plus: We always want to hear from you! If you have a question or story for us, give us a call at at 315-992-7902 and leave a message, or send an email to hello@atlasobscura.com

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In 1971, five hippies made a trek through the Amazon looking for rare psychedelic drugs. One of them was Terence McKenna, who, along with his brother Dennis, would go on to change the way Americans thought about “magic mushrooms” forever. We talk to John O’Connor, author of “A Short, Strange Trip: An Untold Story of Magic Mushrooms, Madness, and a Search for the Meaning of Life in the Amazon.”

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Producer Manolo Morales shares a story with co-host Kelly McEvers, about a legendary place in the backyard of our Canadian northern neighbors. 

Plus, we want to hear from you. Tell us about the wonders in your backyard. Is there a strange, unusual or surprising place in your city or town? What makes this place special to you? 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 m...

We visit Jerry’s Hat Museum, where a retiree has turned to an old chapel to house a collection of thousands of hats, pens, odds, ends and other artifacts from his Illinois hometown.

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jerrys-hat-museum-illinois

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Co-host Kelly McEvers and producers Johanna and Jerome answer questions about whether you should experience certain places with other people, the best movies to watch on an airplane, and the delicate etiquette of traveling to places where you know people.

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.

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A producer sits down with Dylan and recounts his trip to a place referred to as “The Venice of Africa.”

READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gavie-benin

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Marina Marchese is a beekeeper and trained honey sommelier. She explains how honey tastes like the place where it’s made… and guides co-host Kelly McEvers through a taste test of some of the world’s most unique and unusual honeys. 

Plus, if you’re interested in learning to taste honey like a sommelier, consider one of Marina’s classes, or check out her books

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Today, we are celebrating the spirit of April Fools’ Day with two stories about hoaxes. One is about a mythical creature in Fouke, Arkansas and the other about a giant sea serpent in a small town of New York. 

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For one sixteenth century Austrian mayor, a long, luscious beard was both his claim to fame – and the cause of his downfall. 

Read more about Hans Steininger and his deadly beard: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beard-braunau-steininger-hans

And how about a deep-dive into facial hair culture in 16th century central Europe? 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-0424.12538

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Daren Grover was on vacation near the top of New Zealand’s South Island when he got a call: some whales needed help. Hundreds of them had stranded on a spot so notorious for whale strandings, it’s cause for celebration when a year goes by without a stranding: the Farewell Spit. 

Check out Project Jonah: https://www.projectjonah.org.nz/

Giant searchable database of sustainable seafood (and seafood to avoid) from Monterey Bay Aquarium: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations

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Long before Joe Exotic got the country talking about big cats, there was Joe Taft – regular guy – who began raising and rescuing these types of felines in Indiana. 

MORE: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/exotic-feline-rescue-center-2

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What drives a person to live in isolation? Meet Sue Aikens, who thrives in the icy expanse of the Arctic. She shares stories of survival, self-discovery, and the wild encounters that continue to shape her life. Her memoir, "North of Ordinary," was just published.

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Todd Lerew has spent a decade visiting every single museum in Los Angeles. He chronicled his journey in his book Also on View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles. 

Check out Todd’s map of the museums at Everymuseum.la. Plus, listen to our episode with Jane August who is undertaking a similar project in NYC. 

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In the 1950s, a journalist doing archival research at the Staten Island Historical Society came across a collection of images that stopped him in his tracks. These photos featured women from the 1890s smoking cigarettes, dressed in men’s clothing, showing their petticoats or legs or hair. These photos were taken by a woman named Alice Austen, and Jensen decided to track her down…a trail which led him to the Staten Island poor house. 

Today we learn Alice’s story, by visiting the house on Staten Island where she lived for most of her life –  before she lost n...

You may have heard the phrase 'third place' being used more often as the world started opening up post-pandemic. People were craving somewhere that was neither their home or work, but still a place to focus social connection. But the Barbican, in London, was WAY ahead of its time.

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We wanna hear your stories about the times you’ve accidentally broken the rules somewhere foreign to you. 

Maybe you went into a temple with your shoes on, when you weren’t supposed to. Maybe you had a drink at a sacred place and were forbidden to enter again. Or maybe you even wound up in a brush with the local police  for something minor that’s not against the rules where you live. 

Tell us where you went. What happened? Why did you get in trouble? And how did you ultimately get out of it? Give...