The Atlas Obscura Podcast

A spinning furnace tucked under the football stadium at the University of Arizona is building giant telescope mirrors.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/richard-f-caris-mirror-laboratory Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sun cannons have been around since the 1600s. But as far as we know, there’s only one left that’s still up and running. We pay it a visit.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/atvidaberg-sun-cannon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Habaneros!  Jalapenos! Green! Red! These days, an appreciation for chiles is pretty mainstream. But that wasn’t always the case. We head to New Mexico to learn how this food became such a huge part of our culture, and visit an institute dedicated to its continual improvement.    READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chile-pepper-institute Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz comp...

A North Carolina town has become a draw for people who want to see the wreckage of the train wreck from the movie “The Fugitive.” But a more interesting – and true – story happened just a pistol shot away. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-fugitive-train-wreck-sylva-north-carolina Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our...

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

One of the oldest books in the world is also the most misunderstood. A medievalist tells us about the Voynich, which is in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/beinecke-rare-book-manuscript-library Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and us...

She’s about 8 feet wide and 500 pounds. And her history spans all the way from the stockyards of Chicago... to a nuclear test during the Manhattan Project...to a stadium at the University of Texas at Austin.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/big-bertha-drum Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of perso...

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

Where can you find the smoothest, most scrumptious edible art? If you ask our host, Dylan, it’s in the Minnesota State Fair butter sculpture room. He’s joined in this episode by Gastro Obscura writer Sam O’Brien, who got the scoop on the yummy centerpieces.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We all dream of the perfect vacation when everything goes right. This episode is about the opposite. Hear stories of people having near death travel experiences. TELL US YOUR STORY: We want to hear your stories too! Give us a call at (315) 992-7902, and leave a message telling us your name, and about your own near-death travel experience. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at hell...

Elusive patches of land in America’s Midwest can show us what the environment was like 150 years ago and tell us about the future. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We spend time with the world’s foremost poo enthusiasts, who operate a museum in England where poo is elegant, elevated and celebrated. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-poo-museum Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A walk through this scale model has you feeling like a giant, and striding from Baton Rouge to Omaha in an hour. LEARN MORE about the model and the group trying to revive it, here: https://friendsofmrbm.org/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The next time you go out on a road trip, keep your eyes peeled for a peanut-shaped car that got its start as an advertising play during the Great Depression Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nestled in a hospital courtyard in Kumasi, Ghana, you’ll find the strength of the Asante people: the sword of Okomfo Anokye, planted in the ground over 300 years ago.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sword-of-okomfo-anokye Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We go on a bumpy ride with the Hurricane Hunters – the government’s team of scientists who fly into storms so the rest of us can have accurate info and research about massive weather events. Our guide is Nick Underwood, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data...

At a food truck in Austin, tried and true barbecue favorites meet unexpected spices and flavor profiles. Here, chef Damien Brockway’s journey into family history led him to weave the flavors of the African diaspora into his food. This episode was produced in partnership with Travel Texas.  LEARN MORE about Distant Relatives  and Travel Texas . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adsw...

In 1986 an unknown natural disaster at Lake Nyos in Menchum, Cameroon left more than 1700 people dead in one night - and puzzled scientists. Listen to learn how they solved the mystery.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lake-nyos-the-deadliest-lake-in-the-world Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of p...

How far would you go to find the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake on the largest island in the largest lake in the United States?  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/moose-boulder-debunked Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The variety of apples we enjoy today have a common ancestor that lies in the forests of Kazakhstan, where scientists are studying the wildest version of the fruit. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Judith A Basset Canid Education & Conservation Center, where a California couple has dedicated their lives to showing folks man has even more best friends than previously thought. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-jab-canid-education-and-conservation-center-jabcecc Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our c...

Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring us stories about the trees that have witnessed history.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  Read the story of Emancipation Oak  in Hampton, VA and the Travel Log  from California.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s easy to dismiss Bigfoot, the yeti, the Loch Ness monster, and other cryptids as far-fetched X-Files fodder. But the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine aims to show that when investigations into unknown creatures are done right, they involve real science, and have real scientific value. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/international-cryptozoology-m...

In the Adirondacks of northern New York sits John Brown's Farm, a monument to the famous abolitionist, and the last vestige of Timbuctoo, an ambitious but failed settlement that some hoped could help African Americans secure the right to vote.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/john-brown-farm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information ab...

In Atlanta, on this historic Auburn Avenue, sits a small bookstore and reading room that’s been called “an interactive art museum of Black Thought.”  LEARN MORE: https://www.forkeepsbooks.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.