The Atlas Obscura Podcast

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.

This sculpture in Spokane, WA was created by a"welding nun" decades ago.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/garbage-eating-goat-statue Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For a brief period the small frontier city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota drew in socialites and celebrities who were desperate to end their marriages. For more stories from the Divorce Colony, check out April White's book: The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier. https://thedivorcecolony.com/   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pc...

There are two miles of abandoned tunnels beneath the streets of Cincinnati, OH. A relic of an attempt to establish underground transportation in the city.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-cincinnati-subway-cincinnati-ohio Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Atlas Obscura listeners share stories from places they love so much they keep going back. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

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. Learn more about the Isle of Wight County Museum: www.historicisleofwight.com/ Let Sam eat the ham: hamtruther.com READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worlds-oldest-edible-ham Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company....

This social and architectural experiment in Tokyo, Japan was once the leading building in a movement attempting to pair construction and biological growth.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nakagin-capsule-tower Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The City Hall in Lincoln, Illinois has an unusual architectural appendage with a curious history.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/phone-booth-on-a-roof Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The founders of this prison in Philadelphia, PA aimed to revolutionize incarceration for the better - and unintentionally created new horrors.   READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eastern-state-penitentiary Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We take you to East Detroit, where an artist transformed a largely abandoned street into an immersive, living museum -- which grew into something even bigger. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/heidelberg-project Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

San Juan Sound is an iconic studio where musicians, engineers, and quite possibly a music-loving ghost carry on the Island’s musical traditions, which date back hundreds of years. This episode is produced in partnership with Discover Puerto Rico.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dylan Thuras braves one of New York’s most touristy sites to bring listeners the lesser-known history of Madame Tussaud’s origins. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners the stories of two mummies - one preserved in a bog in Jutland, Denmark and another at a monastery in Palermo, Italy. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/haraldsk-r-woman https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/capuchin-monastery Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for inform...

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. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/a-sound-garden Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the depths of Northeastern India, centuries-old bridges are not built, they are grown. Read more in the Atlas: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/root-bridges-cherrapungee Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The pigs once plopped on an uninhabited Auckland Island known for capturing castaways now play an important role in modern medical research.  READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-lives-on-auckland-islands Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This experimental automotive replica of Stonehenge has become a symbol of the town of Alliance, Nebraska. But residents haven’t always been fans. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/carhenge Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Producer Baudelaire Ceus searches for the resting place of famed author Richard Wright among the graves of other cultural icons like Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Sadegh Hedaya. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pere-lachaise-cemetery Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data...

Niles, Illinois is home to an exact replica of Italy’s leaning tower of Pisa - only it’s half the size of the original structure. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/leaning-tower-niles Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brendan Francis Newnam, the host of the new podcast Not Lost, and Dylan Thuras discuss how getting lost is the best way to find yourself. And Brendan shares a great scene from his podcast where he and his co-host travel to the Umbrella Cover Museum on Peaks Island in Maine. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/umbrella-cover-museum Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. S...

Atlas Obscura contributors take listeners to some of the places they loved so much they keep going back. Got your own place that calls you to return again and again? Submit 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.

This funicular in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania used to offer coal and steel workers a respite from the smog of industry.   READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/monongahela-incline Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today the story of how a street lamp, a tangle with municipal government, and a love of the stars led a man to Goblin Valley, Utah a “dark sky certified” place for lovers of the night sky. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/goblin-valley-state-park Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data fo...

Take a trip to a hostel in Iceland to visit the country’s last Big Mac, where the burger’s existence unfolds a story about economics and national identity. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iceland-mcdonalds Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.