The Atlas Obscura Podcast

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 th...

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Host Dylan Thuras riffs on a subject that has long fascinated him: the world’s longest-running science experiments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection...

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our col...

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our col...

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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecas...

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal d...

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 . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.